My second week in Scotland was as fun as the first.
Elisa and I finished sewing 2 pillows and a pair of sheep named Rogan and Josh, to go along with Tad and Pole; we watched all three of the "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" movie series - the Swedish versions with English subtitles; we made soup; and had lots of lounging around and eating of chocolate and making of puns.
Overall a fantastic time was had by all. It was a hard choice but Claymore stayed behind in Scotland because the Laird indicated that there were sheep and cooo's to rustle before winter set in and he was needed to provide for his family.
The trip home was another event in of itself. On Thursday afternoon, Mike drove me back into Aberdeen and I popped into the Aberdeen Whisky Shop to get a nice bottle for our next door neighbor and after that we went back to the CLAN house for another fish & chips supper. We retired early as we had to be up at 5:30 am so I could get to the airport as 7:00 am to check-in for my flight home.
The flight from Aberdeen to Frankfurt went off without a hitch and I had plenty of time to get through security (again) and to my gate for the flight to San Francisco. Once I did get to the gate they made us queue to do a security screening which I felt was odd since I had done this in Aberdeen, you know those questions about who packed the bag, were you given anything to carry, blah, blah, blah... but I just took it in stride and then had a sticker put on the back of my passport.
And then I had to go stand in ANOTHER LINE so they could get my passport and ICE information (In Case of Emergency). I thought this was a bit much but considering it was Germany who knows what rules had been put in place since my last trip through here but I had not seen this much scrutiny even at Heathrow. Once that was done, guess what - I got to go stand in another line so we could start boarding the plane. By now we were 20 minutes behind the posted schedule for boarding but still had plenty of time before the scheduled "departure time" and people were still in the other lines going through this process but finally I was on the plane and settled into my seat while the rest of the plane loaded.
Eventually there was no one else boarding - and we waited, and we waited, and we waited, and soon another 30 minutes went by and we were over an hour past the take off time.
Soon there was an announcement that two people had been removed via the back of the plane and that they were removing their luggage from the hold of the plane and oh, by the way - we were also waiting for sniffer dogs to be dispatched. When would they arrive, no one knew but those people in the back half of the plane were to "de-plane" so the dogs could move about freely. Finally the dogs did arrive, the people had to get off, leaving everything behind, and "please no pictures of the dogs or security personnel". We were now 2 hours behind the departure time and the three plus hours I had given myself between planes in SFO was disappearing fast and I came to the conclusion that I was going to miss my connection and so I popped open my tablet and sent Eric an email quickly telling him we were delayed and NOT to go to the airport to pick me up until I knew what flight I was on from SFO. I had to turn on data roaming to do it and yes it will be an expensive email but it had to be done.
FINALLY, those who had gotten off the plane (I being in the front of the plane did not have to) re-boarded, settled into their seats and the plane left the gate and moved into the queue for take-off where of course, we sat some more! So by the time we got into the air we were 3.5 hours behind schedule and missing my connection was fact.
[We later found out that two women from the middle east were arguing about sitting in the middle section, middle two seats and there being a man on either side of them - oh my! One man, so I was told, volunteered to change seats so they could have the aisle and next inside seat and only one would have to sit next to a man. Was that ok? - I guess not as they were still arguing and raising their voices and when a stewardess came along to tell them to sit down, she got pushed... and we all know what happened after that!]
I then settled in for the 11 hour flight. I finished reading my third book over the course of the trip [These being:The Virgin Queens Daughter, The Custom of the Army: An Outlander Novella, and The Boleyn Inheritance] and I decided to have a wee dram of Scotch with my dinner. I had been given a miniature bottle of an 18 year old Glendronach by Mike and I figured with the events of the day... The steward had come around and I had gotten a glass (if you can call a plastic cup, a glass) of water with some ice. Having drunken the water I then poured part of the bottle over the ice and I was sipping it when the steward came back with dinner. He saw the bottle and then looked at me and asked "where did you get that!?". I told him I brought it with me. He then said "It is illegal to bring your own alcohol on the plane, we can fine you." I found this quite strange as it was less than 3 ounces and I had put it trough security scanners TWICE and no one had said anything. So, I Looked at him, capped the bottle and put it away. Afther he moved down the aisle, I took it back out and finished the scotch - while my row mates just looked on a smiled at my actions. [I have since looked on line and there is conflicting information about this so if you do, just be careful]. I then watched 3 movies [Movies: The Avengers, What to Expect When You are..., and Mirror Mirror. On the way over I watched Brave and Snow White and the Huntsman] and caught a nap.
Eventually we did land in San Francisco, I made it through customs and got to the service counter at 8:00 pm where I was rebooked on a 10:30 pm flight down to San Diego. I then called Mr. Kern with my new arrival time and we chatted for a bit and after that I went into the bar, had a quick bite to eat with an Anchor Porter and waited, again.
I was finally home and in bed at 1:30 am after having been awake and traveling for over 24 hours.
