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Friday, May 28, 2010

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (and CityLink Buses, and Caledonian Ferries and Scottish Taxi Drivers)!

     Today I want to praise public transportation!  Most specifically Scottish Public Transportation!  We just returned from an eight-day trip to Scotland.  For the first time (ever, I think) we didn't rent a car, even for a portion of the trip.  And we probably had one of the most stress-free trips ever.  Even the disruptions on our two flights out of the US didn't bother us very much. 
     When we got to BWI to catch our connection flight to Philadelphia, there was a slight problem--no plane!  Interestingly enough, we got hustled back to the check-in counter, and herded into a five-passenger taxi for an incredible 90-minute DRIVE to Philadelphia.  That was one happy taxi driver!  All courtesy of US Airways, thank you.  When we finally borded our plane to Scotland (booked to the gills with passengers who had been trying to get out of Philly for two days due to "ash closures" in the UK), our plane "broke".  Five hours later we ended up leaving at midnight, with "dinner" served to us at 1:00 a.m.
 
Needless to say, we were late arriving to Glasgow and in danger of missing the 12:30 train to Oban.  No worries.....our intrepid Scottish taxi driver (unfortunately, I could only understand every third word he spoke in a Scottish accent so thick I thought maybe I had landed somewhere else) ferried us AHEAD of the train to the next station so we could catch it!  Plus, he locked his cab and carried our bags into the station for us, and introduced us to the station master.
     
The rest of our trip was like that--buses ran on time, people made sure we got "concessions" for being seniors, even though we weren't UK residents, train conductors rescued me from what I was sure was the fatal mistake of getting locked back on the train while Guy watched in horror as I sped away down the track to the next station (that's another story).  Did you know that being left on the train after missing your stop just means that you have been "overcarried."  I LOVE that word!  Isn't the train station below just adorable.  It's the one at Pitlochry, but almost all of them look like this.

Our taxi drivers to and from our hotels and our Bed and Breakfast were knowledgeable, friendly, and determined that we would see the best that their cities could offer.  For about $250 we had an incredible transportation experience for an entire week.  And stress-free!  We never worried about driving on the "wrong side of the road," we didn't have to puzzle out roundabouts, we never had to find a parking space, and we didn't have to fuel up with "petrol".  And mostly, we didn't argue about anything having to do with highways, best routes, incorrect maps, or incompetent driving.(you all know what I am talking about, don't you?)
       I never thought I could fall in love with buses and trains, but I've been converted.  Here's to ScotRail and CityLink!  And I haven't even started on the Caledonian MacBrayne Ferry to the Isle of Mull and our awesome tour guide to Duart Castle.  His take on life on the Isle of Mull - "nobody died of stress last year, and only six people died of boredom!"
     We didn't "die of boredom" on our trip; we just sat back and enjoyed the ride........

2 comments:

  1. Great post! I enjoyed reading! Yes, the Scottish must be really nice people. They got us out of a fix after I had my accident near Inverness! Remind me to tell you in person. We took night rider trains to save time on our excursions during my college semester in London. Then rented a car in Inverness to drive around.

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