Stonehenge, Loch Ness, Hogamany 2019 to 2020

Our 2019/2020 trip to Europe was, of course, an amazing adventure. There were five of us this trip (Troy, Momma, April, Missy and me). We all flew from Montgomery to London (Montgomery-Charlotte-Chicago-London) and the same route on return. This year's trip included London, Stonehenge, Edinburgh, Balintore Castle and Loch Ness. Although we did not find Nessie and April did not get to see enough of London, we had an educational travel experience that none of us will forget. Plus, we have this nifty travel blog to help us remember it by. Here's the story...

12/25/2019 Wednesday

Flew from Montgomery to Charlotte to Chicago to London Heathrow (Landed at Heathrow Thursday morning)

Momma rode to the airport with me. Troy took his truck separate so that he could land on January 2nd and drive directly to his place in Birmingham. When Momma, Troy and I got to the airport, Missy and April were already there. April had been crying since she got there. Probably even before then. She definitely did not want to get on a plane. Her fear of flying is certainly debilitating even though she is all smiles in the picture on the left. No, April was all doom and gloom for the flying part of our journey.

We were early and there was no one going through security when we got there. Still, it took the five of us twenty minutes to get through security. I think every one of us beeped and had to be wanded. Like every single thing, this upset Momma to no end; but she got through security and we were a little further along on our trip. Whew!

We had drinks at the airport bar but that did not help April with her fear of flying too much although we did kind of have our own little private VIP bar section. It is a little corner at the far west of the airport gate area with a sofa and a couple of leather lounge chairs. Most people go directly into the bar, but they should definitely walk past the bar entrance to find this section. I think it is called the overflow seating section. Far, far better section.

The first flight was a small plane and the flight went pretty smoothly. The flight from Charlotte to Chicago was smooth but had a little rougher landing of which April definitely noticed. The flight from Chicago to London was the big plane and the longest at about nine hours. Seating was a mess. None of us were on the same row except for two of us. April and Missy took those two seats. It was nice enough that Momma, Troy and I had aisle seats one behind the other. Most of the flight was smooth, but there were a couple of hours towards the end that got a little choppy. April had a rough time handling that, but Missy was there to hold her hand and let her quietly scream it out.

12/26/2019 Thursday

Our flight landed at London Heathrow. Unlike the previous year with Kayla, customs was a breeze. All we had to do was scan our passports. We passed through customs in 20 minutes, maybe less. It is amazing what one year makes. The scanners most definitely sped up getting through the airport. Momma, Troy and I were all thoroughly impressed (I think Kayla is a little dismayed that her mother did not have to stand in line for 2 to 3 hours like she did last year).

Once we all got through customs, we had to get our luggage to the hotel (easy bus ride), get a rental car and then drive to Stonehenge. This was a very busy day for us, especially after having flown all night (and I do not sleep at all flying over to Europe - I just stay awake watching movies or TV shows). Troy and I were the ones who had to go back to the airport from the hotel to get the rental car, pick-up the rental car (which was at a rental car lot just a couple of blocks from the hotel) and then drive the rental car back to the hotel to pick-up Momma, April and Missy. This was not an easy task. The hardest part was navigating the roads back to the hotel (navigation was a huge hurdle during our entire trip - even when we were using GPS). Driving on the opposite side of the road than usual is different, but it is not the most problematic issue. Roundabouts, one-way-streets, unfamiliar road signs - these are the real problems of foreign driving. Sure, you can survive driving in a foreign country; but it can be an ordeal.

We did manage, though, to make it to Stonehenge; albeit a cold, blustery and windy day at Stonehenge (very similar to the first time that Troy, Momma and I went to Stonehenge just a few years back so maybe everyday is cold, blustery and windy at Stonehenge). We had lunch in the museum\store (good lunch with mulled wine, a staple in Europe apparently) and then took the short bus ride from the museum to Stonehenge which is just over the hill from the museum. There were plenty of people visiting that day as well but not overly crowded. The pathways around the Henge were easy to navigate. Although we did not get to walk underneath the stones, the pathways do let us get pretty close to the stones. I think there are some tours of small groups that take you into the stone area. We may have to try one of those if we do this little trek again.

