International travel is stressful.  It has its rewards, oh yes, but still … Every time I go to Scotland, I get sick.  ::: sigh ::::

May 15 2009 - We were up at about 4:30 AM this morning and soon headed to Edinburgh Airport in our nifty Vauxhall.  Realized at the airport that I had left a jacket at the TKR.  Wonderful.  It’s gonna be a good day!

Of course, there was no shuttle to take us from the rental car parking area to the terminal, so we hiked it with our luggage…just as it started raining again.

After a bit of a wait to board our flight to London, we were leaving Scottish soil together for the third time, holding hands as the wheels lifted as we do on takeoffs and landings. 

Yes, international travel is stressful.  Yet, for me, leaving Scotland is like leaving Heaven and returning to Earth.  Her grace, strength, beauty and mysticism have such a profound effect on me.  She has been very gracious to me in so many ways, including giving me so much healing of the spirit just when I need it.  Not only the land itself, but the family I have there.  Two stepsons of whom I am so fond and so proud, Ian’s lovely lady Rose for whom I feel a special bond, and our wee grandson Fionn.  Family.  I am such a lucky gal!

We were fortunate to upgrade to Economy Plus seats on the transatlantic leg of the journey and the extra bit of legroom made the trip much more bearable even without having a window seat.  The flight was in daylight coming Stateside as usual and the time of 7.5 hours was not a bad crossing.

I can always tell when we leave land and start the Atlantic crossing.  That first bit feels different…a bit bumpy and just different.  I look at the map at that point and, sure enough, we have just started over the water.  Perhaps a false sense of security, but I feel better once we’re over land again.

Dave and I have always said that if something should happen on these flights, at least we are together. 

Our layover in Washington Dulles was somewhat of a nightmare.  Dave’s bag decided to take a side trip to Denver and was not waiting for us.  We had to go to the Immigration Office and for half a second I had visions of them not letting him back in!  His Resident Card had expired but we had applied for the new one as required months before and were simply waiting on the new one to arrive.  I had brought all sorts of documentation to that effect and it came in handy.  A mind-numbing amount of time spent in layover in the airport (again, you can’t get OUT of the airport) in warm, crowded conditions, some mixed signals about which gate we were supposed to be at for the flight to Austin….aaaaarrrgggh!  I do NOT want to go through Dulles again.

The redeeming factor was that I was back in the UNITED STATES!  Yippiieee!  I figured being in Washington was just about as good as being in Austin.  At least we got that far.  Spent some time calling friends and family to let them know we were on American soil at least.

Hours passed and at last we boarded our flight for Austin.  Already travel-weary, the air conditioning was not on while we sat on the tarmac and there were what sounded like 20 screaming/crying infants in the row behind us.  Oh goodie.  Once we finally took to the air, the a/c kicked in, going to the opposite extreme of freezing everyone.  Folks were bundled up in every jacket they had…me including my hat.  The woman behind us was curled up under a blanket; you could only see a wee bit of the top of her head.

Never have I been so glad to be off a plane!   After 3.5 hours of basically torture and, I might add, no snack, it was divine to be on terra firma again.  After spending some time at the Austin airport filling out a report on Dave’s wandering bag, we eventually made it home in the wee hours of the morning.  We basically dumped the bags in the living room, took showers and fell into bed with our alarms set for the usual work-day time.

Yes, international travel can be brutal for me but I would not miss being in my beloved Scotland for anything.  It is truly a different world, one which I could adapt to and one that I keep close in heart and spirit during the time in between visits.  I hope you have enjoyed my ramblings and the photos.