Spam is out of control
Posted by Gypsy on May 31, 2007
After spending the last 24 hours deleting more than 700 spam comments, all on posts nearly a year old, I’m going to make some changes around here. Until I can find a way to deter spam comments, from now on comments will be closed on posts more than a month old.
Also, some words have been banned from comments. I won’t list them here, but if you leave a comment and it ends up not getting published, just shoot me an email to the address at the left and I’ll take care of it.
And I’m off again
Posted by Gypsy on May 29, 2007
Leaving Scotland was kinda sad because I had such a great time there with Kelvin’s family and especially Kelvin. We got up fairly early so we could go to Glasgow and spend some time with Amanda before my flight, which was great since it had been 6 months since I’d seen her and we had lots to catch up on. We ended up at a mall, where we just wandered and talked before it was time for me to go to the airport.
Surprisingly enough, my flight actually left on time, though I still hate easyJet. And there was hardly any turbulence. Hopping the train back to London, I sent Jill a text to see if we were still on for drinks, but unfortunately, work still help her prisoner and she had to cancel. Since I was exhausted anyway, once I arrived at Victoria Station, I just took a black cab to the hotel rather than brave the tube will all my bags and wasn’t even sure exactly where the hotel was. Unfortunately, because it was rush hour, it still took a bit of time to get to the hotel, but it was interesting to see London as we drove.
Arriving at the hotel and getting settled into my room, I immediately ordered room service to treat myself since I’d been pretty good about not spending a lot of money so far. Once dinner arrived, I settled in to eat and watch some Dreamgirls on the TV, which I ended up watched twice in my lazy lack of desire to change the channel and look for something else. Though it was ok because I absolutely love that movie. Plus, I was finally catching up on getting photos off my camera and uploaded to my Flickr account, a daunting task with as many photos as I had taken.
Scotland is hilly
Posted by Gypsy on May 28, 2007
Sleeping in a little and using the morning to relax, Kelvin, William and I didn’t hop on the train to Edinburgh until a little after 11 a.m. The two hour train ride gave all of us ample time to catch up and gossip, wince we had 6 months worth to chat about. Since William would be off to work when we arrived, he made a list of various sights we could go see, starting with Edinburgh Castle, which required quite the uphill hike. In the end, it was totally worth it, though, because at the top is an amazing view of the entire city as well as Scotland’s Crown Jewels.
After a couple hours of exploring the castle grounds, Kelvin and I head back down the hill to figure out what to do next. What to do ended up being grabbing some Starbucks and sitting around smoking and chatting before heading to Fopp, this kick ass music/book/DVD store that I am now in love with. I ended up buying a bunch of books because even with the exchange rate, they were still cheaper than in the US. Since William wasn’t meeting us for a little longer, we were off to a park by the train station to smoke and chat.
Once we returned to Lanark, we decided to again spend the evening just hanging out. Kelvin and I ended up with his neighbors just chatting and enjoying the evening. Since I had to leave early the next morning to meet up with Amanda and catch my flight, we figured that was the best plan. Besides, it was nice to have a normalcy break during my trip, actually staying somewhere that wasn’t a hotel.
Scotland bound
Posted by Gypsy on May 26, 2007
After such an amazing flight to London start this vacation, I swear it seems like every other traveling experience has to be hell. Waking up at 6:30 a.m., I finished packing and set off to the airport. This was a bit of a pain in the ass with all my luggage and no one to help me (except a couple nice gentlemen in the tube station who carried my bag up the stairs), but I eventually made it from my hotel to the airport and got checked in for my flight.
Going through security, I head straight to the smoking section, just I like I tend to do, and then grabbed some lunch before smoking some more until it was time to board. Of course, this is where things start getting frustrating. I chose to fly easyJet since they were pretty cheap. They are one of Europe’s low cost carriers and they were just awful and I have no intention of flying them again. First off, the flight was set to leave at 12:55 p.m., with boarding to start at 12:15. Sounds easy enough. Of course, easyJet isn’t easy and a gate number isn’t even put up until 12:20. So everyone hightails it to the gate, because they are another one of these cattle car boarding airlines and everyone wants a decent seat. Once we get there, they check our passports then tell us to sit while we wait for the plane to arrive so we can board. A little background on easyJet’s boarding process: the order goes those who’ve paid for Speedy Boarding, preboarding of elderly passengers and those with young children, then A group, B group, C group and finally D group. When boarding begins, the gate agent is so quiet when she yells that no one knows what she’s saying and everyone in A group starts trying to board. So the gate agent starts getting bitchy with everyone and giving attitude, even though here being too quiet was the cause. Instead of handling it like someone in customer service should, she starts yelling at everyone to sit down, even though there are no seats left for people to sit in.
So finally we all are on the and waiting for take off when it’s discovered that two people who don’t belong on the flight were allowed to board thanks to the snippy gate agent. They are supposed to be going to a completely different city. So thank you snippy gate agent for being incapable of doing a job a monkey could do. Since it’s a security breech, all checked luggage must be removed from the plane and inspected before we can depart. 50 minutes after we were scheduled to leave, we are finally on our way.
Even worse, this flight turns into the most turbulent flight ever. I’m still surprised they allowed the flight attendants to do drink service in that. At one point the plane even fell a little bit. Not a pleasant experience for me, but totally worth it to see Kelvin’s huge smile when I walked into the baggage claim area where he and his sister, Elaine, were waiting for me. Once we grabbed my bag, we were off to Lanark, where Kelvin lives, and I was able to meet his mom and see William, his dad, again. And even better, I got to meet Kelvin’s 4-year-old nephew, James, who I’ve heard so much about. Cutest little kid ever.
