Day One

Day one. I like writing that because it means that I am on an adventure.

Kaytie slept over Monday night so that we could be all organized and ready to go.  Which really means that I didn’t start packing until after I should have been in bed and I still spent the hour between work and leaving running around wishing someone from my immediate family was home so I could respond irrationally to my stress-anxiety-excitement, and ask before I just borrowed their stuff…Sorry.

We walked out the door at promptly 1 pm, before walking back in… We got on the road with plenty of time for a few detours; you know food, fuel, jolly ranchers (apparently they aren’t a thing over here).  I had never driven to the Calgary airport before and the whole idea of parking and all that had me worried (more worried than just showing up at the Heathrow Airport and having to get to Edinburgh if I am being totally honest).  We got the airport with plenty of time where I quickly took a wrong turn and ended up in a labyrinth style parking garage I was momentarily convinced I would never escape and decided I would just pay an insane amount of money to abandon my car there and worry about being trapped when I got back. After driving up and down a few levels the terribleness of that decision calmed me down; I have no money- I am missing work AND taking an expensive holiday, do I really want to still be trapped here in two weeks? I will be exhausted and all post vacation- if I cannot escape it now why would it be easier then? After driving around confusedly I did manage to follow the well-marked exit signs out of the garage, take a few more wrong turns driving in circles before we found a spot to park and were ready to really get started!

We flew on Air Canada direct from Calgary to Heathrow. We left 7:30 in the evening from Calgary and landed at 11:00 am in London (or 4:00 am at home). After clearing customs and collecting our bags things start to get interesting. 

Kaytie already purchased our tickets from Kings Cross station to Edinburgh so now we just have to get from the airport to the train station. After wandering around a bit and asking for help more than once we bought our tickets and got on the underground. 

It brought us right to Kings Cross where we asked a few more people for help and got our train all figured out, then we killed some time in the station…

I am typing this from the train as the gorgeous country side zooms by outside the window, and delightful accents surround me on all sides (most of which I have slept through- did I mention the 7 hour time difference?).  

Jude and Simon picked us up from the train with their darling Emily, go us fish and chips and Irn Bru- we are definitely in Scotland! I am soooooo excited!