Scotland and London 2023

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Typical start to the day…breakfast at our hotel. We then went for a walk along the sea. We were looking for a set of steps called Grannies Teeth. It was supposed to be on a rock wall called The Cobb. It was a beautiful day for a walk. It was a shame this wasn’t the weather we had the day before! We walked out to the end of the Cobb (walked right by the steps) and didn’t see the steps till on the way back!!

We walked up the hill to a pastry shop to buy snacks and water for the train. We learned that southwest trail way didn’t offer drinks and snacks to anyone. They didn’t have a dining car. So we went prepared. What we weren’t prepared for was the amount of times we were going to have to change trains just to get back to London

Chrissy was checking our train time and it was flashing red…CANCELLED! So I got online and mine said I time. Hers suddenly went back to on time. But it said there were going to be problems today and we should avoid trains into Waterloo…our station.

We call our taxi to pick us up early and we went outside to wait. Two taxis showed up. I reserved a taxi from home before we left to pick us up and take us back to the train station. He never showed upon Tuesday eve so when we finally found a taxi we engaged him to pick us up on the return. I was nice to the first guy even though he left us waiting…he said he was there but was 2 hours early. I even gave him half the fare

Once we arrived at the station we asked the attendant about the snafu with all the trains. “It’s all cleared up!” He said and nodded to the board. So we board our train and by one stop an attendant talks to us about declassifying first class because the train is going to get crowded. He wrote our a slip for a refund…we’ll see if I ever get it!

By the next stop we hear an announcement that we have to change train, ride for about an hour and change again at Basingstock. So we get on a different train. All is well, so we think!! We travel about three stops and We hear an announcement…”we will be taking on 3 more cars and a new conductor” no problem! We wait and wait. Finally another announcement. “We have no conductor. We suggest you board a train on track 3 to continue your journey to Waterloo Station.” This is train number 4 but we finally make it to London….about two hours late!

We tried to get a refund for the 1st class tickets but they told me to try online. I'm sure it wont be easy! We then went outside to find a taxi stand. We had to go to the Balmoral House as they were kind enough to hold our large suitcases while we were in Lyme Regis. Of course it was hard to say goodbye to Flavio, but he knows I'll be back sometime!!!

We got in our final taxi to get to the airport where we would be staying for the night. We had a 9:30am flight and its much easier to stay at the airport than to fight traffic and people to get there in the morning. Our taxi driver was interesting and talked more than most. He couldn’t understand why I would want to get up in the early morning and watch the Coronation if King Charles, though he did really like Queen Elizabeth.

As we were driving through London we spied at robo mower! It was surely interesting. It was in a fenced in area. Our cabby said it didn’t cut close enough to the edge so they had to hire a man to weed eat around the perimeter!!

By the time we checked in, we were starved. With all the train changing we had to do, we never ate our snacks. We opted to go to the hotel restaurant for dinner, where we each had a burger and "chips". Chips in England are triple cooked dinner fries and they are delicious. We never had bad "chips" the whole time we were gone. Plus England's ketchup is a little different than ours and we like it!! Its a little more on the vinegar side with a little more sweet.



The rest of the evening was spend repacking and weighing our suitcases. I walked from the hotel to the Delta counter just to be proactive and know where we were going. Its a good thing I did. Heathrow had moved the entire Delta operation to Terminal 3 and it was about a 15 minute walk from the hotel instead of being right out the door.

Tomorrow would be an early day as well as a long one. We would get up at 5:30 to get to the airport at 6ish, which would be 12:30 our time at home. We would get back in to Pittsburgh around 3:30, retrieve our luggage and then make the drive home.

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