The Adventures of Flying

First of all, let me just say that I safely arrived in Scotland yesterday early afternoon, so everyone can quit worrying. Second of all I had quite the interesting day of travel...

I left home with my two stuffed suitcases, my carry-on and my backpack about 6:30 am on Friday morning. After I hugged my family goodbye at the Moline Airport I naively thought that everything would go perfectly in my travels...boy was I misled. The first half of the trip was fairly uneventful. I safely (and on schedule) made it to Detroit and got to relax in my favorite airport for a few hours. Then it was time to board my flight to Amsterdam. If you have not ever flown on one of those giant planes that go to foreign countries like the one I took, the overhead bins are really high! I could not reach it to put my stuff up there, I had to have help! Anyway, this flight was nice too, I got to watch as many movies as I wanted (I chose Toy Story 3 and Life as We Know It) and the food was not too bad either (I had pasta, salad, a dinner roll, and brownie for dinner and a breakfast sandwich and banana before landing the next morning!).

After safely arriving in Amsterdam at 5:45 am Saturday my adventures really began. I get off the plane and choose a direction to wander in search of those screens that tell you about the departures. When I find one I search for Edinburgh and I see that it is...CANCELLED!! So, I go to the help desk and take a number and luckily the nice Dutch people were able to rebook me onto a flight to Birmingham, England and then on to Edinburgh...however, this first flight was boarding right then! So I had to hustle my tushie to the gate. I remember the lady who helped me change my tickets saying "Good Luck!" as I walked briskely away.

So I make it to my flight to Birmingham and I overhear this girl saying she is also going to Edinburgh and that she was coming from Detroit! So I told her I was going there too, and we became travel buddies. Her name is Alyssa and she was returning to Edinburgh for her second semester of studying abroad at the University of Edinburgh (She goes to school in Wisconsin). We sat next to each other on the plane and had a great time hoping that we would make it to our final destinations...

We make it to Birmingham and I decide to call my shuttle service to give them a heads up that I will not be arriving at 8:40 as planned. This requires me to get pounds. Unable to think since it was early morning and I was slightly stressed I got pounds from the ATM, but then I had to change it into coins for the phone. After I accomplished this, I found a phone and called. The guy who answered was like "yea, the Edinburgh airport is closed this morning, so just let us know when you finally get it." I tell Alyssa this and we were both like oh perfect.

Our next step was to go through customs. I filled out my little card and talked to the lady who interrogated me about how long I was staying and for what reason and did I have enough money to support myself and was I aware that I could not work while here. Once through, Alyssa and I decided to find out for sure about if our flight to Edinburgh was on time or not. We discover that it is delayed until 10, keep in mind that it is about 8 at this point because it was supposed to leave at 8:15. We go through security and then find a place to sit and wait, and sleep, and wait some more.

10:00 rolls around and we recheck the monitors only to find that it is now delayed until 11:30. So we continue to sit and wait and sleep and wait some more. Then at 11:30 we re-check to find that our flight was boarding!! We were finally going to make it to Edinburgh! So we get on the plane and take off. I was finally going to be in Scotland!

Upon arrival, Alyssa and I were VERY discombobulated and tired. We make our way to baggage claim and were waiting for quite a while. Alyssa realizes she left her phone on the plane so she had to go take care of that. Then one of the airport workers must have seen that we were waiting for a while (and I think it was who Alyssa told about her phone) because she approached us and asked for our last names only to inform us that our luggage did not arrive with us :-(

We go to the lost baggage desk and the very nice lady working got everything straightened out, as they will deliver my luggage to me when it arrives. Although, when she asked for a phone number at which I could be reached, I had to say that I just arrived in the country and did not have a phone yet, so I gave her the number of my study abroad coordinator at Dundee. I then asked where a phone was, and she said I could use their's free of charge to call my shuttle service. I was worried about calling them because I could not get through when I tried calling them when I knew we were finally leaving Birmingham. Luckily, the gentleman I spoke to was very nice and understanding and told me that my driver would be there soon and told me where to wait.

I waited for my driver and the other girl who was riding with us to Dundee. Her name is Heidi and she goes to Baylor in Texas. It turns out that we stay in the same flat building and she lives just one floor up from me! Once we arrived to the University and made it to our rooms we decided to go explore the city! We walked around for about 2 hours! It took us a while to find out way back but we felt very accomplished once we did! Keep in mind that it was about 4:00 in the afternoon when we set out and it was already dark!

I had a very interesting time during my journey to Dundee, but now, after my first sleep in my new bed (without sheets) I am ready to get started on the rest of my semester! I hope my luggage arrives either today or tomorrow and that I find somewhere to buy food!

Sorry this was very long, but it was a very eventful day!