So mom and I left on our trip. The flight out of Portland was uneventful until we got to Iceland. Our flights were delayed before we left Portland but discovered when we got to Iceland why. It seems the air traffic controllers were on strike.
We landed and when the plane came to a stop about a mile from the terminal we should have known it wasn’t going to be good. So they announced that anyone who had a connecting flight would be getting off the plane first and any one who was staying over would deplane after us. We got off the plane and holy crap it was cold. We walked down metal stairs onto the Tarmac and into a waiting bus that was to take us to the terminal. Walked into the terminal and it was mass chaos everywhere. The airport isn’t big to begin with but then it was loaded with wall to wall people. I’ve never seen anything like it before.
So we found our gate and stood there for about 30 minutes waiting for them to load us on the plane. The lady in charge comes out and says that our gate has been changed and to follow her. So off to the other end of the airport we go (where we originally came in). They finally start the boarding process and as we get outside we are loaded onto another bus. Off we go on a ride again. This time the ride took us about 2 miles away from the terminal. We were joking that we hoped they didn’t think to drive us to Scotland. LOLOL…..we finally ended up at our plane, sitting all by itself out in the middle of nowhere. They unloaded us from the bus and we had to walk to either the front or back of the plane and back up the metal stairs to get on.
By this time mom and I were both so tired that I slept the flight from Iceland into Glasgow.
Got the car at Glasgow airport and here is where the fun really begins. It’s funny now but I have to say at the time it wasn’t funny at all. So figuring out how to drive on the opposite side of the road really wasn’t as hard as I thought but not knowing where I was going stressed me out. This country really likes their traffic circles. They have them everywhere and I believe it’s their favorite form of traffic control. Also trying to figure out if I was supposed to be going by the miles per hour on the speedometer or the kilometers on the digital readout had me wondering if I was going to get pulled over and get a ticket. I finally found a gas station and pulled over. I was so stressed out that I was shaking. Mom went in to get a better map than the one I had bought and did what she does and made friends with everyone. She did get us a better map and the nice guy in the store gave her directions to get us going in the right direction. Funny thing was we were only one exit from where we needed to be.
Finally made it to our hotel without further incident. The hotel reminds me of an old fashioned inn.
We checked in at the bar and were given our room key. Which by the way is an actual key. The room isn’t super small, but the en suite bathroom is very, very tiny.
We were out cold by 8pm.