Blogs from Oban, Argyll, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 8

Cindy awoke with the cold still hanging on to her (despite taking the "wee dram of whisky" that was actually about 3 fingers worth the night before), but she wasn't about to stay in the house on her vacation. Since Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, is on the opposite coast from where we are in Oban, we thought it might be a good idea to take the Scottish Rail from Oban to Glasgow and then Glasgow to Edinburgh rather than drive. Also, the weather forecast was for cold rain and thunderstorms in our part of the country, while the forecast for Edinburgh was sunshine and warm temperatures. We arrived at the Oban rail station at 8am for our 8:20 departure. We were fortunate to get 4 seats around a table and I had brought my laptop ... read more

We awoke to no rain this morning but the skies held the possibility of showers in the heavy clouds that were rolling in from the ocean. After breakfast and showering, we drove into Oban where I was dropped off at the Internet Cafe (hope you all read the posts that day) while everyone else went to the bank to exchange money (Yikes! The 1.94 exchange rate gave us half the pounds we had in dollars) and stopped by the Tourist Information Center to get tickets for the ferry trip on Wednesday and the rail trip to Edinburgh on Thursday. Then we drove 30 miles (an hour long drive on the winding, sometime single-track roads) south of Oban to an area known as Kilmartin. We made the Kilmartin Museum and Gift Shop our first stop. As we ... read more

5:50am-Iceland time. After the flight from hell, which lasted 6 hours and 40 minutes and took us through several time zones, we have arrived at Klefavlik Airport in Reykjavik, Iceland. The flight was packed solid with passengers and, of course, behind me was a crying, screaming infant. The seats themselves are fine for passengers who are 5' 8" or shorter and weigh less than 160 pounds. Anything taller or heavier than that and the discomfort level increases exponentially. Thus you can imagine how wonderfully uncomfortable they were to a 6'4", 260 pound person such as myself. Adding to the fun was the fact that my seat was an aisle seat, which at first I was happy about since it would give me a little more breathing room than a window or middle seat would. That happiness ... read more

...life goes ON! HAAAAA! Or, more accurately, life GOES- once again! I'm finally off my arse and 'OOT' of the Edinburger for a while! The last five days have been spent charging around the Highlands taking in all of the marvellous beauty it has to offer. Pegs, Angus and I set off on Sunday to the Isle of Skye, on the way to which we were entertained by our animated bus driver 'Party Marty' while he filled us in on Scotland's rich history by telling us detailed stories of 'who bled all over which battlefield' and 'who's head was thrown into which river'. When we stopped of Loch Ness, Angus (crazy South African!) jumped in and went for a wee swim! (It is, you may care to know, currently the middle of WINTER in Scotland!) The ... read more