Whirlwind London Visits and Back to Scotland

I FINALLY made it to the UK. The flight situation was an absolute nightmare. We were delayed 20 hours first due to a mechanical issue, then due to the fact that we no longer had a pilot who could fly for that long. It was stressful. I cried a number of times and had to be picked up and taken back home for another night. We finally got out of Salt Lake and the flight seemed to be okay, but then we learned that not all the entertainment systems worked. Because my screen didn't work the half of the flight, I didn't even have a reading light which was terrible. They got it working finally, but the whole flight situation was an absolute nightmare.

I arrived in London where they have a new border system for certain passports. I just had to scan my passport and stand in front of a camera, which was super weird. I got through in record time, no passport stamp (which made me a bit sad) and headed into London to meet Lucy! We had breakfast, hung out at King's Cross, and met a lady who absolutely loved be because of my packing abilities with ziploc bags. She was hilarious and totally made my day. 

Next, Tom met us for a few minutes to say hello. Getting to see those two was really, really nice because I had had such an awful time of it the whole day before hand. The train journey to Edinburgh was really long. It was a struggle. All I wanted to do was nap but I don't sleep well on any form of public transport. It was uneventful and just really long. Edinburgh is amazing as usual. I walked to the hotel where the rest of the tour people are staying and it was really lovely. Probably the nicest hotel I've stayed in in the UK so far. I napped, had a shower, and then went down to meet the tour group for dinner. 

Now. This tour is with The First Piper (Ross Jennings) and Travis Bluemling and their new company, Breacans. I have been following them both for awhile now, so meeting them was kind of amazing. I had a mini fangirl moment, but I think I held it together really well. At dinner, we sat with the whole group, talked, and just got to know each other. It was the first real sign that this trip was going to be great. All events up to this point hadn't yet convinced me of that. 

We were given the option to go wander around or to go back to the hotel. I chose to go back because I hadn't slept really at all. The beds were so comfy and inviting. When we got up in the morning, they prepared breakfast for us and Ross took us on a walking tour around the city. I've never done a tour in Edinburgh, so that was kind of exciting. We got in the vans and started making our way northwest of Edinburgh for lunch and then onto Midhope Castle, which was used as Lallybroch in Outlander. 

Falkland was our final stop of the night. We checked into our hotel, did a tour of the palace, hung out in the flat upstairs, and then went down to dinner in the pub below our accommodation. We were planning to get up early for a hike, so we were going to go to sleep early. I had talked to Travis about finding me a Scotsman, so I decided to swipe through Bumble, just for fun. I ended up going for a pint with a local and it was a lot of fun. We had time for one pint before the barman kicked us out, so we decided to go for a walk. We walked through the Falkland Estate and then through a park. I can't tell you much about either because it was super dark. But it is fun getting to talk to a local who wasn't just there to entertain us somehow. Plus, you know, he was a Scotsman my age who actually wanted to meet me, but I was transfixed anyway. 

A bunch of us got up early this morning, went for a hike up the Lomond Hills, which was really cool. I really enjoyed it. It was windy and wet and I was worried I was going to fall to my death a couple times, but I made it unscathed. My clothes are soaked, my boots are muddy, but since I'm not doing any running here, it was a nice way to do cardio. Now we are off to highlands! And I cannot wait.