Fly Maybe: part 1

Scotland, as one friend put it, "seems to be helping my blog!"

Let me elaborate, this is part 1 of a very long trip.

Tuesday I was supposed to fly down to Edinburgh from Wick. That morning there happened to be a freak storm with lightening, thunder, on-and-off rain and of course the horrible Haar (heavy fog).

I checked the airport website and there was no mention of any flight cancellations or delays, so I assumed everything was fine. Once I got to he airport, however, things were quite different. Not only were there delays, but my flight had been cancelled.

The passengers on the cancelled flight included tourists and locals. There were a few single people as well as a family with a 10-12 month old baby. Everyone was angry and frustrated about the lack of communication as to a back up plan.

After a small black bus pulled up to the airport, we learned about the back up plan: a bus and then a train which would take over 7 hours just to get down to Edinburgh. As we loaded onto the bus, we noticed 1) how small it was, and 2) that there was no loo. The size of the bus meant we all got to squeeze in together, but the lack of a loo meant we would have to rely on the bus driver's pit or refuel stops. Anyone who has travelled by car south of Wick will know how twisty the roads are and that sitting so closely and backwards doesn't help motion sickness!

A few hours into the bus ride, I received the following message: "Cancelled 1 of your flights." This would have been helpful several hours earlier, but that was not to be.

Three hours into the trip, we reached Inverness and passengers were allowed to take another bus, or train or even fly if there was such a flight available. Fortunately there was a train stopping in Inverness shortly. The train was quite scenic and I felt like a tourist myself! During the trip, I successfully rescheduled all my meetings for Wednesday and Thursday, it would be a busy schedule, but I knew I could accomplish it. Several hours later, I was in Edinburgh. An hours flight never seemed so long.