Alive in Scotland - Just Barely

First things first, I made it safely to Edinburgh! Mission accomplished!

Now to the adventurous part - the journey! I assumed, having traveled to South Africa (the land of no time consciousness) and back multiple times now, that a 'quick' flight to orderly Scotland would be no big deal. My first wrong. My bad luck started out from the very beginning! My flight out of Saint Louis was delayed an hour and a half just as we were backing out of the gate so of course we got to just sit on the plane. That 50 minute flight turned into 3 hours of sitting. I was left with 10 minutes to catch my connecting flight in Chicago. So I pulled a Home Alone and ran through the terminal just making it to the gate to be one of the last ones to board. At this point I'm sweating profusely and coughing up a lung due to a current cold but so proud to have made it. Turns out there is a mechanical failure on that plane. Glad I hurried to get on! We sit for over 2 hours, again not allowed off the flight. Once we have finally taken off, the flight from Chicago to London goes well until we go to land and there is too much air traffic so we have to circle the city multiple times. By the time I finally get off the plane in London, I have about 35 minutes to change terminals (have to take a 10+ minute bus ride there), go through security and customs, and make it to my final gate which, as usual, is a good hike. I thought for sure it was impossible. Luckily I got some bright orange 'Express Connection' pass and teamed up with another girl in my situation and we again set out running. I'm in boots and have two pretty heavy bags; I look ridiculous. I really knew I should have gotten in shape over the summer! In the end we somehow made the flight and touched down in Edinburgh 2 minutes AHEAD of schedule - even after all that!

I had finally landed! And early at that! Things had to go swimmingly from here on, right? Another wrong. I go wait at the luggage carousel and one of my bags come but not the other - the other that happens to have ALL my jeans and pants, the majority of my makeup and toiletries, and my jackets. The British Air people say they will 'try' to find it and 'maybe' have it delivered tomorrow. Thanks? So then the whole taxi situation is hectic because there are a TON of students arriving this weekend. I get one though and the guy takes me to get my flat key and then to my flat. I hand him my credit card to pay (I had specifically asked the company that arranged the taxi if credit card payment was an option and they assured me that it was) and he tells me he only takes cash. So he drives me to an ATM all the while racking up more money I owe him. For some reason none of my cards will go through. He takes me to another ATM, same thing. Not only am I worried about being completely money-less in a foreign country but also having to rely on this taxi driver to get me where I need to go without having any way to pay him. I get in the taxi about to cry and he says he will now take the credit card. I'm still confused.

So at this point it's about 3 in the afternoon (Saturday) when I finally stumble into my room. Like Scotland, it's pretty dreary. I realize I won't sleep unless I get bedding and spruce the place up so I immediately head out in search of IKEA. Thanks to a bunch of really friendly locals (most of whom I barely understood), I was able to find an ATM that worked, a business to exchange my paper money for coins (bus only takes exact fare), the bus stop, the correct bus to get on and the correct stop to get off at for IKEA. IKEA is overwhelming in and of itself but I managed to gather up the basics for the night. I think it was me and about 200 Asian international students shopping. 

Anyway, that about sums up the hectic parts of my journey. On the up side, I did just meet my 5 other flat mates a short while ago and they are extremely friendly and normal! Hopefully I will start getting to know them better tomorrow!

All in all Scotland is a beautiful place but I can't say I have fallen in love at first sight as I did with Cape Town/Stellenbosch. Could just be the rough entry, not sure yet. It's pretty dreary and the whole city seems to be brown. On top of that I haven't met Prince Harry or J.K. Rowling yet. What a let down!

I'll post pictures soon!