Scotlaaaaaaand!

Well guys, I'm here and I'm cold. Yeah, usually we have a gradual work-down to 60 degrees but no. 85 in Atlanta. 60 in the UK.

I'm sure you want to know how the last 48 hours or so have been. Let me try to remember...

waiting at Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta Baby Girl International Airport

Last I wrote, I was nervously awaiting our plane flight. The flight had 12 open seats in Business Class and negative 21 in coach. If nobody from coach opted to upgrade, we had a pretty good chance of getting Business. Soooooo. we got to the airport 3 hours early to make sure we could get in and go through security and all that. The international concourse of Hartsfield is reaaaaaaaaallllly nice. And also, DEAD AS A DOORNAIL. There were probably 10 people in the place, 4 of which were trying to go through security. It was a breeze. From the time my Granama dropped us off to the time we sat down at the gate was probably 15 minutes. So, we waited, and waited, and waited. The flight was delayed, and we waited some more. Finally, they called us up to the counter after everyone was boarded.

BUSINESS CLASS!!!

ALLLLLLLLLL MY LEGROOM!

Clay is overjoyed.

I may never fly again at this point, because I know I will never afford business class. We were literally waited on hand and foot. They called us by name and gave us bottled water without us even asking. Over and over and over again! Like, our bottle would be empty and they would swoop in a replace it with a full one!! They took our dinner orders like we were at a restaurant and we got to watch movies and sleep on our little recliney seats with soft, plushy pillows and blankets. and DINNER! Holy cow it was awesome! They would come by and put a little cloth on your tray table and then start bringing you all kinds of stuff. For appetizers, Clay and I both had a salad (with a tiny bottle of balsamic), tomato basil soup, and grilled shrimp and pineapple. For entrees, Clay had braised beef ribs and I had fettuccine alfredo. And for dessert, I had ice cream and Clay had fruit and cheese. We watched a little of Iron Man 3 and ended up going to sleep around 1am.

ONLY TO WAKE UP TO THEM OFFERING US BREAKFAST! French toast and cheese eggs and coffee and orange juice and fruit and bagels and tiny bottles of jam. It was like a dream.

We landed in Manchester around 11:00 UK time... which was 6am Georgia time. We breezed through customs (although, the customs guy made Clay take his hat off and looked him over a few times because his passport picture is of Fat Clay.) We found a little computer kiosk and booked a room in St. Andrews at the apartment of a university student. Then we lugged our 4 50lb bags, 2 carry-on bags, and 2 bookbags on a bus to the Car Rental Village. Got a Peugeot hatchback, loaded it up, and we were off! The only issue is that we didn't want to turn on Clay's phone and my phone is off. So how do we get there? A dinky road map of the entire UK. We only got turned around twice and 6 hours later, we were in St. Andrews! (It would have only taken 5, however, we took a nice unexpected detour through Edinburgh during rush hour.)

Clay driving!

Fog in Scotland!

Edinburgh!

When we got off the highway.

it's beautiful!

We are currently staying in the second bedroom of Philip, an undergrad student at the University who apparently came into some money and bought the place. He rents it out all the time, and there's rarely a time when the room isn't booked. It just happened to be open for the next few days. We're still looking at what the next step will be, but apparently, Philip has some friends who owe him some favors and may be able to put us up for a few days so we don't have to stay in a hostel. He also let me WEAR HIS DRESS ROBES!!

the view from our window

We drove to Dundee today (against the better judgment of Philip - he says you should "lock your door and slam your foot on the gas) and dropped off the rental car. We got some coffee and lunch and wandered around and we both realized Dundee looked a bit like the UK version of NOLA. Except cleaner and nicer and less bums. Maybe that's why Philip was scared about us going there.

statue in Dundee that I've been looking at online for months!

We hopped on a bus and came back and wandered around St. Andrews for a few hours. This place is gorgeous. Literally. I joked about it looking like Hogwarts but SERIOUSLY. Everywhere we go, it's like magical people are going to pop out and start expecto patronuming each other. Here are some pictures:

We're about to go get some dinner in town. Tomorrow, we're going to go look at a cottage to rent and possibly look at some other places. We're also going to find out how we can UK rig my phone. Should be fun.

Some fun things:

Driving on the left side of the road is crazy. The highways were easy, but every time we'd get on a two lane road, we'd freak out because we'd think people were coming at us. It's doable. Just strange. Also, shifting is the same, but you're doing it from the opposite side of the car. With your left hand.

Roundabouts are everywhere and they are magical. Red lights are few and far between, but when they turn red and yellow at the same time, you can go.

The stereotypical UK person looks like this guy. I'm not even kidding. For those of you who are wondering, this is the cartoon version of Karl Pilkington from the BBC show An Idiot Abroad.

Also, Clay ate haggis nachos. And the people of Dundee think that "cajun" means "pour sweet, slightly spicy red sauce on it."

I heard both a 12 year old and a tiny old lady say the "f" word. Peny Turner, you may need to bring some ear muffs. I know you like to suck all the air out of the room when you hear cuss words. They are thrown around like Mardi Gras beads here.

More tomorrow! God is working things out perfectly and hopefully we will have a place to live by this time next week.

Carm