Scotland 2013 - After the Trip

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The hard part was getting there!

We (well, especially me) like to have two seats together instead of the usual three in most airplanes. This is especially important during an overseas flight, which can become very uncomfortable after sitting so long. I found that KLM, which is operated by Air France and Delta, offered 2-seat rows on their Airbus A330 flights from Seattle to Amsterdam. We flew from San Francisco to Seattle, then to Amsterdam, and then it was a short trip to Glasgow from Amsterdam.



When we arrived at Seattle we found our flight was delayed about an hour, which meant we would miss our flight from Amsterdam to Glasgow. We went to the ticket counter and explained our situation. An agent spent a lot of time trying to get us on another flight, with another agent also trying to help. After awhile we were told to visit the “Help” desk on the other side of the building. There was a fairly long line and only one person at the counter. After waiting about 10 minutes we reached the counter and explained our situation. The agent had to call someone else for assistance and we were told again to wait. Kirk got some food and drinks since we had not eaten for awhile. Our flight was to board soon, but the agent finally issued us new tickets and gave us the same luggage tags and said we were booked on the 12:10 flight from Amsterdam to Glasgow. We were to contact an agent when we arrived in Amsterdam to get our boarding passes.



We returned to the boarding gate, where a large crowd of people was waiting to board. After arriving at the front of the line we were told our tickets were not valid, and we had to stand at the counter about 15 to 20 minutes after all the other passengers were on the plane. We heard our names called to board, and told the agent at the gate, only 8 feet away, that we were still waiting for the tickets to be approved. After finally getting approval we were let on the plane and we felt slightly embarrassed about having held up the flight, thinking that the other passengers would believe it was our fault, not that of the airline. However, we were delayed even longer after boarding, and it was announced that there was a problem with some new procedure they were trying out. We were not reassured to hear that they were using paper printouts as back up! Our flight from Seattle to Amsterdam finally started two hours after the original flight schedule.



During the flight there were two kids seated behind us and one kept pushing and kicking my seat. A woman seated across the aisle from them, apparently their mother, talked to them almost constantly during the whole flight, mostly telling them how to work their way through the remote controls for the videos. Each seat had monitors but the controls on the arm rests had a cord attached and had to be taken off the arms to be used, making it difficult to figure out where to place the remote while watching something.



When we arrived in Amsterdam we were let off the plane onto the tarmac, then picked up by a bus and taken to the airport. The bus had mostly standing room, and the whole thing seemed odd to me, especially considering the airport is one of the largest in Europe. We were told to contact an agent to issue a boarding pass, since we were supposed to have been booked on the 12:10 flight to Glasgow. Amsterdam airport is very large and we were told to go to section T4. After wandering around and asking other agents we found T4, which was a large area with several agents and people waiting. While there I noticed a policeman who was very heavily armed; it looked to me like he was on a SWAT team. We talked to an agent and ended up waiting for what seemed to be a long time, maybe 15-20 minutes, and finally were given another ticket on a later flight to Glasgow. We were told we would not have to go through security again, but we did, and in fact, we were both frisked, and I had to throw out my bottle of water. We didn’t have much time, but managed to reach the plane and were finally on our way to Glasgow, which fortunately was only about a 30 minute flight.



All was not well when we got to Glasgow, however, because we discovered our luggage had not followed our route. We had to file a report and they said it would be delivered to us at our rental apartment. We were then told to leave the area of the airport we were waiting in, since it was closing. I had been texting and emailing the Glasgow apartment managers about our delays using my US SIM card, and they were very quick to respond. We were trying to get our cell phones working with the UK SIM cards we had bought on eBay, but were having trouble getting them to work. We finally ended up using a pay phone to call the apartment manager. We had told the owner that we wanted the option of being picked up at the airport, but apparently his coworker wasn’t given the message. However, she was in the area and picked us up, saving us a bus ride and finding our way to the apartment after traveling so long. We ended up buying a few items such as toiletries, underwear, and pajamas, and fortunately our luggage arrived the following day. Kirk went to an O2 cell phone store and bought more minutes and we managed to get the phones working.



Fife:

We were fortunate to have offers from two different parties to drive us around areas in Scotland we had not seen before. This is especially nice since we gave up driving in the UK after our first trip there. On June 13, Dave, a young man we met on a boat during our last trip to Scotland, met us at the Kirkcaldy Rail Station and drove us around the coast of Fife, which is north of Edinburgh. We saw several scenic coastal villages in East Neuk, including Crail, Anstruther, St. Monans and Elie. We stayed overnight at the Beveridge Hotel in Kirkcaldy (not recommended - see my review: http://tinyurl.com/m7pykhm).



