Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Back in the USofA, Highlights of visit

I've been back in the states for almost one week and wanted to share a wee bit about the return, as well as highlights of the visit.

My friend Gordon conveyed me to Glasgow Intl airport on the 6th where we learned my original flight was cancelled !!! Gordon explained my situation to one of the airport/airline employees and I was placed on a different (earlier) flight, which I believe was the last flight leaving Glasgow for Heathrow. Ironically that earlier flight departed later than my originally scheduled flight, but because my Heathrow flight was not scheduled to leave until almost 6PM, that was no problem. My flight from Heathrow was delayed a bit due to security (or the airline) deciding to check all carryon bags, just prior to boarding, and that can be interesting. Sadly, as with our previous journey, the worst experience was with Border Patrol/Customs upon reentering the USofA. For some reason I/we seem to encounter very bad attitudes on the part of the defenders of our borders. Ultimately though, despite delays and such I arrived safely back in the USofA just about the same time I was originally scheduled !!! PRAISE GOD !!!

Talking to my father a few days later, he asked me what were the highlights of the visit. As cliche as it might sound, the entire visit was a highlight (of my life), but, thinking about it a wee bit there were a few particularly memorable events or aspects:
  • Jim Gellatly (the Unknown Scot) googling for various words I used during a conversation, and finding this blog. Here's a link to that blog entry .... http://ooralbablog.blogspot.com/2010/01/mind-yer-heid.html
  • The overwhelming hospitality of the Scots with whom I spent time, many of whom I met for the first time during the visit.
  • The realization that not hiring a car was the correct decision. Had I taken the advice to hire a car I would not have been blessed with the conversations that I had while traveling on the trains, buses, and private automobiles. It's also quite likely, had I hired a car, that I would still be lost in Glasgow, or trying to find my way back from Wales, Cape Wrath, or John o'Groats !!!
Hopefully soon I will be posting many of the pics from this visit, and the 2009 Feis Ile, to a photo gallery on Flickr or ... and I'll post to the blog an appropriate link. So, please keep an eye on OorAlbaBlog.

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