Glasgow, Scotland!

We are on another adventure to this lovely land Scotland!

We survived the arduous travel night/day, which is always so long. We got to the airport by 4pm for a 7:30 flight, and we had bid for an upgrade through Iceland Air and got to sit in first class. We had to sit across the aisle from each other but that was fine since we both appreciate the aisle seats, and thankfully, we both had lovely people sitting next to us. We both found that the seats in the exit rows have just as much legroom (a non-issue for me) as the seats in first class, however you get much more room per seat and they are more comfortable in terms of squishiness. For me, they were generally a lot less comfortable overall (other than the seat cushioning which was a godsend for my spinal arthritis, though I still sat on a pillow) because they were set so far back that I needed to use the blanket as a lumbar bolster, and I didn’t realize that the foot rests had any other settings than the lowest until a little while before landing, so that was a real bummer. I would’ve been so much more comfortable had I known. The rest of the experience was fine, but in my opinion not worth too much extra money. I got really nauseous just as we got our food, so I could barely eat any of it, though it was pretty good. It was fun to try first class once, but I guess I wouldn’t bother with it again, or if we did, at least I know what I would need to get more comfortable next time around.

We had a 3 1/2 hour layover in Iceland which was not comfortable at all since they have such hard seating everywhere, but we finally found a softer bench of stretch out on, and due to exhaustion I just had to lay down and close my eyes for a while, it helped take the edge off of no sleep, but we were very ready for a hotel! Thankfully, the flight from Iceland was less than two hours, and the passport control process in Glasgow airport was a breeze! No interview! Just scan your passport at the electronic thingy and we were through!

Our hotel, Native Glasgow, is incredible! It’s like an apartment with a kitchenette, split level layout and even laundry in the unit! We slept beautifully, going to bed around 6:30 because we just couldn’t force ourselves to stay awake anymore! We slept so well, and feel great this morning. Though we woke at 3:30a, and decided we were too awake and just made coffee. One nice thing about that is it gives us a lot of leisure time for coffee and blogging (and the need for our morning poo’s) and no need to feel rushed. 

Today the plan is to visit the National Piping Museum, the Tennents Brewery tour, and the Potstill bar with live sessions! We also would like to see the botanical gardens and potentially see a play and grab a savory pie a placed called the Òran Mor. We may also check out a place with good sounding food called Babbity Bowster. There’s a lot to see but not a lot of time to do all the things!

Tomorrow it is supposed to be rainy all day, so we signed up for an Outlander tour with a tour company called Rabbie’s. Outlander is a tv series we like that is set in Scotland, and the tour takes you to a bunch of sites from the series, which includes a bunch of really cool castles and quaint villages. We will be taking another Rabbie’s 3day tour to the Isle of Mull in a few days and we are really excited for that. Rabbie’s run smaller tours of about 12-14 people, local tour guides that know a lot about the history of Scotland and they use smaller but very comfortable buses that relieve the strain on smaller villages that have to deal with those massive bus tours all the time. 

We did a little walkabout the neighborhood yesterday and got some groceries at a place called Salisbury’s and got a simple dinner  of pre-made sandwiches and Cullen Skink soup, which is a delicious rich, creamy fish soup that originated in a town called Cullen here in Scotland. We watched some Rick Steve’s videos about Scotland before turning in. 

We are excited for another day!