Headed Home...

It's hard to believe that these past ten days have flown by so quickly. Wasn't it just yesterday that we hopped onto the plane to London? Now we are already on our way back to Texas and I'm grasping at straws to try to remember every detail of our vacation... it just went by so quickly.

Views from Princes Street were so beautiful. On top of Castle Rock is the Castle of Edinburgh- stronghold of the city.

On Saturday morning we set out from our Scotland hotel to do some last minute shopping. You can never have enough souvenir shopping! Especially when it means you get to bring goodies home for friends and family. I finally tracked down a Ben's Cookies, which I'd read reviews about and knew that we had to stop by when we were in the UK. We snagged a few cookies and ate them on the plane the following day. Oh my gosh, they were SO good!

We grabbed a lunch to eat on the train and the retrieved our bags from the hotel. Thankfully, we're pretty good planners and ended up getting to the station in plenty of time. We even got to hang out in the first class lounge while we waited for our platform to be announced (we sprung for first class tickets on the way back to London and it was fabulous). 

On the train in our fancy-schmancy first class car we had plenty of room to spread out and even got free lunch! Why did we not do this on the way to Scotland?! Oh, because it typically costs an arm and a leg... thankfully these first class tickets were on uber sale or something. We definitely got a deal! 

"Mum" and "Dad" Diet Cokes we got on the train. 

We also got lucky with the weather. As we were sitting in our Edinburgh hotel room watching the weather report on the news, we were dreading Saturday because reports called for rain, lots and lots of rain. Just as we'd boarded the train (about 1:30pm) it began to sprinkle and by the time we were going full speed it was pouring outside. The fog was so and that when were were close to the cliffs with nothing but water below us you could see nothing but foggy abyss alongside the train. Somehow we managed to stay dry and avoid the rain altogether. By the time the train pulled into London King Cross Station it was bright and sunny! 

At that point in our trip, we were so exhausted. Typically, after disembarking the train we would have hopped on the tube from Kings Cross to Paddington Station and walked to our hotel from there. But, being exhausted, we sprung for a cab back to the hotel so we didn't have to drag out suitcases along with us. Best 15£ we spent the whole trip! The cab was nice and spacious- much different than your average cab in the US. It was a little disconcerting though to have the driver on the right side of the road and driving on the left side of the street. 

Alas, we made it safely to our London hotel, the same one that we'd stayed at previously in the trip. This time somehow we ended up lucky and got a "Clubroom." Which, I guess, was one of the nicer rooms at the hotel. The first room we stayed at was like the attic room where you stick the unwanted guests. To get there we had to take the elevator to the top floor and then walk up a flight of stairs to the tippy top of the hotel where just our room was. It was literally the only thing up there. 

"Clubroom" at the Best Western in London.

Once we'd settled in we unpacked and repacked out suitcases making sure all the liquids and potentially dangerous items were in the checked bags and not the carry-ons. We also had to make sure that we'd charged all of our electronics. We'd heard that travelers bound for the States would have to be able to turn on all electronics, I guess to prove they were actual electronics and not fake (nothing ever happened on that front). After everything was packed up we ate various snacks (and a bottle of wine) for a makeshift dinner and hit the hay. 

We woke up way too early (at least in my book), showered, and packed up our final few items. We borrowed a luggage scale from reception to weigh our bags to make sure they'd be under the 50lb maximum... we could tell they were getting pretty heavy and didn't want to hassle with it at the airport. Our suitcases weighed in at 48 and 49 pounds... just made it! Whew!!

Our last view of Paddington Station as we left for the airport.

We made our trek down to Paddington Station and while mom waited with the bags, I returned our Oyster cards that we used to get around the tube while we were there. When you buy one, you pay a 5£ deposit for each plastic card that you get back when you leave. While turning them in, I made friends with the Underground staff. He asked why it was returning them: we were leaving or we were dead? He said no one had ever said the latter. Hah! He asked where home was and I told him Texas. Of course he made some comment about guns... at least he didn't go the 'ride a horse to school/work' route. The people of London are kind of awesome... I'll miss them. 

We took the Heathrow Express back to Heathrow Airport. If you're ever flying into London, this is by far the best way to get to and from the airport without paying a ton for a taxi. It took us about 15 minutes to get to the airport. We spent the last of our pounds on snacks for the plane and waited to board. Before I knew it, we'd already crossed the Atlantic and we were on descent into Houston and I'd finished four movies: The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug, Tangled, Frozen (I couldn't resist), and the Veronica Mars Movie. 

Immigration and customs were a pain in the ass. Of all 40 immigration stalls, only ten were even open. After getting through, we picked up our luggage and got in yet another line to get through customs... which wasn't so much a line as it was a huge mob of people trying to get the hell out of the airport. It was frustrating. The U.S.'s international arrivals process is literally the worst I've experienced in all of the countries I've visited. Pain. In. The. Ass. Alas, we made it through as I tried to keep my snarkiness to a minimum.

About the time we made it through immigration, Jacob called and let us know that he was in the area and could pick us up from the airport. Such a sweetheart. He snuck up on us in the airport and helped us take our things to the car and head home. We made it safely and, unfortunately, our trip was officially over.

I absolutely can't wait to go back to the UK again. London and Edinburgh were awesome and I can't wait to see more of what the country has to offer. Until next time, Jen out!