Scotland Day Four - Wet Wet Wet
It turned out that the spot of bad weather we had experienced the day before was in fact rather worse than it seemed, the entire country was indeed Wet Wet Wet. Despite that we woke and met for our usual healthy hotel breakfast, at which I was granted an extra sausage by the lovely serving lady, perhaps as deferred compensation for the coffee the day before being utterly vile.
The resident pilot in our group had used his industry contacts to confirm our flight was all good this was backed up by the Easyjet web site. Thirty minutes later this proved not to be the case and all flights were cancelled. This was great news as far as I was concerned as it offered the chance to drive a minibus, possibly on two wheels at some points.
Minibus hire arranged and paid for through the Holidayautos web site Keith, Chris and I set off for the airport to collect the vehicle before returning to the hotel to collect the rest of the gang and our luggage. Luckily the hotel bar was able to stay open despite the ongoing storm so the girls were able to tuck into some post breakfast white wine.
The taxi driver to the airport was a very personable chap but had a poor grasp of the exact service he was expected to provide. We requested drop off at the rental car location which he countered with an offer to take us to the rental car centre at the airport as "you might not be able to just walk in," we persuaded him to take us to the f**king address where the minibus was and the rest of the journey passed without incident.
It was on arrival we realised just how windy it was, closing the door to the rental car centre was nearly impossible due to the high wind. The first thing that happened at the rental office was we were issued with a restaurant style pager with number 4 on. This didn't seem to bad until it became clear each number was taking half an hour to process. The chaps who were given number 15 are probably still there two days later.
Clearly as at that morning the rental company were expecting a quiet day with only one or two customers, therefore they only had one member of staff on duty. He was not happy about this and I don't blame him, it was really a thankless task. After enjoying the ambience of the waiting room for 90 minutes (think waiting room at your local hand car wash) we were finally called through to be told "you have hired a minibus - that should never have been allowed - we don't have any minibusses - or any other cars sorry." F**K.
Next stop was the bus to the rental car centre to find no one else had any cars either and the shuttle bus driver refused my offer of £20 to take us to London. The next step was to take a tram back to the city centre where we could work on plan B. The tram station looked a bit damp, but as the electricity supply to the trams is overhead we assumed it would be OK.
On boarding the "last tram to be allowed to leave," we found three seats and had just got comfortable when we were told to get off and catch a bus instead. So far we were about 3 hours and £30 down in taxis and busses and were no closer to escaping Edinburgh.
Plan B was to give up and enjoy an extra night's stay. I was not too unhappy with this as it allowed me to realise my dream of a deep fried haggis, chips and Irn Bru. The cheapest yet most delicious meal of the tour.
Following this we all met for a few drinks in the 'swanky' Balmoral hotel before heading out for dinner, after all we had not eaten for a good few hours..........
The evening was a relatively sober affair by the standards of both the company I keep and the trip so far but on reflection that probably wasn't a bad thing. Tomorrow brings an early start in search of a train ride home.........
The resident pilot in our group had used his industry contacts to confirm our flight was all good this was backed up by the Easyjet web site. Thirty minutes later this proved not to be the case and all flights were cancelled. This was great news as far as I was concerned as it offered the chance to drive a minibus, possibly on two wheels at some points.
Minibus hire arranged and paid for through the Holidayautos web site Keith, Chris and I set off for the airport to collect the vehicle before returning to the hotel to collect the rest of the gang and our luggage. Luckily the hotel bar was able to stay open despite the ongoing storm so the girls were able to tuck into some post breakfast white wine.
 |
| Keith and me in both a taxi and good spirits |
The taxi driver to the airport was a very personable chap but had a poor grasp of the exact service he was expected to provide. We requested drop off at the rental car location which he countered with an offer to take us to the rental car centre at the airport as "you might not be able to just walk in," we persuaded him to take us to the f**king address where the minibus was and the rest of the journey passed without incident.
It was on arrival we realised just how windy it was, closing the door to the rental car centre was nearly impossible due to the high wind. The first thing that happened at the rental office was we were issued with a restaurant style pager with number 4 on. This didn't seem to bad until it became clear each number was taking half an hour to process. The chaps who were given number 15 are probably still there two days later.
Clearly as at that morning the rental company were expecting a quiet day with only one or two customers, therefore they only had one member of staff on duty. He was not happy about this and I don't blame him, it was really a thankless task. After enjoying the ambience of the waiting room for 90 minutes (think waiting room at your local hand car wash) we were finally called through to be told "you have hired a minibus - that should never have been allowed - we don't have any minibusses - or any other cars sorry." F**K.
Next stop was the bus to the rental car centre to find no one else had any cars either and the shuttle bus driver refused my offer of £20 to take us to London. The next step was to take a tram back to the city centre where we could work on plan B. The tram station looked a bit damp, but as the electricity supply to the trams is overhead we assumed it would be OK.
 |
| a tram in a puddle |
On boarding the "last tram to be allowed to leave," we found three seats and had just got comfortable when we were told to get off and catch a bus instead. So far we were about 3 hours and £30 down in taxis and busses and were no closer to escaping Edinburgh.
Plan B was to give up and enjoy an extra night's stay. I was not too unhappy with this as it allowed me to realise my dream of a deep fried haggis, chips and Irn Bru. The cheapest yet most delicious meal of the tour.
 |
| weirdly issued with two forks as if I was sharing..... |
Following this we all met for a few drinks in the 'swanky' Balmoral hotel before heading out for dinner, after all we had not eaten for a good few hours..........
The evening was a relatively sober affair by the standards of both the company I keep and the trip so far but on reflection that probably wasn't a bad thing. Tomorrow brings an early start in search of a train ride home.........
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