Scotland 2016...the beginning

Well, Steve and I have been back home from Scotland for 3 weeks and I am finally getting around to writing a post about our trip.  Add up jet lag, being sick for 1-1/2 weeks, going back to work, and having to be responsible for other human beings (aka kids) again makes it hard to find a spare moment when I feel creative enough to write and look at pictures.  Better late than never, so here goes!

Sunday, May 29, 2016

Our trip started with having to drive from Nelson to Calgary to catch our flight.  Steve had booked our WestJet flights last September when they had just announced their new direct flights from certain Canadian cities to Gatwick, England, for really cheap.  It turned out that WestJet was having major problems with their new planes and had contracted the flights out to another airline called OmniAir International, which I read was used to transport military troops.  Needless to say, the plane was not what we were expecting (looked like it was from the 1970s and required a 2-prong adapter to use regular headphones for the movie), was 2+ hours late taking off from Calgary, and was generally uncomfortable.  However, we arrived safely in Gatwick Airport a little over 8 hours later.

Monday, May 30, 2016

From there we had to stand in a long queue for Customs and then hop on a shuttle to get from the North terminal to the South terminal, where we bought our TwoTogether railcard, which allowed us to save 30% off of our train tickets as long as we traveled before 9:30 a.m. and were traveling together.  We then hopped on the Gatwick Express and rolled up to London, where I basically was a tired sack of s**t for the next 8 hours.  I had planned to do some exploring in London and see the sights, but I was so tired I was falling asleep at the coffee shop table while Steve was buying coffee.  Somewhere in the middle of this exhausting fun, we rode the tube (London underground) from London Victoria train station to London Euston train station.  That was interesting and slightly scary.  You don't have much time to squeeze your ass through the doors and shove yourself between the masses of people before the door closes and you're whipped off to the next station at high speeds.  Keep in mind that we were both carrying back packs that weighed somewhere between 40-50 lbs each.  There were also 2 flights of very steep escalators that people are hurrying up and down to catch their next subway to work or wherever.  You are quite a ways underground when you're in the underground!  We walked around a bit but mostly stayed at the London Euston train station where we would catch our sleeper train to Glasgow shortly before midnight, due to my exhaustion.  I also napped in the park outside the train station using Steve as a pillow, and we both slept on the floor of the train station for a few hours before our train.  The sleeper train was pretty cool; it had different cars for different destinations (Glasgow, Fort William, Edinburgh, etc) and each car for those destinations is left at its station while the rest of the train continues North.  It had a little package with ear plugs and an eye mask for each passenger and it was actually pretty quiet, so we had a decent sleep.

We were pretty tired and not looking our best, lol.

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

We arrive in Glasgow!  Yay, finally in Scotland!  We arrived at the Glasgow Central train station and had to wait a few hours until 9:30 a.m. when we could buy our train tickets to Maybole, Ayrshire.  I was afraid to drink any coffee because my stomach was jittery and I think I had a croissant for breakfast...can't remember.  Oh, and did I mention that you have to pay for the bathrooms in the train stations?!  I think Glasgow was 40 p and the London Victoria station was 50 p, so basically $1 to go to the bathroom...and they weren't all that clean.  I think the women's was cleaner than the men's from what Steve told me; he looked like he'd narrowly escaped the clutches of the Sarlacc each time he returned, lol.  

Here are a few pics from the train station and around Glasgow.  I haven't done any editing on these pictures yet (I have over a thousand to go through), so hopefully the quality is not too bad.  The first 2 pictures are from the streets of Glasgow near the station.

These were from the Glasgow Central train station.  It was actually really beautiful.

I will save our time in Ayrshire for my next post, but for now here are some traveling tips:

• Take a travel pillow.  I didn't want to carry one with such a big pack but I would next time for sure.
• Get a railcard for the train if possible.  This saved us a bunch of $ and I loved traveling by train.  You can buy a railcard at any staffed train ticket office.  You need to have your application, which you can print off at home ahead of time, and a passport-sized photo and they will make your card up in about 5 minutes.
• Use the bathrooms on the trains when they are available!  They are generally pretty clean and they are free.  Be advised that they don't flush when at a station...not sure why, maybe because everything is flushed onto the tracks?  :/
• Have change handy in case you need the bathroom in the train station.  There are change machines at the bathrooms but you need some actual money to put in them...they don't take cards.
• Buy food at a grocery store if possible instead of in the airport or train station.  Station food can be expensive, though it is nice for breakfast when you want a croissant and a good coffee.  

Next up:  Ayrshire!