I have to say, it's not that I've forgotten my trip or that it wasn't epically amazing and there's nothing to tell. In fact, I think I have too much to tell! My plans had been to keep a journal while I was there so I could tell you all everything! I started out pretty good. I wrote all about everything from getting to the hotel on Friday night to when we were waiting for a hotel room in Edinburgh. But it started to go downhill from there. So I decided to just take notes... Write down the highlights from each adventure... And that lasted until we got to Ireland. But looking back, my notes just kind of... suck.
So now I've decided this will just be random and weird ramblings from my trip! Warning: This could possibly get long. Maybe even boring at times. But hey! It's my blog and I can say what I want to! ;o) I'll break it up so it's not TOO overwhelmingly long.
First of all, I want to say that my first flight was not bad at all. Ok, the poor screaming baby and crying 5 year old I could have lived without. But hey, my ears hurt too so I could understand. I also wasn't quite anticipating flying in a diet coke can. ;o) (The plane was a tad small and a bit overly warm.) But hey, I was adding new experiences to my life! Overall, the flight from Memphis to Newark wasn't so bad. Security was easy. And I was well on my way to Scotland!
Flight #2 was much better as far as not having screaming infants in my ear. We also flew in a much bigger plane so that was nice. I even pulled out the blanket a time or 2! But, security was a bit different. I had my first official "pat down"... I suppose I looked suspicious. Maybe it was the bags under my eyes? I have no idea. But of course I was safe and we moved right along.
I will say that flying across the ocean takes time. And I am not really used to just... sitting. I read. I watched the flight map. I played Bejeweled (as best I could with the little screen not registering that I was actually touching it. Grrr!) I tried to sleep. I ate the plane food. (Really not too bad! I lived through it!) I read more. Played more. Watched the screen of the guy in front of me. (Very weird show- surely less weird with sound!) So yeah, it was a long flight! But I didn't panic and actually flying was nice and I hope to fly somewhere again sometime!
So after hours and hours of flying, we landed in Edinburgh, Scotland for the first leg of our journey!! All I could think about was a nice hot shower and a change of clothes before we began the tour of Stirling Castle. We were picked up by Peter, our first bus driver. (Peter was very funny and very Irish! I loved Peter!) We arrived at the hotel and... no rooms. There had been a wedding there the day before and the wedding guests were still there. So... we waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, it was getting close to time to leave for our tour. Still no rooms. Still no shower. So I took my change of clothes (from my carry-on bag!) and went to the hotel restroom and changed. Put in my contacts. Splashed my face with water. Tried to look human... (Seriously, how human can you look with no sleep, a 6 hour time difference, no shower, and wrinkled clothes from a carry-on bag?!)
Yep, this was Day 1: sleep deprived, shower deprived... But very happy at Stirling Castle!
Stirling Castle itself was pretty amazing! It was the first castle I had ever seen and I was impressed. I only wish I had been more awake to hear what our tour guide had to say! ;o)After touring Stirling Castle, we made our way back to the hotel where we were given our room keys (oh thank heavens!). Unfortunately, not enough time for a shower so we just freshened up as best we could and headed out for dinner at the pub and then an incredibly cool (yet again, hard to enjoy being so exhausted) ghost walking tour of Edinburgh! And might I add, I believe it rained on us. ;o)
We learned a lot. The tour was quite fascinating. I took tons of pictures. Went to the hotel... and fell asleep (after that hot shower... finally!). By 2am, I was wide awake and ready to face the day! Unfortunately, I had to wait until 6am to actually face it!... But at least I got in lots of thinking time! And I learned my lesson... Keep the iPod by my bed so I could at least read when I woke up! ;o)
Ok, enough for part 1!
To be continued.... ;o)
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