Landed in Manchester at 8:00 a.m. Manchester time. (All times in the rest of the screens, until otherwise noted, is local time in the United Kingdom.) We had to depart from the plane down a ladder right onto the concrete. Then we took a bus to another part of the airport where we had to go through Immigration and Customs. No problems at either place. Made it through Immigration/Customs by 8:30 a.m.
We needed to take a commuter plane from Manchester to Glasgow, so we needed to get to the gate from which our flight would take off. There are three terminals in the Manchester Airport. We had to get to the opposite end of the airport. It was a very long walk for people who are carrying luggage. There were moving sidewalks that helped. We made it to our terminal at 9:00 a.m.
We stayed for a while in a lounge area. The smoking section was very close by, and the smell of smoke was throughout the whole area. We couldn't do very much with all of the luggage we had. We bought luggage locks at a store called "Boots." It was the first time we used pounds Stirling. I ate a whopper for lunch at an airport Burger King.
We moved to another lounge area. The gate for each flight was announced about 15 minutes before boarding began, so we had no idea where we would go to get to the plane. We tried to take turns sleeping. We boarded our flight at 1:55 p.m. It was a British Airways Dash 8-300 two engine prop plane. We took off at 2:05 p.m. Some of the passengers on the plane were British Airways employees. We landed in Glasgow a little after 3 p.m.
We took a taxi from the airport to the Jurys Hotel in Glasgow. We had a real good conversation with the taxi driver. I said to him that this was the first time we were in England. Then I said, "I mean Scotland." He said, "I was about to correct you, sir." I said that this was the first time we were in a country that drove on the left side of the road. I said that it was a little disorienting. I said that we saw from the plane how people were driving on the left side of the road, but it wasn't disorienting from there. I mentioned that Brenda has a friend from Glasgow who lives in the Philadelphia area now. Brenda and everyone at work still think she has a very strong Scottish accent. She came to visit Glasgow not too long ago, and her relatives told her that she had an American accent. Then she went driving in the country with her husband (also from Scotland), and she couldn't understand some of the people she asked directions from. Then Brenda asked him where he went for vacations. (Always a good idea to find out where people who live in a tourist area go for vacations.) He said that he took his wife for their 25th anniversary to Thailand. It was very beautiful and very reasonable in cost. Then they started going to Bali. It was even more beautiful and still very reasonable to fly from Glasgow. Something to think about.
We checked in the Jurys Hotel. Room 106. We took a short walk. There was a pond nearby where swans and ducks were swimming. We walked along a road toward an apartment complex. We passed some tennis courts. The apartments were old buildings with very nice doorways. Took some pictures. Got back to the hotel in time to get ready for meeting up with all of the group.
The first person we talked to was Derek, the tour director. He introduced us to Brian Owens, the bus driver. He also introduced us to some people from Canada, the Gairs. After talking for a while, we moved down to the dining area. We ate at the end of one of the tables with the Gairs and some people from Alabama/Georgia, two sisters (Virginia and Debbie) and Debbie's son, David, a recent high school graduate. They served us baked whiting which was very good though it had lots of bones. We had a wonderful conversation with the Gairs, David, and the two sisters. Of course, we talked about why anyone had chosen to visit Scotland. The Gairs, Bob and Judy, have read a lot of books on Scottish history. One author in particular was recommended: Nigel Tranter. He writes historical fiction -- the facts are correct, the conversations are made up. I brought up Norma Lorre Goodrich. Some of her books are out of print. We went back to our room to get ready for bed. We had only had 2 hours of sleep at the most since we got up Tuesday morning.
|
|
