Edinburgh, United Kingdom

No need to discuss my feelings about getting up so early. Our taxi is scheduled for 8:30, which happens to be rush hour around town. Our driver zipped in and out of roads and roundabouts, getting us to the airport in a very timely manner. There were lines of people at all the airline counters; apparently everyone was leaving at the same time.

Here’s the fun part: since we were flying Business Class, we were able to walk right up to the counter; no fuss, no muss. Five minutes later, we were heading for security. Again, we were able to line jump with pre-check and within twenty minutes, we were at our gate. I’m not complaining, but now we had almost two hours to sit around and wait.

The flight home was comfortable. United has really bumped up it’s service with their Polaris Cabin and the aftermath of the incidents on-board. The food was very good and there was plenty of it. Sue actually had to stop them from pouring her more Prosecco or there might have been another viral video.

We both managed to grab a little nap before they came around with our pre-arrival meal. Again, very good, but we were both full. Landed right on time – Good job United!

More fun now. We signed up for Global Entry, so while everyone lined up, we scooted over to the kiosk and were through customs in about 15 minutes. Woo hoo! Grabbed our bags, again got to line jump and over to re-check our bags in no time. A couple minutes going through security and we felt accomplished.

Air traffic delays, some weather delays, mechanical issues and delayed flight crews saw our leisurely wait at the airport turn into a ten and a half hour marathon. Woo hoo! After landing in Newark at 1:40pm, we finally landed in Buffalo at 1:06am. Good grief.

But that all said, Scotland was wonderful. Beautiful scenery, great history, wonderful food and most of all – friendly people. We intend to return as there are so many more sights that we would like to see. Hard to believe that we originally thought that we’d just tack on a couple days after Iceland.

I would say that the highlights were seeing St Andrews, Rosslyn Chapel, the Royal Britannia Yacht, the Edinburgh Castle, the Scottish Countryside and learning more of the history of Scotland. Sue would also add the Georgian House and the Surgeon’s Hall Museum. Oh yea, and the Gin!

Thanks for following along. Sorry for the drop off the last few days, in case it wasn’t overly obvious, I did something that is causing back and hip pain. Now to heal up.