Troy, in a before-we-booked-and-flew agreement, drove us to Stonehenge and back. He was very tired on the way back from Stonehenge to the hotel though. This was understandable as we had all flown from the US to the UK overnight and then had him drive us to Stonehenge and back. He was so exhausted that he was almost at the point where you have to let down the car windows in the winter to stay awake and continue driving. I was navigating for him and trying to keep his attention active, but I did fall short a few times. At one point, I missed an exit for him and he yelled "You are not helping me. None of you are helping me!" We took a lot of wrong turns when we got close to the car rental return. It took us a long time to get back to the Europcar car return and then back to the hotel. There was one episode where we missed a roundabout exit, had to turn around and go through a figure-eight of two connecting roundabouts to get back on track to the hotel (who designs these things?). I think none of us were as glad to get into our hotel room that night as Troy was.

12/27/2019 Friday

The next morning, we took a train to Edinburgh from the station at King's Cross (Kings X). We got to the station extra early to allow for any mishaps and had a nice breakfast in the station, but the train trip was a fiasco of which getting there early had absolutely zero bearing. The station staff announced over the loud speakers for everyone to line up at the platform gate (never exactly clear on which platform as they said east or west and we had no idea which side was east or west since none of the signs said east or west). We did get pretty close to the gate entrance where they scan your bar codes, but the station staff stopped everyone and would not let anyone enter - not even the people with reserved seats. There was a huge uproar over this, but nothing seemingly that any of us could do. They let that train leave without any of us on it (and there were a LOT of people other than us who had reserved seats who were denied entrance) and then put all of us on the next train. Unfortunately, we had reserved seats on the train that they would not let us board. We did not have reserved seats on the train that they put us on. This created a tremendous amount of discord and we were the 'mean people' as we argued profusely over seats. April, Troy and I did give up our seats and spent most of our four-hour train ride to Edinburgh in the aisle (mostly in the bar car). To their credit, the London North Eastern Railway (LNER) did refund our train fare for this leg of our trip. Thank you, LNER. We greatly appreciate your acknowledgement and compensation of our situation.

Getting into Edinburgh, we lugged our oversized and heavy luggage up and down cobblestone streets to the Airbnb that Missy had rented for us. We went to the wrong address first and it was a testy process getting to the right address just down the street. It was on the top floor of a four story building, no elevator. Momma and our heavy luggage gave us fits. The apartment, though, had plenty of room and impressive views of the Christmas market area with its big cathedral and amusement park rides (probably just there for Christmas).

We ate at an American restaurant and then walked down the cobblestone streets and across the bridge to the Christmas Market before we called it a night. Scotland really loves Dolly Parton and her song, 'Joleen'. We heard it a least a dozen times over our trip.

12/28/2019 Saturday

We got our rental car from Enterprise and drove north to Balintore Castle. A quick story on getting the rental car and getting out of Edinburgh before we get to Balintore Castle, though. The weather was great this Saturday morning - clear and not too cold. We all lugged our oversized luggage down the stairs from the Airbnb to the cobblestone streets of Edinburgh and then dragged them through the streets to the Christmas village area. Luckily, most of that route was downhill. Once we got to the Christmas village area, we found a coffee shop and an outside seating area where we all setup camp with Americanos and lattes. I'm pretty sure this is where April had her first taste of European hot chocolate - nothing like American hot chocolate. Troy, Momma and I did not have a chance to warn her (she should have read my blog from Rome). Plus, how were we to know that Scottish hot chocolate was as bad as Roman hot chocolate? Ask April about it. She'll tell you.

Troy and I decided that he and I would get a taxi to the car rental place and then come back and pick everyone up. This sounded like a great idea. Half way in the taxi to the car rental place, though, Troy told me he did not feel good about driving the car back into the heart of Edinburgh around the Christmas village area to pick everyone up. Instead, we called Missy and asked them all to get in a taxi (with the five oversized pieces of luggage) and meet us at the car rental place. The idea of Momma, April and Missy in a taxi with all of the luggage is hilarious. I really hate that we do not have a picture or video of that whole episode. April said she was trying to put the last piece of luggage in the front seat and the driver said, "That might not fit"; and she said, "Oh, it'll fit." And shoved it in. Fun times. With that, we were leaving Edinburgh in a large oversized van big enough to fit all of us plus our oversized luggage.

On the way to Balintore Castle, Missy found us a great little restaurant for a late lunch (although Momma had a mulled wine pear dessert that Troy and April and Missy absolutely hated). We got to the castle a little late and tired. David (an official duke) met us. He and Viv moved our dinner to 7pm to give us time to get settled. We had a great dinner by candlelight. April and I spent the night drinking all of David's wine (we paid for it the next day - both literally and figuratively) until well after midnight (I think to about 4am). We played 80's music videos on YouTube until April was too drunk to even find her bedroom (there were only three bedrooms - all located along the same hallway). A quick replay for you included: 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' (one of Mark's favorites), 'Goonies', 'Rock Me Amadeus', 'Land of Confusion' and 'Thriller'. April thought we were pretty quiet, but Troy, Momma and Missy assured us we were not quiet at all.

