Day 1 - Saturday, Sept 5 and Sunday, Sept 6, 2015
This is the first entry in the blog for Isles, Kilts, Clans,
and Celts trip. Remember that I do not
really proof read each entry since I am usually just too tired to do that. Instead, you should just read what I meant to
say and not what I did say!! I do know
how to use punctuation marks too, but my typing is my weakness.
This trip began as many others have with us getting on the
Groom’s shuttle. Linda got on in Chattanooga and Sue and I got on in Dalton.
Ann was our taxi driver and even though she isn’t with us on this trip,
she is still a part of it. The shuttle
was full, but we did have room. Since
our ride was on Saturday of Labor Day weekend, the traffic in and around Atlanta was crowded. Our driver was really good and calm so he had
no problems at all.
We three were the last on the shuttle since he had to take
us to the International Terminal so that was sort of nice. Of course, we headed to the restrooms first of
all and then got in the line for security check. The man directing traffic took one look at me
and asked if I’d like to go through the short line – I guess he took note of my
gray hair and figured he should ask. I
took Linda through the short line with me but Sue had already started on the
long line. Sue got a piece of paper that
said she didn’t have to remove her shoes and I was jealous of that. We made it through security really easily and
quickly – I was the only one that had to have a full body scan.
We then started looking for our gate and we had to get on an
underground train to get to our gate – that was new. The strange thing about it was that the train
took us to the old international terminal, just like in the old days!! The good thing was that our gate was the first
one we came to so we were really lucky in that respect.
We had no excitement and were able to board quickly and
easily at 3:45 on the first leg of our journey – Amsterdam.
That plane certainly held a lot of people. I did try to use some of my Skymiles to
upgrade to business class, but they don’t allow that unless you make 30 trips a
year!!! That’s a lot. I could have upgraded if I had paid $3,000
but needless to say, that didn’t happen.
I had a nice lady beside me who traveled quite often with a
group of 15. She has traveled all over
the world – must be nice. She has been
out of the country 3 or 4 times in the last year.
None of us slept on that 8 hour journey and we were tired by
the end of it. Linda did ask the pilot
of the plane for a cup of coffee. He was
passing by and she was desperate. He did not get her coffee, but I got her a
cup – I needed to walk around some anyway. She enjoyed that cup of coffee.
We landed in Amsterdam
as the sun was rising, and walked and walked and walked in that airport. We had to go downstairs and sure enough, had
to walk outside the building and board a bus to take us to the plane. It took three busloads to fill up the plane. We were a little late leaving but weren’t too
late. We thought the pilot might drive
us on our next leg of the trip because he just kept going and going but never
taking off – at least 15 to 20 minutes of navigating runway spaces.
Finally we took off for Aberdeen.
It seems that everyone was very quiet on this flight – many appeared to
be asleep. I tried but couldn’t sleep on
this flight. This only lasted about an hour but we were ready to get off.
We had to go down the steps of this plane too. This airport is quite small. We had to go through immigration here but we
never did have to go through customs.
That was neat.
The immigration officer was very friendly and very
talkative. Of the three of us, I was the
only one to get the correct answer on one of the immigration questions – the
naming of our departure point. We all
had different answers and all of them could have been correct, depending on
your point of view. However, he agreed
with mine. One point for me. Probably the only point for me on the trip!!
We tried to check in for our third leg of the journey, but
we had to wait an hour and a half, so we were forced to eat a nice Scottish
breakfast. Linda and Sue actually had
beans with their breakfast!! I had
sausage. We were all happy to be out of
an airplane seat.
We checked in and I had had a day long panic attack (a few
weeks ago) about luggage sizes for nothing.
She looked at my middle size luggage and put a tag on it in case they
decide they need to put it in the hold.
They won’t decide that until I am ready to get on the plane. I just knew it was going to be way too big or
way too heavy and they just would not allow it.
No problem. And no extra charge.
I was the last of the three to check in so I hurried up to
catch up with the other two. They must
have really taken off quickly cause I just could not catch up to them. I got faster and faster. Then I got a text from Sue asking where I was
cause they were waiting on me!!!! So I
moved to the side of the security line and waited on them. They had been nice and waited on me but we
missed each other some how.
The security line was fun!
My fella was really helpful but I could tell he got a little exasperated
with me because I just kept pulling things out of my pockets and
computers/ipads out of my suitcase. He was very helpful but I think he needed a
break as I left. I turned around and saw
Linda getting a pat down. A really thorough pat down. The lady was checking everywhere she could on
Linda and just kept going and going.
Linda said that’s the most action she’s had in a while!! Finally we got through and then waited in the
waiting room for our third flight of the day.
All of this traveling is done on Day 1 – it’s just a combination of
Saturday and Sunday. We haven’t slept
since we got up early on Saturday morning and now it’s Sunday evening so we are
calling it one day.
They did take away our middle sized luggage as we climbed
the stairs to the plane. I was glad I
didn’t have to carry it up and down those steps. We were in row 10 and there were only 12 rows
on this plane and 3 seats in each row.
The propellers sure made for a loud trip – just a constant roar. I wasn’t sure the plane would get to a
cruising altitude – it sounded like it needed someone to get out and push. I actually slept some on this trip. For a while I kept my fingers in my ears, but
eventually gave up on that. I did wake
up a few times when my mouth fell open.
Oh well, the perils of travels.
At least no one could hear me snore over the roar of the plane. This flight was about an hour and I probably
slept about 40 minutes of it. As we
descended toward the Sumbaugh airport on the Shetland
Islands the plane began to sway left and right. It was exciting!!!!! Scary too.
Evidently we cross the main road on the island and cars have to stop
while the plane flies over. When we were
ready to get off the plane, I noticed the clothing on the workers. They were very protected against the wind and
you could see their clothing moving in the wind. We all put our jackets on and it was a good
thing too. The wind was terrible but the
workers said it was just a light breeze today.
I’d hate to see it really blowing.
It gets up to about 90 mph in the winter.
Our luggage was waiting on us inside and we quickly found
our taxi driver with my name on his little board. He packed all out luggage and I had trouble
getting into the car. I couldn’t keep
the car door open long enough to get in.
The wind kept pushing the door again my knee!!! There are no trees here except one or two in
a private garden. There are lots and lots
of sheep. Many, many sheep. Sue
practically fell asleep in the front seat of the taxi, but I was doing pretty
good since I had had a little nap on the plane.
We rode about 20 minutes to Westhall B&B near Lerwick
and were surprised to see an American flag waving in the front yard. Turns out that Julie, our hostess, flew it
just for us. Wasn’t that nice?? The house is beautiful. There is water on three sides of the
house. It seems there are ocean inlets
everywhere and so much beautiful green grass.
We saw heather and thistle on our way here – beautiful.
Julie fixed us sandwiches (cheese and pickle, ham, and egg),
lentil soup, potato chips, cake and fruit for dinner tonight. She sat down and let us ask questions about
all things Shetland. Turns out today is considered a really nice day – up to
about 53 degrees and not too windy!
Those are her words, not mine!! She did make the distinction between
Scottish and Shetland – evidently that is kind of important. She explained how this house was built in
1837 for the Sheriff and how it has been redone once or twice in that
time. Some of the floors are the
original floors. The walls are about a
foot thick.
It’s now 5:23 p.m. on Sunday night, we have had a busy day
(or two), and since we’ve had supper, we are preparing to take showers and go
to bed. I think (hope) we will sleep
well.
No comments:
Post a Comment