The Trip Back Home

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We did have a bit of a stress last night as our covid test results did not arrive until 10 pm, so we had no idea if we were really going to be able to go home until then. They did finally arrive and were both negative. We are now in the United lounge at Heathrow, certainly no Polaris lounge, but still complimentary beverages and food and a comfortable place to relax while waiting for our plane.

Yesterday we kept getting alerts that we needed to arrive 4 hours early because of lack of security personnel and other staff. We did as instructed, but it was totally unnecessary. The check in took less than 10 minutes and security about 20 minutes. Even without TSA precheck, we did get to go through the Polaris priority line for security. This gave us 3 hours to relax and enjoy the lounge. I am now on my 4^th glass of champagne, and we had a decent bit of food for breakfast. Our plane will begin boarding soon, so I should log off for now and back up. I will finish on the plane perhaps with my overall thoughts of musings of our trip.

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Two days later, we are now home and well rested from our wonderful Ireland/UK trip. It was worth the 2 ½ year wait. I suspect that if we had been able to go when originally planned it might have been even better. Post Covid travel is very different, expectations must be lowered for the near term while the world struggles to live in a Post Covid world.

It truly was a great trip and the highlights for us are as follows:

Best Train Experience: Train from Dublin to Belfast, food, comfort, and service were all exceptional and some of the best views. The train from Edinburgh to Aberdeen is a very close second.

Best Lunch: Maiden Lane in Cork, hands down the best food and overall experience.

Best Dinner: The Great Room at the Manchester Hotel in Belfast. Even if the city was a bit gritty there is still always a shining moment anywhere.

Best Hotel Breakfast: St James at Trafalgar Square. Last can sometimes be best.

Best Fish & Chips: Wild Boar in Aberdeen, even here something good game out of it.

Best Cullen Skink: Howies in Edinburg, just the freshest and best tasting.

Best Tea: Well, we only had two, but The Parlor at the Great Scotland Yard Hotel wins hands down.

Most Memorable Experience: It is a tie, Dunnottar Castle and Edinburg Castle

Favorite Seaside Village: Stonehaven, Scotland

Favorite New City: Edinburg, easily enters the top ten of favorite worldwide cities.

Dish of the Trip: This one is very hard; the onion loaf was taken out of the running as I believe that it is what ultimately caused my stomach issues. At the end of the day the Highland Wild Venison at the Buttery in Glasgow is the dish of the trip, followed very closely by the Irish Beef Filet at the Great Room in Belfast.

It has been far to long since we have had this type of vacation. The next trip is a Tour of Spain Old and New.

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Comments

[Connie]

Glad you enjoyed your trip and arrived safely home.