St. Andrews & Dundee:

On June 14 we met old family friend Peter and his wife Rosemary at the Leuchars Rail Station. They took us around St. Andrews, where Rosemary attended college. She told us of many of the rituals that students of St. Andrews practice. St. Andrews is a picturesque town with many shops, cafes, pubs and restaurants. It was fairly quiet when we were there but gets much busier when classes are in session. We went to Dundee and Broughty Ferry on June 15 and saw Rosemary’s old family home, visited Broughty Castle, toured the Verdant Works Jute Museum, and went aboard the RRS Discovery, a ship that sailed to the Antarctic in 1901 on an expedition. We stayed at the Queen’s Hotel in Dundee, which was built in 1878 and originally named the Station Hotel. It was a great, well kept up, old hotel; see my review: http://tinyurl.com/k5vze8z.



Glasgow:

Kirk ran in the Mens Health Forum Scotland 10K run at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow on June 16; we took a bus near our apartment to the park, which is south of the Clyde River. Later that day we took the subway to Glasgow’s West End and walked through Kelvingrove Park, where the Mela Indian Festival was being held.



Things we saw or did while in Glasgow - June 19: Botanical Gardens and Riverside Museum, via tour bus. June 20: Necropolis via tour bus: I managed to get a sunburn because it was a very warm day and the Necropolis is on a hill with very little shade. June 21: Queen’s Park (Glasgow south side) and the Mitchell Theater (Glasgow West End). June 22: We happened upon an Orange March while walking on Buchanan Street, something I had always wanted to see.



Review of City Centre apartment:

This was our third time renting a “self-catering” apartment in Glasgow. We find Glasgow the perfect place to stay in Scotland, especially without a car, because it is centrally located and you can take a train or bus to anywhere. This apartment is located near Central train station, near the River Clyde, a few blocks from St. Enoch Shopping Centre, and close to many shops on Argyle and Buchanan streets, as well as many pubs and other venues. Since we would spend a few days staying in hotels in other areas, we wanted a place that was affordable, and this apartment was a very good deal ($1088 for two weeks). Because it was so affordable, we reserved the apartment in October for our visit the following June. It was easy communicating with Ryan and Jean via email during the entire process, including when our flight was delayed and we had to let them know we would arrive late. We paid a small deposit via Paypal and, since they did not accept credit cards or want to use Paypal for the rest, got British pounds at our bank at reasonable rates and paid them the remainder.



The apartment was recently built and has modern bathroom and kitchen fittings. The kitchen includes a cooktop, oven, microwave, small refrigerator, and a washer/dryer combination, and everything worked well. For non-European visitors, the washer/dryer may be a challenge, since there was no manual, but we asked the receptionist in the hall outside the apartment for help. The TV was a bit difficult to figure out, and sometimes the on/off switch on the remote didn’t work properly but I just turned it on or off on the TV.



Our main complaint with the apartment was the lack of a table and chairs, and although there is a coffee table it was too heavy to move. We found a couple of wooden bar stools in the closet and used them to put food and drinks on. Later I used an ironing board as a table.



Glasgow transportation:

For most of our travel around Glasgow we used the subway, called the “Clockwork Orange” because it’s orange and goes in a circle. However, after buying tickets ahead of time to ride the subway back to the apartment after returning from Edinburgh one evening, we discovered that it closed at 7PM on Sundays. There was actually a bus stop in front of the apartment that went to the city centre and south of the Clyde, but we only used it once. The city was in the middle of changing bus routes and costs, so it was confusing at times. One time I didn’t have enough money and the driver allowed me to pay less.



Unlike buses in the SF Bay Area, the drivers in Scotland give change, making it much easier on the passenger. Also, you can buy train tickets on board; sometimes there is no other way since some stations are not staffed and have no ticket machines. There is always a conductor on the trains, and you are asked to show your ticket at certain points, although sometimes you aren’t asked at all.



Glasgow tour bus:

We decided to use the tour bus for two days to get around, instead of the subway, city buses, and our feet. It worked out all right except that it only goes one way, so you may spend a lot of time on the bus going by places you’ve already seen. Also, the tour buses vary – some have a person actually narrating, some have a recording on a loudspeaker, while others have a recording that can only be heard on head phones. This did not matter much to us, since we’ve visited the city and been on the tour buses several times, but it may cause confusion to those who don’t get on the bus at the first stop and listen to the guide or driver explain how it works.



We found that one of the problems of having a live tour guide is that you can’t talk much, at least if you are on the bottom floor (most buses are double deckers). While riding on one bus with a tour guide, my husband was talking, and the tour guide stopped talking and glared at him for awhile, so I told him to stop talking. The bus stopped for awhile in front of George Square, and I asked her about any toilets in the vicinity, and she let me go with her to a nearby hotel and use their toilets, which required a number to gain entry. When we were back in the bus we asked her about renovations to George Square, and she gave us a summary of the proposed changes. So if you are in a bus with a live tour guide, you can also find out a lot of insider information if you catch him or her on a break.