This night at the castle was pretty amazing; but for Troy, it fell a little bit short. Troy really had it in his heart that he wanted to go horseback riding at the castle. April had searched tirelessly before our trip even began to find him a place to go riding. Unfortunately, every horseback riding website that she found and forwarded on to Troy had a problem. They all had a weight limit and poor Troy was over the weight limit. So alas, poor Troy will be going back to the gym in 2020.

12/29/2019 Sunday

The next morning, Viv and David served us breakfast before we packed up and got on the road to Loch Ness. David, being an ever gracious host, gave us a tour of the castle before we left. We had stayed the previous evening in the part of the castle that he has renovated over the last ten years. He is doing renovations on the main part of the castle now but it will be years or even decades before he gets it all finished. No rooms in the main castle are finished yet although plenty of work has been done. We followed him through the bedrooms, bathrooms, cellar, past the main hall and even to the top of the roof. Plenty of the areas we toured were a little iffy - we walked across scaffolding above the main banquet hall to get to a couple of rooms and then to the roof. Momma did not go along the entire tour with us. She just did the first floor and then waited for us to finish. April did not do the part about walking across scaffolding or the roof. I hate she missed those parts, but I agree it was crazy. When I followed David along the scaffolding above the main hall, I remember looking back at Troy and Missy and thinking "let's not all get on here at the same time."

It was a long drive to Loch Ness. Luckily, Troy had agreed to do all of the driving for the entire trip so I just had to make sure he stayed on the left side of the road and navigate. He was much better at driving than on his return from Stonehenge as he had plenty of sleep despite April and me blaring 80's music videos all night long.

The winds were rough when we got to Loch Ness. Waves looked like they were six feet high or more. There were no boats on the water that late afternoon. We had dinner in the restaurant at our hotel, the Loch Ness Inn. We had the sticky dessert and loved it. April and Missy are trying to cook their version of it back home. They are ironing out the kinks still.

12/30/2019 Monday

For our first full day on Loch Ness, we had breakfast at the hotel and then took a boat tour on Jacobite Cruises from Clansman Harbour to Urquhart Castle and back. For being after Christmas, there were still plenty of people on the boat with us. That was okay. We got there early and got a table on the boat so we all had a place to sit. The water was a LOT calmer than the previous evening - very smooth. Our two-deck cruiser did not take long getting us to the dock at Urquhart Castle where we had about an hour to tour the remains of this Scottish castle. Although destroyed centuries earlier, many of the walls still stood and even part of the original tower remained. April, Troy and I took the stairs to the top lookout point. I'm sure Nessie has swam around these ruins for years. Unfortunately, she hid under the water while we were there. We did get to stand in line with the local ducks waiting for our cruiser back to Clansman Harbour.

After the boat tour, we ate lunch at the Clansman Hotel with a great view of Loch Ness (and a really horrible smoked Old Fashioned drink that none of us could stand to drink or even smell). I also thought the waterfall at the top of the cliffs behind the Clansman Hotel was pretty amazing... although treacherous. It is amazing that landslides have not taken out the hotel by now. Our hotel was very nice, but I think I would stay at the Clansman Hotel on the next trip. We would have water views and could walk to the boats, even despite landslide nightmares.

On the way back to our hotel (Loch Ness Inn), we stopped at the Loch Ness Museum where they tried to convince us that the Loch Ness Monster did not exist. We spotted their conspiracy right away. We know the truth. Still, it has a great deal of area history which us tourists appreciate.

Dinner was back at the Loch Ness Inn and we shared our new favorite dessert, the sticky something. Love it! We started off in the pub, but the subfloor heating was out of control so we evacuated to the front dining area in front of the Christmas tree - much better seating where we had another really delicious and enjoyable dinner.

12/31/2019 Tuesday

After two nights at Loch Ness Inn, we were back on the road early this morning back to Edinburgh. It was a nice drive (Thanks Troy!). Again, we did have a few wrong turns once we got close to Edinburgh; but we eventually sorted them out and got to the hotel and then the car back to Enterprise Car Rental (which was directly across the street from the Edinburgh Zoo) even though it was a little of an ordeal finding a gas station to fill up the van. Ubers were hard to find, but Ted (the Enterprise guy) was volunteered to drive us up to Edinburgh Castle. He got us pretty close although we did have a few steep hills to climb... which are very tough for Momma.

