Arrival

Our trip to Edinburgh was long, but all in all uneventful. Cindy started out by driving to Orlando with the girls in a rental car. Claire was tired, so she had to scream a little before taking a cat nap at the end of the trip. The ladies met Cole in Orlando (who was coming back from another trip), and all brought the luggage into the airport. We got in a huge line for check-in and passed through security without a minute to spare. They were loading us the second we got to the gate!

The first flight was to Newark, NJ. Claire was EXHAUSTED! So, she had to cry some on the plane. She slept most of the way on Cindy and then stretched out on her seat. After landing, we were in Newark for five hours! The girls, especially Claire, LOVED the moving sidewalks. So, we took them on those some and in the end, Katie and Dani watched a movie while Cole and Claire walked on the moving sidewalks. Claire kept saying, "I wanna ride!" They would go one direction then turn around and walk back on the other direction. Around dinner time, we went to a place that claimed to be an authentic New Jersey diner. The girls had pancakes with whipped cream and syrup, while Mom and Dad had a beer to help calm us down a little. And there was much rejoicing!


We got to our gate a little early and the girls enjoyed riding on the escalator (until a uniformed person told Cole to stop letting them go on it).  The girls then watched planes take off and saw our luggage go onto the plane. After that, it was time for the dreaded flight to Edinburgh, Scotland. The plane wasn't too big. It was only six seats across, with three on either side of the aisle. Like on the last flight, Cole sat on one side with Katie and Dani on either side of him (Katie HAD to be next to the window!). Cindy sat across the aisle with Claire. During this flight, though, there was much crying of "I want Daddy!" So, Claire spend some time with the other three on the other side of the aisle. Claire did rather well on this flight. She did cry a little off and on, but not for very long.

The flight was about 6.5 hours. Claire slept about four hours, Katie slept an hour or two. And, Dani fell straight asleep after having a panic attack about using the potty on the airplane.  (She explained that she didn’t like it being next to the kitchen. That’s understandable.)  She probably slept about 3.5 hours. Mommy and Daddy...we might have gotten about 5 minutes total! When we got to Edinburgh, there was a little issue with Katie needing a potty and it taking us a little time to get through customs, but it worked out.

We got a big van that could fit us and all of our luggage. Getting to our flat was easy, and Cole's friend (Burak Buke, a faculty member at the University of Edinburgh) met us there with the keys. We got our luggage in and tried to do something with the girls, but it became obvious that they needed sleep right then! Especially Claire. So, we all took a very long nap (over five hours).


The girls and Cindy got showers, but we ran out of water before Cole could get his. (It seems like we not only ran out of hot water, but ran out of water altogether!  Strange.) Cole found an Indian restaurant within walking distance, so we headed out there, were treated like family, and ate a little too much.