Tuesday, May 26, 2015

UK Trip 2015: The Flight and The Wrong Side of the Road

We took a United flight from Houston Intercontinental to London Heathrow. We flew Coach, but thankfully we were on a very fancy Dreamliner with all the bells and whistles.



 We did not have Wifi, but each seat had outlets and the seats were pretty spacious. Our flight left around 6:30pm (Houston time) and landed at around 9am (London time). However, to us, we felt like we were landing in the middle of the night.

Tiffany and Justin were across from us and their row had an empty seat (SCORE!) while Grant and I had a very nice person sit with us. She was on her way to see her mother for the first time since 2009. I was so excited for her :)

The flight had lots of children and I literally started praying for their parents. One poor guy stood in the galley way and held his baby for hours, trying to rock her to sleep. To no avail.

We came prepared with snacks, neck pillows, and blankets.... because airline blankets gross me out and provide no warmth whatsoever. We had iPads and headphones and Grant needed none of this because the screen in front of him included games that he could play with Justin. Never in the history of air travel have 2 men on a plane stared at a screen and played Yahtzee so passionately, shaking their fists at each other across the aisle.

I took this long trip to finally watch Into the Woods. My high school did that musical my sophomore year. I played the part of Rapunzel. It was so fun to watch the movie and relive some of those songs and think about all my high school friends who played each part. I even had a few of those "Oh my goodness, what ever happened to him?" moments as I thought about people I haven't thought about in 15 years. (Some people have decided to opt out of Facebook, it seems.) (Way to remain mysterious, people.)

The movie was well cast and well done. I found it visually impressive and they did a good job with the music. However, my opinion of the musical hasn't changed - I still like the first act much more than the second. I don't love the story of this musical but I'm still glad I saw it. Agony remains one of my favorite Broadway songs of all time.

At some point, Justin and I traded seats so Tiffany and I could make ourselves a cozy little bed in their row using the empty seat in the middle as leg room to lay down. I slept for probably 2-3 hours.

One thing I enjoyed on this flight was the people watching. Lots of getting up and walking around, visiting with strangers, brushing teeth in the airplane bathroom, people essentially wearing pajamas. One thing I could've done without was seeing a man enter the airplane bathroom BAREFOOT.

HE HAD NO SHOES OR SOCKS ON.

AND HE WENT INTO THE AIRPLANE BATHROOM.

NO.

THANK.

YOU.

SIR.

It was disturbing to say the least.

Grant was my airplane police officer though as he was with me at my last OB/GYN appointment where my doctor told me to be sure to get up and walk around a lot on the flight. I felt like every 30 minutes or so Grant was telling me it was time for me to get up. He means business!

We finally landed, got off the plane, went through customs, got our baggage, and then turned around and walked right back into the airport.

Sigh.

We were catching our next flight to Scotland via British Airways.

Thankfully, we were welcomed into the terminal by a parade of bagpipers. Seriously.

We found the Heathrow airport to be incredibly efficient. Our flight to Edinburgh was quick and smooth and I can't tell you much else about it because I literally slept from wheels up to wheels down.

We got to Edinburgh to find it VERY COLD AND WINDY. Oh my heavens, we were unprepared. We rented a vehicle and were very amused by Grant trying to figure out the driving situation.

I think we sat in that car for 20 minutes before we left the parking lot while he just tried to get his bearings and wrap his mind around what was about to happen.


He did figure it out and he did an excellent job. Justin was his navigator. There were a few panic attack "WHAT IS HAPPENING" moments but all in all I felt quite safe in the backseat. There are soooo many different road signs there. None of us knew what they meant. It was a pretty hilarious little road trip.

We got to our hotel, the Fraser Suites, (HIGHLY RECOMMEND) and after we freshened up from our day of travel, we hit the streets. Sunset is really, really late in Scotland so we had lots of daylight hours left to explore. We walked around, saw the outside of Edinburgh castle, and grabbed dinner.



(Sorry I stole your pic, Tiff.)

That top left photo is Haggis Fritters, which believe it or not I tried, and believe it or not they weren't bad! I wasn't brave enough to try haggis as it is more traditionally served, but I am still patting myself on the back for my haggis fritter courage.

That pint ain't mine, by the way. Preggo wasn't drinking. 

And then that night we went back to the hotel where I showered and then I FaceTimed with Ellie and then I died in the bed, I'm pretty sure.

Tune in tomorrow to find out Grant's favorite snack in Scotland!


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