Glasgow West End Festival:

Although I had planned the trip partially around the dates of the West End Festival, we found it hard to attend the events, since many were at night and difficult to get to on public transportation (unless you were very familiar with the areas). We had hoped to see vintage buses that were to be driven around one day, but although we asked about them several places, including the visitors’ centre, no one knew about them. It turned out that the only part of the West End Festival we saw was when we walked through Kelvingrove Park and saw some of the Mele Festival, a very colorful Indian festival with music, dancing and food.



Edinburgh:

June 18, Edinburgh: We planned to visit Dean Village, but found it hard to locate buses that went there. There are two bus companies at Edinburgh’s bus station, Lothian and First – but each didn’t know info about the other’s routes. We found by chance (from a customer) that a free bus ran between three museums: Scottish National Portrait Gallery, the National Gallery, and the Gallery of Modern Art. The streets were blocked and torn up around the portrait gallery, and we found the bus didn’t stop there during the construction for the new tram. We found boarded the bus at the National Gallery, although it was more of a large van with huge seats packed into it that made the aisle extremely narrow and the whole thing very claustrophobic. We got off the bus at the Gallery of Modern Art found our way to Dean Village. There were two routes, one along the river path and one along the road. We went via the road and found the entrance to the village after crossing the Dean river. We walked along Dean Path and took photos of some of the very old buildings there, but couldn’t stay very long since we had to catch the bus back to the National Gallery. The bus driver was very talkative and gave us a lot of information along the way. He also talked about Falkirk since he was from there and obviously very proud of it.



Linlithgow:

On Sunday June 23 we took a train to Linlithgow and walked to the Canal Centre there, where we took the Avon Aqueduct Canal Tour. The aqueduct was built between 1819 and 1822 and is 86 feet high. The journey took around 3 hours (the boat goes very slowly), and the boat stopped at the top of the aqueduct and let passengers off. Kirk walked down below the aqueduct, but I stayed on top. There were many cyclists walking their bikes along the narrow paths on either side of the canal, so you had to move near the side to let them by. I don’t like heights, but I didn’t find it as scary as I thought it would be.



Hotel Reviews:

Trip Advisor review of Beveridge Hotel, Kirkcaldy:

“Close to train station - that's all I can say!”

Reviewed August 13, 2013

We needed a hotel close to a train station while touring the Fife coast, and this seemed to be the only one. There was no elevator so we had to carry our luggage up the stairs, fortunately only one floor up. Our room was fair - not dirty, but "tired". There was a stain on the box springs that wouldn't have shown if they had covered it with a bed skirt, but the management seemed to take no interest in "keeping up appearances". The room was rather small and seemed more cramped due to a large wardrobe. I don't remember a lot of details because I was not feeling well, but it was very hot and the window only opened a little at the top and there was no fan or air conditioning. My husband went to the bar to buy a ginger ale for me and returned with the smallest can I've ever seen. We ate dinner at the restaurant downstairs (there is really no other choice nearby), and the food was fairly good, with choices limited to Indian or British fare. I ordered ginger ale again and was given the same small can, while my husband was given a huge glass of beer (I would think they could have poured a few cans into a glass, at least!). In the morning we had the free breakfast, and found it was largely buffet style with cold items. Later, after we had almost finished breakfast, a waitress asked if we wanted any hot food, and I ordered oatmeal. While the price was not bad - 65 pounds - I think I would stay in a higher priced hotel in the future and take a taxi to the train station.

Stayed June 2013, traveled as a couple



Review, Queens Hotel, Dundee:



My husband and I stayed at the Queens Hotel in Dundee while visiting St. Andrews and Dundee in June, 2013. We weren’t sure what to expect since it was an old hotel, built in 1878, but we were pleasantly surprised. Before arriving at the Queens Hotel we had toured the RSS Discovery, and I remember reading that the celebration for the ship’s return was held at the hotel. The lobby and stairway is well kept up and gives an impression of elegance. There are several multipurpose rooms and the hotel hosts many events such as weddings and conferences. There were lots of young women celebrating while we were there, but they were never noisy enough to bother us. We were on the second floor facing the street, and since it was a Friday night we could hear people laughing or shouting as they walked by, so I would recommend a room away from the street for light sleepers. The room itself was large with a high ceiling and nicely furnished. The bathroom was a bit small but clean and everything was in good working order. We walked around the area in the evening and found a lot of restaurants, pubs and stores. A breakfast that was available for 10 pounds over the room price of 75 pounds was average – mostly self serve with only one waiter who took orders for hot food. In all, I considered the Queens Hotel a very good deal, especially since we had just stayed at a very inferior hotel for 10 pounds less. I would recommend this beautiful old hotel in Dundee to anyone looking for a nice, affordable hotel and who would appreciate staying in an historical landmark.

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