Brilliant Blue Skies Over Edinburgh

Our special weekend was drawing to a close, and we bid fond farewell to Amy, who boarded the Airlink bus to the Edinburgh Airport for her flight home.  The transition was super easy from the Scotland side of things.  Can't say as much for the American side, but I'll address that later.

On this end, the weather on our last morning in Scotland couldn't have been more beautiful!

We enjoyed our last breakfast at the B&B, checked out and rolled our luggage to the bus station to store it in a locker for a bit so we could walk around unheeded.  Brilliant idea on Marty's part because you can bet your life that I wasn't carrying a suitcase up the many staircases required to get to the top of Calton Hill!  I barely had enough stamina to make the climb without them!  Whew!

But, once at the top, you can see that it certainly was worth the effort.

Poor Suzie wasn't wearying sunglasses and her Uncle Marty was intent on getting this angle for a photo.  So, no worries.....she isn't crying!

From here we headed back down the hill to St. Mary's Catholic Cathedral for Mass.

By the time that was finished, it was time to retrieve our luggage and head to the train station for the LNER back to London.

It started out cozy and comfy, with stunning scenery along the northern part of the route.  But by the time we were 3 stops in, it began to feel like we were a can of sardines as more and more people boarded the train for London.  The same trip that had seemed a breeze going North was quite tiresome going back.  (or perhaps we were just missing the friendliness of those Scots already.) 

I can honestly say that I was very happy when we reached London, even though we did have to say our good-byes to Suzie.  We had such a delightful visit, and she was grateful that we had made the effort to come to London to take her to Scotland.

From here we rolled our luggage to the Picadilly line and began the harrowing task of boarding a crowded subway cabin towards our destination.  Let me just say that the entire experience was not exactly pleasant, although things calmed down when we alighted to transfer to a different train that took us to the Kew Gardens Stop.

Our B&B is in a Pub here very near the train stop.  Since it was Mother's Day here in England, I had the foresight to book a table for 8:00 pm.  As it was, we rolled through the door without a second to spare.

The proprietor here was super friendly, upgraded our room, carried up my luggage the 4 flights of stairs, and set us up with a  lovely meal in the restaurant.

The room has been quite and comfy and certainly the calmness that we needed after the crazy trip from Kings Cross Station!  I've decided that we are taking a cab to the airport.  It takes 5 minutes compared to 50 and two train transfers into the airport.  Here's hope that getting out of here goes easier than Amy's experience at JFK.

In the meantime, I'm boycotting Delta and suggesting that if you are  thinking of flying into JFK from Edinburgh, and have a transfer time of less than 4 hours, you might want to rethink that decision.   The customs line is apparently a real holdup and, honestly, Delta shouldn't have even offered the flight combination with less transfer time.  However, they claim this isn't their problem.   Just keep that in mind when booking. 

Our flight is direct, and hopefully, with limited stress on both ends!  I'll keep you posted.