My recent trip to Scotland caused me to remember an eighties film called Outland, starring Sean Connery. He played a federal marshal in space and at the end he and his family flew back to Earth from one of Jupiter's moons, and due to the length of time for the flight, they had to be put to sleep for the entire trip. This seems to me the best way to travel, especially after starting our trip on Friday afternoon with an hour and fifteen minute trip north to Dayton in order to save $200 on each ticket, then transferring to Detroit, then flying, perplexingly, nearly 500 miles past Glasgow to Amsterdam, and then finally on to Glasgow. At least it appears we got the extra miles as frequent flyer points.
I've always chosen centrally located hotels on my solo travels, not having to rent a car or deal with additional hassles of staying outside the city, so this was a challenge for me since we were staying at a resort in South Ayrshire, about 1 and 1/2 - 2 hours southwest of Glasgow. Neither Kent or I slept on any of the planes, especially with the usual crying babies, so we were in a state of stun as we arrived through customs in Glasgow at around 8:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. Coffee seemed to be the first necessary item. I had originally planned for us to take in Glasgow via the shuttle that left the airport and went to the city center and then pick up the car back at the airport later in the day, but after finding out it would cost us more to leave our bags at the airport than it would to park in downtown Glasgow (we must learn to pack lighter), and finally admitting to each other how tired we were, we went to the car rental agent and tried to get our car early, which still caused us to be stuck at the airport Starbuck's until 11:00, as the car wasn't ready. FYI -- free WiFi is not as readily available in Europe as I had thought, not even in a Starbucks.
On my previous trip to London I hadn't driven and mostly walked or took the subway, so was unfamiliar with the roundabout on the motorways. We have one minor roundabout in a Cincinnati park, but it is nothing compared to ones in Glasgow on the motorway. The lack of sleep and overwhelming highway driving (and I wasn't even driving) pretty much did me in that day. The fact that our cottage couldn't be made ready early and wasn't even ready at its appointed time made me long for the city center. I'm amazed as I look back that I was able to capture the beauty of the scenery flashing before our eyes, especially as mine kept wanting to close for good during the drive.
Finally, twenty minutes past the time it should have been ready we gained access to our cottage, which wasn't fully clean, but I was too tired to care. After a quick bath and a nap, I was conscious enough to go next door with Kent to the golf club that he had already checked out (it was the closest dining facility). The very good food made by Martin and his wife, Patricia, helped me become almost human again. The drizzling rain that had started as we waited for our cottage in the lounge had luckily stopped, and I was able to get a shot of the beguiling sky before us.
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