Edinburgh in Two Days or Less, Pt 1
Waiting for a Plane to Board
December 2007 RDU, NC
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Part One: Raleighwood to Edinburgh
“I’m so sorry you’re going to be getting in so early in the morning,” Seren said. “Your plane lands at 7:00am, right? That’s 2:00am your real time!”
“Thanks,” I said. “I was trying not to think about it.”
Ready for more?
We were sitting in the airport departure lounge, waiting for boarding to commence. Bonn was making the customary, final we’re-about-to-get-on-an-airplane-and-I-want-to-say-I-love-you-now-in-case-we-all-die-in-a-fiery-ball-of-molten-metal-and-petrol-soaked-flames phone call to Seren.
The problem was, I really was trying not to think about it. By carefully not doing any mental time conversions I had managed to convince myself that I’d get sufficient sleep on the plane to function just fine when we landed in Edinburgh. Sure, it might not be a full night's sleep, but it would certainly do.
However, when faced with the actual numbers, some nasty Sleeplessness of Not Enough Sleep, Never Enough Sleep awoke inside me.
So, despite more than enough empty seats on the plane to stretch out across, I managed only sporadic, dazed slight spasms of sleep during the long time sequence between leaving Raleighwood and arriving in Gatwick.
From Gatwick (at what my body was, indeed, insisting was only 2am) we cleared Customs and had to dash across the airport (why do the Brits x-ray carry on luggage and shoes separately?) to catch a shuttle flight from Gatwick to Edinburgh. That flight was, thankfully, running just late enough for us to sit, bleary-eyed and out of breath, amongst the London suit-tie-and-black-leather-shoe crowd making their early morning Presentation Day flights to Scotland.
Once in Edinburgh we sat down in the airport Costa Coffee lounge where we made a valiant effort to collect ourselves. I bought us a pair of diet cokes and was greeted with the first of our UK Sticker Shock moments -- £3.00 for the two sodas was the equivalent of spending just over $6.00. (I can buy a six-pack of bottled coke for less than that at home)
That was followed by 45 minutes of toll-free calls to our cell phone carrier trying to figure out why neither one of us could make the International phone call to the hotel. I mean, we'd only spent 2 hours on the phone between us the day before we left to get International calling activated on our phones.
Ah, the joys of travel.
We arrived at the hotel several hours before official check-in. They took pity on us and we took the first clean, non-smoking room they had available.
Then we crashed. Hard.
Edinburgh Hogamany Skyline
(click image for larger version)
December 2007 Edinburgh, Scotland
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One of the differences between Bonn and I is that she is a Type A personality: driven, constantly planning, worrying, putting things in order. I’m Type B: laid-back, relaxed, more than willing to sleep though the rest of the day and night given half the chance.
So it’s no surprise that Bonn awoke, took a shower and announced that it was time for us to go exploring Edinburgh.
I struggled myself awake, dressed, armed myself with two satchels (one for each camera) and hoisted my three-legged, aluminum baseball bat for protection over my shoulders and we headed out.
(Bonn asked why I carry the tripod. I said it was partially for nighttime camera work and partially so no one messes with us. She nodded, saying I thought like someone who has been mugged - which is true)
The hotel was a few miles outside of town, but Bonn said we’d already spent our allotment of money for the day with the taxi ride and the cokes, so we should walk into town.
“Besides, it will give us a chance to really get to know the city!” she said, doing her best to be convincing.
The route was fairly direct, but I still managed to get us somewhat lost. We hit a roundabout and I foolishly thought that the “Queensferry Road” sign along a right curve of an outer wall meant that Queensferry Road turned to the right there. Not quite. But we did get to see the Edinburgh Museum of Modern Art (a dark, imposing structure off in the distance) and back side of Stewart’s Melville College, another Hogwarts-like school building.
A Different View of Stewart’s Melville College
(Than the One Mentioned Above)
(But Posted Anyways Because I Think It's A Cool Image)
December 2007 Edinburgh, Scotland
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After asking for directions we got ourselves aimed back in the right direction to find the center of Edinburgh's downtown area.
We passed several old church buildings that disappeared into the black of the nighttime sky. Trying to get anything with either of the cameras simply wasn't an option. Still, it's good to get out and just enjoy the walk and not always be so preoccupied with the stupid cameras.
(At least I think that's the gist of what Bonn was telling me at the time)
You'd think that I would have at least had the common decency to take a few images of the nighttime lights of Princes Street, with all of the Christmas lights, the shops desperate to make as many sales over the next two weeks as possible, not to mention the bright, swirling lights of Edinburgh's Hogmanay.
Suffice it to say that the huge crowds of shoppers on Princes Street along with the sleek metal and glass lines of many of the high-end shops reminded me of some of my least favorite parts of New York City. Why travel clear across the pond just to experience what I'm not interested in exploring at home?
(And the shot of the Hogmanay above doesn't count. It was shot the next day from the other side of the bridge)
So the cameras stayed put.
We wandered into a the two book stores on Princes Street and that was about it.
Princes Street & Hogmanay
(click image for larger version)
December 2007 Edinburgh, Scotland
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I'd like to say we were too tired to walk back so we took this bus back to the hotel. We weren't and we didn't. This one comes from the next day, too. :)
And speaking of Hogmanay, Happy New Year everyone!
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