Day 0: Getting to Milngavie

The first day, getting to Milngavie (pronounced "mull-GUY" and a suburb of Glasgow) was very long.

The previous week, on Thursday the 13, I had asked the Tarot what I needed to understand about the trip to Scotland. I dealt three cards: the Queen of Wands, Strength reversed, and the 8 of Wands reversed. I've always associated Debbie with the Queen of Wands, so reading that one was easy: the trip will have a lot to do with Debbie. I wasn't sure how to read Strength reversed (though I soon found out!). And I guessed that the 8 of Wands reversed might indicate travel delays. I wish now that I had made book on that last point. 

The last couple of weeks before the trip had been packed full of things to do, to get ready. Acquiring things I'd need for the hike. Figuring out how to pack efficiently for two weeks abroad. (And this was my first trip abroad since I went to New Zealand with Marie back in 2019!) Then on Friday the 14, I drove to visit my Mom, because her house is closer than mine to the Big Airport I was leaving from. We visited and had dinner, and I went to bed early. On Saturday the 15, I got up at 5:00 so I could be sure to leave the house by 6:00. By this time the anxiety that This is actually happening! had caught up with me, and for an hour I had dry heaves while getting dressed. But then I loaded my luggage in my car and broke down everything I had to do into discrete steps. Turn on the car. Pull out of the driveway. Drive to the freeway onramp. Get on the freeway. All of these are familiar things I've done hundreds of times. Drive to the Airport's new overflow parking. That one was new, but I found it easily enough on a map. Then take the shuttle to the Airport and do Airport things. Right, right. I know how to do all that. And when I broke it down like that, I calmed down and did it. 

I checked in. Checked my suitcase. Walked to the gate. I think this flight was a little late, but not badly—I had built in a comfortable buffer for changing planes at the Big International Hub I was flying to. Then when I got there, I learned that my flight from there to Heathrow was delayed by six hours! Could they move me onto another flight that was sooner? No. But that means I'll miss my connection from Heathrow to Glasgow. There they could help me, by putting me on the evening flight to Glasgow instead of the lunchtime flight. So I waited.

I won't bore you with every little detail of the time I spent waiting. By the time I got on the flight to Heathrow it was midnight local time (already a couple of time zones removed from where I had woken up in the morning) and I slept much of the way. Changing planes in Heathrow involved a lot of walking, but it was pretty smooth. And then I got to wait for the evening plane to Glasgow.

The original plan was that I was going to meet up with Debbie in Heathrow, but that was plainly not going to happen. So I texted her to explain. She in turn texted back giving me what she learned (after landing) about how to get to our hotel, so that when I finally arrived I wouldn't have to think or ask questions but could just do it. I got some food for dinner, dozed in my seat, and then had to run for my gate to catch my last plane. 

Everyone boarded the plane smoothly, and then … there was something, I forget what, that made them hold the flight for another fifteen minutes. I just rolled my eyes: Of course this flight is delayed too! But once we were in the air the trip to Glasgow was uneventful. I collected my luggage, and followed Debbie's instructions to the bus stop for the airport shuttle. That took me into town, where I walked half a block to the train station. I bought a ticket for Milngavie, found my way downstairs to the right track, and got on the train. Good thing too, because that late at night they were running only once an hour. In a few minutes we were off. In another half an hour, the track terminated in Milngavie. Debbie met me at the train station and walked me to our hotel.

Part of me wanted to go straight to bed, but another part was still wired from the trip. Also I wanted to repack my bags. My suitcase and backpack had been loaded for convenience while flying. But now I wanted to put in the back pack everything I would need during the day and nothing else. I don't remember if I've explained that the travel group through whom we organized the trip made arrangements to carry our suitcases from one hotel to the next, day by day. So the only things we had to carry were things we would need that day. It made things easier.

Anyway, after a while we had both finished our respective repacking, and we fell into our respective twin beds. (Twin beds for the whole trip!) I slept very well that night.