Scotland Adventure 2023 - Day 2

The four hour layover in Reykjavik finally came to an end. We boarded our two hour flight to Glasgow, Scotland. This was a much larger plane. It was a Boeing 767-300 compared to our transatlantic flight on a Boeing 737. I found it interesting that during our six hour flight from Chicago to Reykjavik we were still over Canada after three hours. Then after a short distance over water we were over Greenland. The vast majority of our flight was over land and not over water. Our entire flight from Reykjavik to Glasgow was over water.

The Glasgow airport was old and unremarkable. We did receive our luggage very quickly and there was no customs inspection. Our Tauck guide was standing by at the exit and directed us to our limo. It was a 20 minute ride from the airport to the Grand Central hotel. Our hotel is attached to the Glasgow Grand Central railway station.

Grand Central Hotel Glasgow, Scotland

This hotel was built in 1883 and has no wheelchair access. Suitcases must be carried up stairs all around the lobby. The rooms have 15’ ceilings. They must have been hard to heat in the old days.

I went for a stroll around the neighborhood. The first thing to remember is “look right” when crossing the street. They drive on the left. There are many shops, bars and restaurants surrounding our hotel. I bought fish and chips and brought it back to our hotel room.

A statue dedicated to the air raid wardens of WWII.

The Blue Lagoon has excellent fish and chips with salt and vinegar.

The United Kingdom joined the European Union but did adopt the Euro as their currency. They continued to use the British Pound. This worked well for them with Brexit when they split from the E.U. The exchange rate of the pound to the US dollar is 1:26; - 1 USD. An item that costs 2 British pounds would a have value of $2.52 in USD. In 1972 the pound was 2.69 to the USD.

The greatest battle on the first day of an overseas trip is with the clock. Even though you are tired and feeling jet lagged you have to stay up as late as possible. Otherwise you will go to sleep too early and you will be wide awake and working on your blog at 3:00 am.

On Tuesday we have a day to ourselves before the start of the official Tauck tour. After breakfast our plan is to buy a ticket for the On and Off bus and see the city. Good night all.