Wendy and Jim's Travel Blog
London and Scotland Day 17
Horrendous travel home, final thoughts
With all the wonderful places we had been and people we met, we were not prepared for the inadequacies of airports to the extent we experienced them. We knew it would be a long travel day on three different flights, but it took over 26 hours instead of 17, a delayed flight ( the first one in Glasgow) which made us miss our Heathrow connection, standing in endless lines, shuttling like ping pong balls between BA and AA who evidently don’t really talk to each other, and going through 4 ( four!) security lines. God help us if we ever have to go through Heathrow to make connections again!
I won’t go on, we were extremely lucky to land in Sarasota and get home before midnight. The one-in-a- hundred- years hurricane (Ian- a Scottish name!!) is due here in two days, and we have no downtime but have to get ready.
*Note: we are writing the note below this a couple of days after hurricane Ian devastated many parts of Florida. I don’t know how, but we escaped with no major damage to our community and no loss of electricity. We are truly blessed and hope that the millions who were not so fortunate are able to recover soon. 
Final Thoughts
Despite the many challenges, we really loved this trip. Being bookended by major events, albeit of a completely different nature, we all rose to the occasion and learned how to be more flexible than we even thought possible to make plans work. It was also somewhat cool to witness English history in the making — to be right next door to what was happening, to see the preparations and even see all the Crown Jewels and relics that will actually be used in the near future for King Charles’ coronation.
We enjoyed the Brits and Scotts- their sense of humor, their signs, food, brogues, and, most importantly, the history and the beauty of these countries. Not to mention the whisky! 
The weather cooperated too- a rare feat, I’m told, in countries that are predominantly rainy. Our tour guides, Linda and Steve (The Traveling Professor) were wonderful and used all their connections to make things work out schedule-wise. We are in awe of their patience and expertise. 
Travel has definitely returned. Everyone seems to be going somewhere and planning their next trip. We’ll touch base when we’re ready to write about our next adventure.
#published #evernote
A beautiful old building made of red sandstone, the inside is interestingly arranged into two sides— 
The living side is an eclectic variety of exhibits including stuffed animals, fossils, clothes, weapons and more. 
The expression side included a huge exhibit
on Glasgow artists, architecture and history, French Impressionists and others. 
A unique room about the effects of war which had Viking implements, armor and a section about the holocaust all in a row. 
The only disappointment was that the most famous painting, Dali’s Christ of St. John of the Cross, was out on loan. 
Found a little lunch restaurant across the street that was open ( it was Sunday, early afternoon) and had our soup and sandwich combo again. They 
