And so our adventures continue! We started the day of kinda early. Laura had to board a flight early, so Ramona got up early to see her off. Once we got ourselves going we had a light meal and packed up the apartment.
We've rounded up our things, and headed off to the airport. We opted to grab a taxi, for fear of delays thanks to the parade and festival coming to Stoneybatter later in the day. Arriving in plenty of time, we checked our bags and I went in search of a post box to mail postcards. Oddly enough, I learned that Dublin Airport sells no postage or has a post office in the airport. There are many angry posts on the web that confirm this. Ah well!
Once we got our bearings, we bought a few snacks and proceeded to our gate. Dublin's terminal is quite walkable, so we easily figured out where we needed to go - a ground level terminal gate. Interesting.... As the time for our flight neared, we boarded a bus at the gate that drove us out onto the tarmack. Sure enough, we were boarding away from the terminal again. This time, we had a smaller, turboprop plane, as the distance was a mere 245mi from Dublin, Ireland to Glasgow, Scotland.
The flight boarded quickly and we were off! Mere minutes after take off, the weather below became cloudy. As we dipped below the clouds to land, it was clearly rainy. As we made our final approach, it was clearly windy as well, as the plane bounced and swayed as we went. Fortunately, the landing was smooth, so all was well. As we deplaned, it was much cooler than it was in Ireland - it was barely 58 degrees!
I expected we would go through customs, since Ireland and Scotland are different countries, but we merely collected our luggage and were on our way! Now, I understand the value that the EU brings to residents of member countries - it's quite easy to move between countries, cross borders, exchange good and services on a common currency, etc. (yes - I know Scotland is in the UK and is on the British Pound for its currency).
From the Glasgow airport, we took a bus to the city center, a short distance away. We went directly to the central train station, as we needed to get our rail tickets from Glasgow to our next destination.
Tickets in hand, we were ready to start exploring the city. We stowed our luggage for a few hours and were ready to go out. It took just a few minutes to spot our first Scotsman in a traditional kilt!
I was also told to try out a dish that Scotland is famous for, a deep-fried Mars bar.
As our day continued, we meandered through downtown Glasgow. The city center was full of people and activity, despite the cool and at times rainy weather.
For dinner, we happened across a restaurant called Prep Fitness Kitchen, which featured lots of high-protein, low-fat foots that are probably meant to be your after-work out dinner.
Heading back to Central station, we retrieved our luggage and took a traditional Black Cab to our hotel. The driver had a thick Scottish accent which took a minute to get used to, but he was patient with us and repeated himself slowly as-needed.
As we drove the streets, I noticed people wearing t-shirts for the band, "The Stone Roses", and properly guessed there must be here for a concert. Our hotel was near a large concert venue and the SSE Hydro, the city's hydro power plant.
Packing it in for the day, we unpacked and got ourselves ready for bed.
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