HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Scotland here I come
BUMMER OF THE DAY: Airline packing and leaving Brighton-I LOVED it here….
WORD OF THE DAY: Brill – Paul’s word for Brilliant
DISTANCE TRAVELLED: 604km
An airline travel day today. Packing has to be all done differently in regard to what I would normally carry in my hand luggage and then there is always the weight restriction worry that I have and I am yet to still work out what my bag can actually carry as I shove as much stuff in there as I can. I didn’t have to leave P&L till 12.15pm so I had the small luxury of being able to pack this morning. The guys had gone to work this morning, so I had the place to myself and decided to pack in front of the TV, so I dragged all my things out into the lounge room and then started the laborious task of packing. It may not sound like a big deal, but I have bought too many clothes and I need to off load some of them ASAP which will be in Phuket at the end of September, but in the meantime I need to make it all fit. It normally takes me 1-1.5 hours to get everything in and I happy to report I did it, less some bags of lollies which I have left for the guys, I was all set to go. I called for a taxi at 12.15pm and they have a pretty good system here in Brighton that they somehow pass on your number to the taxi person and when he is close to your house you get a call back with 2 rings which lets you know to head outside, so by the time you lock up and get your stuff together, he is ready without keeping anyone waiting-what a great idea. So with my double ring I hefted my bag, my small backpack and my handbag and met the cab out the front of the apartment for the 8 minute ride to the train station. This was my last home stay till November when I am back in BrisVegas again. I have been lucky enough to make the most of my friend’s generosity for the last 3 months staying in their homes and for this I am eternally grateful and I never take the opportunity for granted. I would like to thank every one of you for opening up your homes to me and welcoming me with open arms. I am now back to tours, hotels and hostels again for the next 3.5 months and back to meeting new people and hopefully making new friends.
My train wasn’t till 1.20pm so I am sure that Paps would have had a great chuckle I was there with 40 minutes to spare but I had to collect my ticket from the machine and I always account for snaffu time which I didn’t need and was able to find a seat and grab a quick bite before my train pulled in at 1.05pm. I always try and get onboard first so that I can find room for my backpack without holding people up; I hate the thought of inconveniencing and making people wait. I was in luck and I was the first person on the carriage, and as this was an airport train, I was travelling directly to Gatwick; there was luggage storage near the doors. It wasn’t that big but big enough to take my bag, it just wasn’t going to fit anyone else’s bag in there and I took a seat across from them so I could keep a beady eye on my stuff. The journey was only 30 minutes and the train wasn’t that busy getting me to Gatwick Train Station at 1.55pm. This is my first time to Gatwick so I just followed the signs that got me to the South Terminal where I then had to catch a sky train to the North Terminal which was only a 10 minute process getting me to the British Airways check-in just after 2.15pm. As I got off the train I had a lady comment on just how big my bag was and that I was brave to be carrying such a bag. I didn’t really see it as being that big but it is funny how what you perceive and what others actually see can be so different. Well maybe I was perceiving the wrong thing this time as I entered the North Terminal there was a guy standing in front of the departure boards directing people to where they needed to go and once he asked my information he also said what a big bag I had on my back. Hmmmm maybe it is a little on the large side, but it is because I have the small backpack attached to the front of the bag giving me the look of a turtle, yes an oversized turtle. I made my way to one of many self-check-in counters that British Airways have and here the machine not only prints your boarding pass but also your bag tag, so I headed to the bag drop area and was re-directed to the ‘oversized’ drop area. Does that make the third time today that I have now been told that my bag is big? I’m going to start to get a complex soon. I LOVE flying British Airways for the single fact that their luggage restriction is based on piece and not weight. You are entitled to one piece and as long as it doesn’t weigh more than the work health safety limit of 32kg they don’t bat an eye lid. I knew my bag was more than 23kg but I was surprised when I popped it on the scales that it was 24.5kg; I thought it would be more than that. So with my apparent monster bag now off loaded I made my way through security, the usual pat down due to my Ethiopian bangles and then I was through to departures. It was 2.30pm and I was happy with my journey time and planning to get me here at this time. My flight wasn’t till 4.50pm so I had some time to kill, but I have always preferred to get somewhere early than have the panic and stress of cutting it all fine and consider it all perfect timing.
Gatwick Airport also known as London Gatwick, is London's second largest international airport and the second busiest by total passenger traffic in the United Kingdom after Heathrow. Furthermore, Gatwick is Europe's leading airport for point-to-point flights and has the world's busiest single-use runway averaging 52 aircraft movements per hour. In 2011, over 33.6 million passengers passed through Gatwick. From 1978 to 2008, many flights to and from the United States used Gatwick because of restrictions on the use of Heathrow implemented in the Bermuda II agreement between the UK and the US. Cessation of 34 years' continuous operations at Gatwick by Delta Air Lines on 17 April 2012 left US Airways as the only US carrier still serving Gatwick. Gatwick is unique amongst London's airports in having a significant airline presence representing each of the three main airline business models: full service, low/no frills and charter. By the turn of the millennium, Gatwick handled more than 30 million passengers annually.