Enjoy the pictures...
Elisa and I finished sewing 2 pillows and a pair of sheep named Rogan and Josh, to go along with Tad and Pole; we watched all three of the "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" movie series - the Swedish versions with English subtitles; we made soup; and had lots of lounging around and eating of chocolate and making of puns.
Overall a fantastic time was had by all. It was a hard choice but Claymore stayed behind in Scotland because the Laird indicated that there were sheep and cooo's to rustle before winter set in and he was needed to provide for his family.
The trip home was another event in of itself. On Thursday afternoon, Mike drove me back into Aberdeen and I popped into the Aberdeen Whisky Shop to get a nice bottle for our next door neighbor and after that we went back to the CLAN house for another fish & chips supper. We retired early as we had to be up at 5:30 am so I could get to the airport as 7:00 am to check-in for my flight home.
The flight from Aberdeen to Frankfurt went off without a hitch and I had plenty of time to get through security (again) and to my gate for the flight to San Francisco. Once I did get to the gate they made us queue to do a security screening which I felt was odd since I had done this in Aberdeen, you know those questions about who packed the bag, were you given anything to carry, blah, blah, blah... but I just took it in stride and then had a sticker put on the back of my passport.
And then I had to go stand in ANOTHER LINE so they could get my passport and ICE information (In Case of Emergency). I thought this was a bit much but considering it was Germany who knows what rules had been put in place since my last trip through here but I had not seen this much scrutiny even at Heathrow. Once that was done, guess what - I got to go stand in another line so we could start boarding the plane. By now we were 20 minutes behind the posted schedule for boarding but still had plenty of time before the scheduled "departure time" and people were still in the other lines going through this process but finally I was on the plane and settled into my seat while the rest of the plane loaded.
Eventually there was no one else boarding - and we waited, and we waited, and we waited, and soon another 30 minutes went by and we were over an hour past the take off time.
Soon there was an announcement that two people had been removed via the back of the plane and that they were removing their luggage from the hold of the plane and oh, by the way - we were also waiting for sniffer dogs to be dispatched. When would they arrive, no one knew but those people in the back half of the plane were to "de-plane" so the dogs could move about freely. Finally the dogs did arrive, the people had to get off, leaving everything behind, and "please no pictures of the dogs or security personnel". We were now 2 hours behind the departure time and the three plus hours I had given myself between planes in SFO was disappearing fast and I came to the conclusion that I was going to miss my connection and so I popped open my tablet and sent Eric an email quickly telling him we were delayed and NOT to go to the airport to pick me up until I knew what flight I was on from SFO. I had to turn on data roaming to do it and yes it will be an expensive email but it had to be done.
FINALLY, those who had gotten off the plane (I being in the front of the plane did not have to) re-boarded, settled into their seats and the plane left the gate and moved into the queue for take-off where of course, we sat some more! So by the time we got into the air we were 3.5 hours behind schedule and missing my connection was fact.
[We later found out that two women from the middle east were arguing about sitting in the middle section, middle two seats and there being a man on either side of them - oh my! One man, so I was told, volunteered to change seats so they could have the aisle and next inside seat and only one would have to sit next to a man. Was that ok? - I guess not as they were still arguing and raising their voices and when a stewardess came along to tell them to sit down, she got pushed... and we all know what happened after that!]
I then settled in for the 11 hour flight. I finished reading my third book over the course of the trip [These being:The Virgin Queens Daughter, The Custom of the Army: An Outlander Novella, and The Boleyn Inheritance] and I decided to have a wee dram of Scotch with my dinner. I had been given a miniature bottle of an 18 year old Glendronach by Mike and I figured with the events of the day... The steward had come around and I had gotten a glass (if you can call a plastic cup, a glass) of water with some ice. Having drunken the water I then poured part of the bottle over the ice and I was sipping it when the steward came back with dinner. He saw the bottle and then looked at me and asked "where did you get that!?". I told him I brought it with me. He then said "It is illegal to bring your own alcohol on the plane, we can fine you." I found this quite strange as it was less than 3 ounces and I had put it trough security scanners TWICE and no one had said anything. So, I Looked at him, capped the bottle and put it away. Afther he moved down the aisle, I took it back out and finished the scotch - while my row mates just looked on a smiled at my actions. [I have since looked on line and there is conflicting information about this so if you do, just be careful]. I then watched 3 movies [Movies: The Avengers, What to Expect When You are..., and Mirror Mirror. On the way over I watched Brave and Snow White and the Huntsman] and caught a nap.
Eventually we did land in San Francisco, I made it through customs and got to the service counter at 8:00 pm where I was rebooked on a 10:30 pm flight down to San Diego. I then called Mr. Kern with my new arrival time and we chatted for a bit and after that I went into the bar, had a quick bite to eat with an Anchor Porter and waited, again.
I was finally home and in bed at 1:30 am after having been awake and traveling for over 24 hours.
Enjoy the pictures...
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