Well you know how travel starts out... excitement, nerves , excitement, calm, excitement and finally a sense that everything that you could have done has been done and then checked and rechecked. Things simply cannot go wrong... right? Wrong!! Never underestimate the forces of the universe when they are determined that something will go wrong. Alas, after multiple forays into the world of travel with no mishaps of any consequence, we collectively gathered enough on the first 24 hours of our Fund For Teacher's Fellows grant trip to study Dark Skies in Scotland to make even most seasoned travelers wince.
Don't get me wrong, the day started out great! I got things finished ; we were ahead of schedule and headed to Charlotte to check in and have a leisurely meal before leaving for Scotland. Goal accomplished and we bade Nathan goodbye as he headed towards his flight to DC and we towards ours to JFK to connect to Edinburgh. Not more than 45 minutes later , the day started to unravel. Our plane was late... that was still okay because it was on the ground and arriving in 5 minutes. Nope wrong, remember that word, wrong? The flight is now delayed long enough that we will have 10 minutes to make our flight at JFK , so I figure that I will be proactive and hunt up the customer service folks... enter American Airlines employee Gwendolyn. She got us on a flight to London and from there we would simply jump the " shuttle" to Edinburgh.... Been done a hundred times and it was done this day as well.... We are feeling pretty good about things and you and I both know that never works.... take things into consideration with guarded optimism.
Our flights are uneventful... the movies haven't changed , so I made a jukebox mix of music and actually slept on the long leg of the flight... well if I am truthful, I slept on the short leg as well...I am really glad I did because the day unraveled, remember I told you it had started to do that? We arrived in Edinburgh and the clouds were breaking , sunlight beaming through and we took this as an omen! The universe was finally letting its icy cold finger release the vise like grip it had on us! That couldn't have been further from the truth as the realization of this fact dawned slowly on us as the huge group of passengers and their respective luggage started to dwindle until there was only a paltry group of luggage-less travelers hoping that there were just a few more suitcases that might make an appearance. You have heard the expression: If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride? Beggars had a better chance of riding a horse than we did to have our luggage with us tonight. File the claim, stand in line for 45 minutes to pick up our reserved car and we are off. Well I mean we go around the rotary and down the road a bit and arrive at the hotel that is our home for the next eight days.
Not to be discouraged by forces out of our control, we washed up, had a planning meeting , some great food and are making it an early night...... fingers crossed we have luggage tomorrow. Our days look amazing and we are not letting a minor setback slow us down!
Don't get me wrong, the day started out great! I got things finished ; we were ahead of schedule and headed to Charlotte to check in and have a leisurely meal before leaving for Scotland. Goal accomplished and we bade Nathan goodbye as he headed towards his flight to DC and we towards ours to JFK to connect to Edinburgh. Not more than 45 minutes later , the day started to unravel. Our plane was late... that was still okay because it was on the ground and arriving in 5 minutes. Nope wrong, remember that word, wrong? The flight is now delayed long enough that we will have 10 minutes to make our flight at JFK , so I figure that I will be proactive and hunt up the customer service folks... enter American Airlines employee Gwendolyn. She got us on a flight to London and from there we would simply jump the " shuttle" to Edinburgh.... Been done a hundred times and it was done this day as well.... We are feeling pretty good about things and you and I both know that never works.... take things into consideration with guarded optimism.
Our flights are uneventful... the movies haven't changed , so I made a jukebox mix of music and actually slept on the long leg of the flight... well if I am truthful, I slept on the short leg as well...I am really glad I did because the day unraveled, remember I told you it had started to do that? We arrived in Edinburgh and the clouds were breaking , sunlight beaming through and we took this as an omen! The universe was finally letting its icy cold finger release the vise like grip it had on us! That couldn't have been further from the truth as the realization of this fact dawned slowly on us as the huge group of passengers and their respective luggage started to dwindle until there was only a paltry group of luggage-less travelers hoping that there were just a few more suitcases that might make an appearance. You have heard the expression: If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride? Beggars had a better chance of riding a horse than we did to have our luggage with us tonight. File the claim, stand in line for 45 minutes to pick up our reserved car and we are off. Well I mean we go around the rotary and down the road a bit and arrive at the hotel that is our home for the next eight days.
Not to be discouraged by forces out of our control, we washed up, had a planning meeting , some great food and are making it an early night...... fingers crossed we have luggage tomorrow. Our days look amazing and we are not letting a minor setback slow us down!
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