We were going to tour Edinburgh Castle but we only had an hour to tour it by the time we walked up the steep hills so we decided to opt out of the castle tour. Instead, we found a nice table in a nearby restaurant before the New Year's Eve dinner rush with only reserved tables started.

We hit a few pubs after that and waited out the seven hours until midnight for the fireworks display.
Troy met two girls from Georgia at one of the pubs. One was a librarian, I think. Troy did not get an invitation to their party though. Our next pub was located in the building where the candlemakers corporation was once founded. Oddly enough, there were no candles in this pub (huge snub to candlemakers everywhere).

We watched the fireworks from the North Bridge which gave us an amazing view of the fireworks display. The fireworks were set off from the castle (or at least it looked that way) and were truly impressive. Edinburgh bills this as "Hogamany". There are plenty of parties were you have to pay to get in, but you do not really need to pay. You can walk the streets and hop from pub to pub to pub and still have a great time without being confined to one single party. Being that we did not have a single party to go to this year, we did not dress up. We played it very casual. No tuxedos. No gowns. Just your average street attire - very low key - still an unforgettable evening.

Another truly amazing happenstance is that we were able to snag a taxi pretty easily to get back to our hotel after the fireworks show finished. The crowds of people were thick and we were so, so, so lucky to get a taxi out. Amazing.

Wrapping up the night, we snuck into our hotel without alerting the management that we were back and were in violation of having more than two people in one room (although they did end up charging one of the rooms for an extra person - thanks Momma, April and Missy). Troy and I left Momma, April and Misty in the lobby while we went immediately to bed. I do not know what the three of them were up to in the lobby (something that obviously led to the extra person room charge), but we had gotten them back that far so we were good.

01/01/2020 Wednesday

What seemed like only an hour later was the start of another travel day for us (in actuality, we had several hours of sleep before we had to catch our late morning train back to London). We left the hotel early to get to the Edinburgh train station early. Oddly enough, none of us had showers that morning. It was not just us. All water was cut off for the entire hotel. In fact, water was out for the entire area. A water main or something had burst in the area. Regardless, there was no water for us so no reason to stick around the hotel. We got two taxis loaded with all of us and our luggage and headed to Edinburgh Station.

We had coffee and snacks at the train station before our train left at 12:30pm. It was a far easier and more orderly and more enjoyable experience than the train from King's Cross. We got to see a lot of the Scottish and English countryside and even ran along the coast for a bit. It was late afternoon and after sunset by the time we got into London. We had thought about showing April and Missy the London sites (Tower Bridge, Thames River, Big Ben), but there was no easy way for us to work it. We already had to get two taxis just because of all of our luggage and the hotel was near the airport - a little over an hour away. I did ask our driver to drive by Big Ben, but he declined as there had been a parade that day and a lot of the streets were still blocked. It was just as well.

We were all exhausted and did not leave the hotel once we got there, not even for dinner. Instead, we ate dinner in the Moxy hotel lobby at a long log table perfect for all of us. We were all off straight to bed after that.

01/02/2020 Thursday
Our flight out of London left at 8:40am so we were up and on a bus before the sun even made it up this last day in England. The bus picked us up in front of the Moxy hotel. We were the first to get on it. At the airport, we were third to get in line. I, however, did not notice that everyone else had used the self check-in kiosks and they all had baggage tags until about ten minutes before the ticket gate opened. I rushed to get all of our tickets as did Missy.

After we got through security, we did some shopping and got coffee and breakfast before our plane started boarding. I sat with Momma. April sat with Missy in front of us. Troy sat further back. The flight to Chicago was pretty smooth and uneventful.

Chicago Customs was easy. We scanned our passports, picked up our bags, rechecked our bags and headed back into the airport on US domestic flights. Missy flew to Charlotte separate from us. We caught up a few hours later and then we all flew back to Montgomery on the same flight. Home sweet home. Troy drove to his place in Birmingham. April and Missy were picked up. Jimmy picked up Momma and I drove back to Momma's to stay the night.

This was a great trip to Europe. We had a lot of excitement, new sites and adventure. No Nessie, but we will catch her on the next trip to Scotland. We are already planning our next trip to Europe, maybe Barcelona, maybe farther south to Cairo instead. We will see. Take care, everyone. Happy New Year! Happy 2020!

PICTURES

12/25/2019 Flight from Montgomery to London

12/26/2019 Stonehenge

12/27/2019 Edinburgh

12/28/2019 Balintore Castle

12/29/2019 Loch Ness

12/30/2019 Loch Ness

12/31/2019 Edinburgh

01/01/2020 Train to London

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