Arrival in Scotland

I'm in Oban, looking out into the sunny morning over a little valley lined with houses and trees. The trees have just recently budded out with new leaves and so everything is bright green. Apparently they have started blooming too, to judge by the amount of sneezing I've been doing since I got here.

The flights were long and not very exciting except for the interesting characters I met and talked with. The Alaskan bush pilot and hunting/fishing guide probably had the most interesting stories, for which I prodded him during the entire flight down to California from Oregon. Fishing with bears on the beach and frightened clients huddling stupidly in the beached boat while he talked the bear into calming down and walking away instead of attacking. Fishing with rich and powerful clients including Middle Eastern kings, federal judges, and FBI agents. Having his life and his clients' lives in his hands when he flies the little plane out to the middle of the wilderness.

But the young Bay Area programmer/techie from Belarus also told some fascinating tales of his time in the U.S. and his impressions of Californians (not entirely positive). He talked animatedly most of the way to Philadelphia. I noticed that when I looked at him in profile, his nose was extremely prominent, but when he faced me his light green eyes suddenly dominated his face.

A few times during our conversation he got into giggling fits that set me off laughing too. He loved the part of the flight attendant's safety demonstration where she informed us that if we needed to inflate our life vests we could blow them up through a little tube. "That's a lot of blowing," the Belarussian exclaimed, starting to giggle. I said, "What, you haven't been blowing up any inflatable mattresses lately?" He giggled even more. "Or inflatable boats? It's good practice, you know." The giggling went on for a good five minutes!

Philadelphia was exciting just because it featured an entire plane-load of people, from my flight, running for their next planes. We arrived a bit late and most people on board had tight connections. I heard the intercom announce, "Last call for flight 734 to Manchester now boarding at gate A20" as soon as I got off the plane and started running. Luckily I was picked up by a little shuttle raft that was able to get me and my anxious plane-mates to our gates much more quickly than we could carry ourselves.

Settling down sweaty and out of breath, I was happy to notice that the flight was only about half full and I had a couple seats empty next to me. This was an advantage later for being able to lie down and get a bit of sleep. The six hours passed relatively quickly, with a little help from the Cartoon Network, which I watched without the $5 headphones.

There was an episode about a young boy who gets an alien bracelet from a crashed alien pod and it turns him into whatever kind of superhero-monster he wants. Then he sets the forest on fire and gets into fights with the bad aliens, while his dad and sister cheer him on. It was pretty good!

Arriving in Manchester was a bit disorienting but pleasant. Those of us connecting to Glasgow were given very special treatment, with a special shuttle bus taking us around the airport to our terminal. We drove around on the ground with all the planes and trolleys and everything--quite exciting! And we drove through all these secret back tunnels and stopped at a secret glass door that required a special key card to open it. Up the elevator and through the secret corridors to our own transfer desk and security gate.

At this point I was informed that I could only have one carry-on bag for the national flight. I had my backpack and my laptop with me, and they could not be combined into one piece of luggage. My only option was to check one piece at the desk upstairs. I had no idea that there were different luggage regulations for the national flight and my bags had been checked all the way through to Glasgow. Upstairs I was informed that because I had two bags checked already, the extra bag would carry a fee, five pounds per kilogram. It wasn't cheap.

Feeling rather grungy and sorry for myself I found my gate and had an hour to spare. I only had my laptop with me at this point, and I was starting to feel a little bit hungry as well as greasy and sweaty and tired. Suddenly I remembered I had stashed a package of dried tropical fruit in the pocket of my laptop case. It was a welcome find.

We took a tiny little plane to Glasgow, just an hour flight, and arrived shortly before 1:00 p.m. The day was bright and sunny. Coming in over the city I saw a number of golf courses, one right next to a giant mine or quarry that ate up half the hillside. I saw a green, glittery, sparkling pile of minerals, a castle-looking place surrounded by trees, rows of neat houses, and finally when we got close enough, fields with sheep.

At the baggage claim, my bags never showed up, though I did get my backpack that was checked in Manchester. My two suitcases were missing, and the man at the luggage desk was very helpful but was unable to determine if the bags had been left in Philadelphia or Manchester. Either way, I gave him the address where I'm staying and hoped that they could be delivered in the next couple days. Still, I haven't heard any word.

Andy found me at the baggage claim and we headed off, out of the city as quickly as possible. We had a lovely picnic along Loch Lomond and watched a pied wagtail bobbing its tail around as it pecked through the mucky mud along the shore. The sun shone hot and the water glittered. The forest along the banks was bright neon green with the fresh leaves. The larches glowed brightly with their new needles among the darker evergreen firs in the tree farms that lined the hills.

We made another stop along the road home at an oak forest where we followed the "Ant Trail" up the hill and around through the woods. Every kind of wildflower was blooming and Andy identified them all--I'll have to ask him again what they all were. We each ate a wild garlic flower that was spicy and pungent. Ferns were unfurling all around, the bracken ferns contorting themselves into crazy alien shapes as they unfolded. We ate some wood sorrel, took photos of the flowers, and walked some of the kinks out. Sneezing the whole way.

Arrived in Oban and came to Hazel Cottage around 6:30 or so, with the sun still high in the sky. Dinner was delicious and welcome, and then I descended into delirium from fatigue. I recovered enough to take a much-needed shower, talk a bit incoherently to Tim for a while, and then go to bed and not notice anything until the sun started streaming in quite early.

Today the plan is to wander around Oban a bit, buy a few things like shampoo and a towel, get situated with where we live in relation to town, and then take the bus over to Dunbeg later to meet Andy for a walk around the Dunstaffnage peninsula. It's another beautiful sunny day.