Day 1 UK Arrival and Scotland: 9-15-2012

The day began as the previous one ended, crammed into a window seat with limited space for my legs. The flight was nearly turbulence free and aside from the cramped feet was very nice. British Airways has some issues, but the quality of their crews is not one of them. Very friendly, service oriented people who made both flights very enjoyable. Given my internal abilities the dairy free food was a welcome option and I was glad I selected it. Entertainment was provided in the fform of movies, TV shows and pre recorded radio programs. I took the opportunity to see The Avengers, Brave, and bits of some other movies, but my real discovery was the comedy selection from BBC 2; something to look up later.

We were delayed coming in to Heathrow and spent 15 minutes in a holding pattern. Since the my layover was extremely short I was faced with several maddening sprints across the terminal and a great deal of ultimately unnecessary panic. The nice lady who met me coming off the plane gave me an express pass to cross the airport and speed me through security lines as my flight was leaving within 1 hour of arrival . . . this didn’t really help but later on it was a good bookmark.  The subway between the 3 terminals was simple and easy to use, but I got flustered trying to go between terminals and thus wasted valuable time dithering when I should have been sprinting to immigration.

My experience in Heathrow was lamentable and got repeated two weeks later (more on that in another blog entry). Immigration was laughable, but so be it. We kept being passed from officer to officer line to line even though there were almost no people and 3 immigration officers on duty. Realizing that further delays might ensue if I didn’t do this part I borrowed a pen and finally filled in my immigration card as best I could. Once they had scanned my eyes; I should mention that the UK loves to scan your eyes when you visit, stay at or depart from airports; I made another sprint for the metal detectors two levels up. By the time I arrived at the detectors my flight was already due to be buttoning up and about to depart so I was a bit panicked and it showed. They told me not to remove my boots, but with metal hooks I didn’t want to take a chance with further delays. Another determined lope saw me find my gate for the connecting flight to Edinburgh where I discovered that our flight was at least 35 minutes late and everyone was standing in line with bored expressions on their faces. I began to drip sweat, but I had made my connecting flight!

So flying from London to Edinburgh is really fairly pain free once you get past the hurdles of Heathrow. The flight is nice, the scenery is idyllic and they bring snacks about 10 minutes into the flight. If you look out your window over Northumbria and the Scottish Borders you will see something to gladden your heart . . . the farmers and landowners are planting some fields in with trees. It was later explained to me by my Scottish tour guide that this was just for paper pulp, but a tree is a tree and they replant the cleared land with trees after harvest. Not a bad crop to grow and very scenic so I am onboard with this initiative. Heck, it beats raising sheep (this ties in to the Lowland and Highland clearances and the radical destruction of the naticve forrests of the UK).

From Edinburgh airport I caught the regular bus into the city. Riding through the 19^th and 20^th century suburbs to the 18^th century city and the medieval city on the hill is an interesting experience. Aside from extensive sections of tract housing this city is comparatively old. The architecture is unmistakably Scottish, chock full of crow stepped gables and very tall townhouses. Naturally exampled of Scottish Baronial architecture abound. The choice of stone is unfortunate since it tends to be dark, but that is partly a function of what was available and is not helped by the latitude of the city. But don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Edinburgh! The bus stopped in Central Edinburgh and dropped me off around 1:00 at the bus depot near the upper city. A short hike to the crest of the mountain/hill/old city brought me to Castle Hill backpackers on Johnson Terrace just across from the Castle Rock.

The rest of the day was spent checking in at the hostel, having a late lunch, touring the city on foot, seeing the Princess Street Gardens, taking lots of photos, seeing Greyfrians Kirk and Kirkyard, missing the final tour to the Castle, having dinner, reading for a bit, and getting an early night’s sleep.

More on Day 2 soon.