Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Spring Break!

Ah the joys of flying when the seat next to you is empty. Is there anything better? Well, I did almost have a whole row of 3 to myself, but I can't begrudge the guy who grabbed the other aisle seat in my row when he had the chance. Still, watching the women in front of me stretch out in luxury over all 3 seats was hard.

I used to drop out of consciousness like a petrified bird out of the air when the plane took off, but those days are gone. Still, I feel I accomplished a lot during this time. I caught up on "The Amazing Race", and read another set of pages from my student's Dissertation, and contemplation the existential mysteries of the universe. Alone time in a darkened plane will do that to you.

Anyway, to wrap this story up, we landed! And how! I think Heathrow is a very nice airport once the trek from the gate to Passport Control was completed, with a very inviting atmosphere. Of course, I knew I was leaving, and had soon caught my domestic flight to Edinburgh.

From Edinburgh I rented a car, and tried to reacquire the "driving on the left hand side of the road" skill I had worked so hard to master in Australia. In fact, it was easy--it was the snowstorm that caught me a bit off guard.

When they say "the Highlands of Scotland" they mean it, and blinding snow (for a few miles at least) is par for the course in getting from lush green valley to lush green valley. I stopped in the quant town of Dunkeld for a bit, but for the most part pushed through driving to my first stop at Inverness. My hotel was right along the bank of the River Ness, which made for a picturesque view at night.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Amazing place, I spent three nights there some years ago and I really enjoyed it. Your picture brought me back some good memories. How lucky to be there!