DAY-02: Edinburgh Arrival (Thu, Aug 24, 2017)

DAY-02: Edinburgh Arrival

Day – 02: Thursday, August 24, 2017

Starting Location: Southeast of Nova Scotia over the Atlantic
Interim Location: London Heathrow Airport (LHR)

Interim Location: Edinburgh Airport (EDI)

Ending Location: Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

We were awoken somewhere west of Ireland for an early morning breakfast, actually local time was about 8 AM but our bodies were acting as if it were 3 AM.

Our arrival into London Heathrow (LHR) was actually a few minutes early leaving us with 2+ hours to make our connection to Edinburgh.


After what was a long walk through the United arrivals terminal we found our way to the immigration line wondering why the line was so short? Well we had turned left rather than right when following the multi-colored signs. The pleasant immigration agent after a few questions re-routed us toward the domestic Terminal 5, a short bus ride away. Though we ultimately had to show our passports, our luggage was never presented to the customs folks as best we know.

We arrived at the BA domestic gate area and quickly exchanged some cash for local currency. The going rate was 1.2855 US $ to the pound sterling. After a soda for me and a Starbucks for Sheila we found our way to the Edinburgh departure gate and departed on time ultimately arriving in Edinburgh about 3 PM, just seven hours from our original plan.

 At Edinburgh Kenny, the quintessential Scotsman, met us. He was a great host and driver. Within minutes Sheila and Kenny had digressed into the life history of Andy Murray and ups and downs of his tennis career. Kenny also gave us a rundown of the Great Britain vs. Scotland way of looking at things and was helpful in pointing out the sites of Edinburgh on our route into the city.

Looks like a castle.

After checking into The Caledonian Hotel and a few minutes in our room we headed out for some Scottish culture.

We walked around the downtown center where any number of activities were underway as this was the week of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, a mélange of the arts, from readings, comedy and short act performances, to singers, dancers, mimes and street acts. We dutifully picked up a Starbucks mug and soon thereafter headed into a pub for a brew, well at least for me, Sheila opted for the Sunrise Splash or similar named drink.

Two guesses who this pub minstrel was singing about!

CLEVER - "THE GHOST BUS TOURS".

Badger & Company, it's a pub with a familiar name!

Checkout the logo on the bag.

Upon return to the hotel we headed into one of the restaurants where we had dinner, for me a pair of huge sea scallops along with perhaps the best fries I’ve ever had.

We didn’t last much longer, the day was over or so our bodies advised. After a bit of unpacking we were out for the night.