Feb. 5-6th 2008
Ah.....our flights! We left Victoria in cold, pouring rain on time at 4pm. Arrived in Vancouver in a different part of the airport than we had seen before. Then walked the long hike to the international area which is so beautiful, with "gardens" and waterfalls and a humongous aquarium. It must be the best airport in the world!
Our Vancouver flight was to depart at 5:45 and at that time we were nicely on the runway and ready to go. Unfortunately, the right engine was not as ready as the rest of us. After a while we taxied back to the terminal for two new parts to be installed. 2 ½ hours later, we left! Spent the whole time in our seats with only a ½ glass of water to keep us going. The over-heated dinner was demolished quickly by us due to the fact that it was already 3 hrs past Frances' feeding time! We went whole hog and bought wine!
Naturally we missed our flight from Heathrow to Edinburgh. However, we were happy to land safe and sound quite honestly.
Heathrow is a blast! Man, can they check a lot of stuff on you! All was OK with our things though. They handily re-routed our luggage and us for the next flight. So instead of a 2:10pm flight, we were on the 4:25. BUT, AirCanda had only put us on standby (bad word), so we had to keep jumping up to the desk for 1 ½ hrs to try and get a seat. At 4pm boarding time they gave us the last two seats (not together, but again happy to be on at all.) We had to buy a coffee on this flight, which we did at British prices (for instant!) and with milk (they don't do cream!)
We landed in Edinburgh at 6:15 (late). Found ALL our luggage (again very happy with that), and got our rental Vauxhall Corsa 1.2, 5 door automatic. I said that we had ordered a standard because they are cheaper, but the fellow said that we had the cheapest rate he had ever seen, so not to worry! (Booked through Expedia). Got directions in Scottish, and I am the driver. Don't think we are mad enough to pay an extra £5/day for Steve to drive too! They were sticky on the CDW (insurance) that we have covered on our Visa Gold, so they had to phone Visa and get that all verified (they said that they have trouble with Americans and Canadians, which I also read warnings of in my guide book.) Visa did a good job and convinced them that we are covered, thank goodness.
Out in to the pitch black Scottish wilds! Took me a bit to get back in the swing of the left-hand side of the road stuff, but we made it on to the M9 (motorway) towards Stirling. Took about 45 mins to get to the little village where we picked up the keys for our flat. This was at a farm, in the middle of the country, down tiny roads (think "The Twilight Zone"...."do you want to see something really scary?") [Better YouTube that if you haven't seen it]. Drove through the lanes to our town of Dunblane and finally found our flat around 8:15. So, that means we were 23 hours door to door.
First impressions were not great. Front entrance is like a back door to an old apartment building, breeze block, smelly, old, ugly, needs fixing up. However, once inside the flat all is well. Nice furniture, great lighting, good supplies in the kitchen, great bathroom, very good large bed (so happy that the bed is firm and comfy for my back.) We couldn't make the heating system work for hours, but good detective work got there in the end. The "boiler" was in a closet, and it was set on a timer, and the timer was set on "off". It is a hot water, radiator system. The hot water is created instantly as you use it (no hot water tank.)
We drove out to Tesco's (smallish grocery store) which was luckily open till 10pm. Got some essentials and made sausages & eggs with a box of Tesco Shiraz! There is no turkey in the store, no ground chicken, and plenty of beef, lamb and pork. (A little adjusting for our low red meat diet.) We unpacked, and got to bed just after midnight. (Can hardly believe we had that much energy.) We have NO internet and NO phone, so are feeling out of touch with the world, and sorry that we cannot let everyone know we are OK. We took some pharmaceutical concoction to help us sleep, and I will never be the same again! We slept till 9am then dozed till 11:30. I have never slept so well at home, let alone with jet lag!
Feb. 7th 2008
Ventured out in a balmy 12°. Drove in to Stirling and went to the Mall (The Thistle Centre). I put my credit card in the parking entrance to raise the gate, but when we left it wouldn't let us out, so had to get help like real nerds! Bought a SIM card for the cell phone. Phoned the landlord when we got home and found out that there is NO internet access as promised, because they were using someone's else's WiFi in the building and that has been eliminated. Not happy. She is bringing us a router tomorrow.
They have Scottish pound notes here, which we will have to change before we go to England. Everyone has been very helpful and friendly though. Bought a chicken to roast for dinner and it was £1.99 which is a deal (going to try and get some more for the freezer.) However....it is an "English chicken" as opposed to the "Scottish chicken" which was £11.99!!! We bought Scottish cheddar cheese, and Scottish tea. Gotta wonder how different it all is than across that border!
Gas is the same as at home except in £'s!!!! A coffee is £2.09....yikes!
Well...jet lag has set in and it is 2 in the morning and neither of us can sleep.
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