Friday September 3

Today we traveled to London, the last leg of our adventure. Our flight was scheduled for a 9:15 departure. Glasgow airport is 45 minutes away from Ayr so we had to get up around 6:00. One of the best investments on this journey was a global navigation device. It never let us down.

I dropped off everyone at the airport entrance and proceeded to return the rental car. I was back at the entrance in about 15 minutes. When we were checking in, we were told that our luggage was too heavy, all 3 of them. If we wanted to leave them alone, we would be charged an additional 30 pounds EACH. Yes, 90 pounds which is around $145.00 US. We were informed that we could buy an extra bag upstairs and it would be less than the excess weight fees. I ran up and the shop was just opening. To my surprise, the cost for 1 small carry on bag was 49 pounds, yes sir $75.00 US for a carry on that would be about $25.00 at home. Lesson learned; bring an extra bag if you want to shop and bring back souvenirs. At least it was about half of what we were going to be charged if we did nothing.

After that frustration, we were off to London.

Late last night I went online and arranged for an airport transfer to take us to the London flat and I was a little worried since the booking was not made 24 hours in advance as they suggest. When we got off the plane, gathered our luggage and proceeded out we did not see a driver holding up our name. We walked to the area the online instructions instructed us and waited. After about 10 minutes, I called them. Whew, the driver was nearby at a different location in the terminal.We were at our flat in about 45 minutes.

The flat was rather small but neat and clean so we will just be a little cozy for a couple of days. It is located next to the Battlesea Power Station across the Chelsea Bridge from central London.

Our stuff seems to have grown a bit...the bag in front is the special one from Glasgow airport...

We dropped our stuff off and started sightseeing right away. We walked from the flat for about 1.6 miles to the tour bus office. If you purchase tickets online and pick them up at their office you save 25%. That walk took us along the River Thames:

Westminster Abby:

London Clock Tower that has the Big Ben bell:

The parliament building:

 and eventually arriving at Trafalgar Square:



There are a lot of great buildings along the River Thames.

There was a lot of activity going on at Trafalgar Square. We found the "Original London Bus Tour" office which included a river cruise at no extra charge. The only challenge is that the tickets are only good for 24 hours from pickup. It was 3:00 PM when we got started. We jumped on the bus going on the red line and for the next 2 hours we enjoyed a beautiful sunny afternoon on the top of a double-decker bus looking at all the sights with a live English speaking tour guide.

Downing Street

Tower Bridge

Tower of London

Marble Arch

Reflection while on bus

Trafalgar Square

Once off the bus, we were on foot again walking all over. After that, we had a nice dinner at Garfunkel’s café. I had a great meal of roast beef with Yorkshire pudding. It was delightful.

We ended up at the London Eye. It was just about sunset when Cameron and I went for the 30 minute ride above London, it was really cool.

View from London Eye

At the top of the London Eye

We did a little shopping and headed back to the flat using the Underground rail system. It costs 4 pounds each to ride the train. It did not go all the way to the flat so we ended up walking about ¾ mile to get back. Needless to say, we were really exhausted and promptly called it a night.

Thursday September 2

We enjoyed a great breakfast this morning. We had sausage, bacon, eggs, rolls, cheese, toast (with marmalade), juice, coffee and milk. It was great.

Making eggs

Sausage and rolls---the best

Wonderful morning outside

Alex and grandma played a little soccer after breakfast.

Cameron, Alex and I played golf today with Uncle Joe at a private club, Ballochmyle golf course in Catrine, Scotland. It just so happened that his neighbor was at the first tee when we began and he joined our group.
It was really cool to be on that course that is eerily quite and hear the beautiful sound of golfers hitting their drives off the tee box. The view was grand. Since most Scottish golfers walk the course, they have only 2 "buggies" for those that need them. One was already checked out so Cam drove Uncle Joe in the buggie (Uncle Joe walked most of the way). Alex and I walked. However, I used an electric golf bag scooter called a Hill-Billy. It made it a lot easier.

Cameron on the tee

Alex and Cam on the "buggie"

Walking to the next shot

Alex and his personal swing coach Peter

Alex getting swing tips

Cameron and Uncle Joe

Alex and Uncle Joe

Approach to 18th green

Audra stayed with Aunt Anna and we would all meet up in Glasgow for dinner with Andy, Lorraine ant their kids. Here is Rachael in her school uniform.

On the way to dinner, we made a quick stop to the farmhouse we rented in December 1995 when Cameron was 2 years old. He does not remember much about that trip. That winter was the coldest winter in recent memory. The farmhouse is pretty big and we had portable heaters is several rooms. The dairy farm that we were at took back all the heaters except 2 for the cows; their utters were frozen!

On the way to Glasgow, Uncle Joe got us kinda lost. It was a great coincidence that when we called for help Lorraine was just passing us.

Dinner out in Glasgow.

It was really late when we got back to Ayr and we stayed up until 1:00 AM packing to go to back to Glasgow airport headed to London. Our flight departs at 9:10 AM!