Arriving in Scotland

October 5, 2022

My trip to Scotland took 3 planes and 18ish hours, but I made it in one piece AND so did my checked bag! This day in age, I call that a win!

First stop, Dallas (DFW). I had about 3 hours here and thankfully because of my status (which I will lose in April) I get access to the American Airlines Flagship lounge. And this is the super nice one. With real food and alcohol, at no cost. The Admirals Club that you pay for, gets you snacks and no alcohol (it’s extra if you want it). Anyway, I found a nice window seat, grabbed some food, and sat and read for basically all the 3 hours. That’s not to say I didn’t go back a few times here and there to get more food, because – FREE! Today they had sushi and Asian cuisine, all very delicious. I had a few Shirley temples since they had cherries, all self-serve.

My flights changed a handful of times between when we purchased and when travel day actually happened. Because of that, I was booked on TWO flights to London – so they basically gave me a choice of flights. I went with the one my bag was checked on, and not the one I had a ticket for. I was able to get a window seat at an exit row. Now mostly exit rows are great, but there are for sure negatives. Such as – the arms rests don’t go up. Or, you can’t use the cool foot hammock you bought for your trip. But as always I was able to sleep the whole flight. I woke up around Chicago and they brought me dinner (as I had slept through the actual service). I don’t recall them taking my tray, but when I woke up at landing, they had even laid breakfast on the seat next to me so I could have it when I woke up.

I landed nice and early (around 730am) in London. However, upon arrival, I learned that Lauren had not made her connecting flight and would be arriving tomorrow instead of today. This was the easiest terminal transfer I’ve had. Get on a bus, go to your new terminal, go through automated passport control, and security, and wait for your gate to be called. Americans can struggle with international airports because you are not assigned a gate until the hour before your flight is scheduled to leave. Instead, you go hang out in what is essentially a glorified airport mall. They have quiet areas, so that is where I chose to go and kill my time.

Next stop – Edinburgh! For this trip, Lauren and I decided to use the Turo app to rent a car. A friend recommended it to me. Essentially, it is Airbnb for cars. You rent people’s cars out for a fraction of the cost of a rental car (in most cases) or you can pay a whole bunch of money but drive super fancy cars. I found us a BMW X3 with unlimited miles and our “host” has been so wonderful. But first, I had to get to his house! It was only 15 minutes away from the airport by car or an hour by transit. I decided to take a “Bolt” (Uber) to get to him since it would save me so much time. I also was then able to learn what I would need to do for tomorrow when I pick up Lauren! Everything went smoothly and I decided to hit the road towards Glasgow since that is where our first Airbnb was scheduled for.

It was raining, and I hit some traffic in Glasgow city but was able to find all the exits and road changes I needed to find our Airbnb on my own. I should note that it is VERY nice to have someone to remind you to stay on the left side of the road and hand you snacks. But I made it here in one piece, so that should say something about my skills. I did stop for a Crunchie bar and some Cadbury chocolate.

This Airbnb is beautiful. It’s just a little guest quarter in someone’s farmhouse. Has everything we would need – beds, bathroom, kitchenette. It even has a dining table, that the owner set!

She recommended a place for dinner, I heard her wrong, but still found a wonderful place. And I’m happy with my mistake because the place also had walking paths!

I chose fish cakes with chips for dinner, it was amazing. Fresh, hot, and not fishy! I also treated myself to orange vanilla creme Brule. I finished a few more chapters in my book and headed out. After dinner, I took a stroll along the Loch and enjoyed the fact it wasn’t currently raining for the first time today!

After dinner, I came back to the farmhouse to shower and get ready for tomorrow. I’ll be leaving bright and early to go get Lauren back in Edinburgh, which is about 90 minutes from here. I think I’m going to take the other route for a change of scenery.