There was a Harrods shop at the airport and I was finally able to buy a 2013 diary like the one I currently have for 2012 which I bought from Harrods in London last year. Even though they are a little expensive they have maps of the world at the back of them which I find great to look at and even though it is only August 2012, I hear you ask why do I need a 2013 diary already, but I have started to book flights and make plans for next year and it was a good opportunity to get one while I was here. I then decided to get something to eat so I found the ‘eatery’, took a seat and killed another hour here as I ate and read my Kindle till I decided I better let someone else have the table as I know how frustrating it can be wanting to eat and seeing people finished with their meals and still sitting there after all the plates cleared and the bill taken care of. There is plenty of seating within the terminal leave the table and go and find a seat somewhere……. If it’s not busy, well that is a different story….. but it really does frustrate me. Our gate was advised only 10 minutes prior to boarding, so I high tailed it and only had to wait 10 minutes before they starting boarding us. It wasn’t a full flight and I had a spare seat next to me (thank you travel gods) for the hour flight to Edinburgh. It is amazing the processes you have to go through for really just a domestic flight of an hour’s duration, whether it is a 10 hour flight or a 45 minute flight the same procedures apply. British Airways operate a 747-300 on this route with a 3x3 seating configuration. I sometimes think that this is a stressful flight for the Hostees as they have to serve 200 people drinks in a 30 minute window, clean up and get all the passengers ready for a landing. I actually had a look at the Duty Free magazine and I saw a few items I would have purchased from it, but as it was a domestic flight I am unable to buy them on this flight, which was a real bummer as I would have had my gift for Zeme sorted and also a small Pandora gift for myself and I was also looking at a London Link bracelet that I totally don’t need, but liked the look of so I am thinking it was a blessing in disguise that they didn’t have the duty free shop open. It also struck me on this flight that the next time I am on a plane I will be making my way to Africa and into the arms of Zeme and I can’t begin to tell you just how excited I am about this fact. I have been looking forward to that moment for a very long time and now that it is finally just around the corner it is hard to believe it is nearly here.
I arrived into Edinburgh on time at5.50pm. Sharon had looked into transport for me to get from the airport to the train station where she would meet me and then we would walk the 5 minutes to the hostel we were staying at for the next 2 nights. Once I had my bag I could see the Airbus, it is a London 2 story double decker bus, but painted blue and the 60 people all waiting to get onto it. I swear the line was massive, so I saw the taxi supervisor and asked him how much would a taxi cost into the city to which he told me for this time of day around 20GBP and it would take half the time of the bus, but it was also 6 times more the price with the bus only being 3GBP. By this time I had been going since 9am for an hour’s flight and decided I deserved the ride and made my way to the taxi stand and caught that to the city. I called Shaz from the taxi and told her I was now going straight to the hostel, the beauty of us both having a UK sim card, and that she would me out the front as we were staying in a section of the hostel that was not attached to the main building and would be quite difficult to find. The ride took around 35 minutes as there was peak hour traffic still on the road and when we pulled up to the hostel the taxi had cost me 21GBP and I am so glad I had spent the money. Sharon was there waiting for me and it was great to see her again. We were now reunited for the next 12 days and it was great to have a travel buddy for this next section of the trip.
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and the seat of the Scottish Parliament. It is the second largest city in Scotland and the seventh most populous in the United Kingdom. The Old Town and New Town districts of Edinburgh were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995 in recognition of the unique character of the Medieval Old Town and the planned Georgian New Town. It covers both the Old and New Towns together with the Dean Village and the Calton Hill areas. There are over 4,500 listed buildings within the city. In May 2010, it had a total of 40 conservation areas covering 23% of the building stock and 23% of the population, the highest such ratios of any major city in the UK. The city hosts the annual Edinburgh Festival, a group of official and independent festivals held annually over about four weeks beginning in early August. The number of visitors attracted to Edinburgh for the Festival is roughly equal to the settled population of the city. The best-known of these events are the Edinburgh Fringe, the largest performing-arts festival in the world; the Edinburgh International Festival; the Edinburgh Military Tattoo; and the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Other annual events include the Hogmanay street party and the Beltane Fire Festival. Edinburgh attracts over 1 million overseas visitors a year, making it the second most visited tourist destination in the United Kingdom and I happened to be here for 2 of those events which I didn’t realize till I got to the city.
Sharon was right about the accommodation, we were tucked down the lane next to the hostel that had a key entry through the first door, a pin entry to get you through the next door and then once inside we had a key to get us into our actual room. The trick was the first 2 doors swung the wrong way and were only 1m apart so with a backpack on and with us both trying to get through it takes a little orchestrating to even get in the damn first door. Shaz had text me earlier in the day to say that she had checked in and to warn me that our room was tiny as we were in a private room. I said that’s fine, I mean how small can a room be? I asked how it compared to the room we had in Otavalo in Ecuador, as that was quite small but it still managed to fit in 2 king beds and the reply was that it was smaller than that and she was not lying. The room would have been 2.5m x 3.5m and that is no lie, it had a set of bunk beds, enough room to have our backpacks on the floor and enough room (just) for the door to open and that was it. The plus side was we had a window and a TV (with remote) so there is always a silver lining somewhere and it was clean and the beds were comfortable so what else would you want but I have to say I think it has been the smallest room I have ever slept in in my life and will require some co-ordination from Shaz and myself to even be able to move in there!!!!
By this time it was nearly 7.30pm and I was shattered. Shaz was trying to save some money as she is now on the last 3 weeks of her 15 month journey and I just couldn’t be bothered waiting somewhere to eat that we decided to eat at the kebab shop next door to our rooms. I haven’t had a proper kebab for a long time and it was nearly as good, nearly, as a kebab from home. It hit the spot and we were in and out within 40 minutes and tucked up in bed by 9pm. We watched some TV and then turned out the light at 11pm with a big morning ahead with plans to visit Edinburgh Castle. Shaz was told to get there early to buy tickets as line up isn’t too long first thing where if you go in the afternoon you could be in a queue for over an hour, just to get a ticket. So with this in mind, we had a 7.45am wake up to start the day, breakfast and then hit the road after that.
So welcome to Scotland-I have a feeling we are going to have a great 11 days and I am looking forward to it.
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