I've always like Scotland. I don't know if it's because of the beauty of the Highlands or the sexy accent or the red-haired females or the very friendly people. Or maybe something completely different. Like bagpipes?
Anyhow, my mother likes bagpipe music and Scotland and she wanted to see Scotland at least once in her life. So in the summer of 2000 my brother and I took my mom on a weekend trip to Edinburgh.
My mom has always been afraid of flying, but once we were up in the air she was more bored than scared. We had a layover at London Gatwick and when we were on the plane waiting to taxi out on the runway the pilot started talking on the intercom. He said that there was a delay but hopefully we would get to Glasgow in time anyways. At this point some of the passengers started looking around and one person asked the flight attendant if he really said Glasgow and not Edinburgh. The flight attendant said no of course he didn't. Then the pilot started talking again. This time about how the weather was in Glasgow. This time the flight attendant heard it and walked over to the cockpit and yelled at him that we were going to Edinburgh. After a brief pause the pilot said that he was sorry about that and that he had come in from Glasgow earlier and thought he was going back there again. After another pause he said "don't you just hate it when that happens in the morning?"
This was before digital cameras were everywhere so I just had an old 35mm-film camera with me. I didn't take many photos and I have none of them on my computer. We mostly spent the weekend on Princes Street and The Royal Mile. We visited Edinburgh Castle and walked all the way down to Palace of Holyroodhouse but unfortunately the Queen was there so we couldn't go in. The new parliament building was still being built too. Then we went to George Street to buy a t-shirt at Hardrock Café and I almost got run over by a car because I looked left instead of right. Very embarrassed I looked down at the ground (because if I can't see other people they can't see me) and there in large friendly letters it said "LOOK RIGHT".
The hotel we stayed at was Piries Hotel on Coates Garden. A small and cosy hotel about 5-10 minutes walk from Princes Street.
On our flight back home we again had a layover at London Gatwick and while we were waiting for the passengers to get into the plane the flight attendant came up to our row (way back in the plane on row 20 or so) with a small girl that wasn't too happy. The flight attendant told us that to our left was a mother and two kids and this girl was the friend of them but she had gotten a seat up front (row 4 I think). So the flight attendant wanted to know if any of us would be ok with switching places with this girl so she didn't have to sit all by herself up front. I immediatly said sure and asked what seat it was. The flight attendant was almost shocked at my quick reply and the girl had a huge smile that made it worth the trouble of walking against the flow of passengers.
Part 2 can be found here
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