Good Morning and Welcome to my Atlantic Life in Hatteras 😊
I'd like to invite you to join me, via my blog, on a bit of an adventure….. to my homeland of Scotland 😊
On Monday I'll be leaving on a 10-day trip to my birthplace Ayr, on the west coast of Scotland - the beach town, several thousand miles away, on the other side of my Atlantic, and where I spent the first 30 years of my life. And, I thought it might be fun to write about my travels, take lots of pictures along the way and then post them to my blog whenever I have access to the internet. That way, you could join me "virtually" on my adventure.
One of Ayr's beautiful beaches at sunset
The island of Arran, as seen from the beach at Ayr
Greenan Castle, Ayr
My original plan was to go to Scotland last November to surprise my Mom for her birthday - as I haven't seen my parents since the COVID outbreak. Before that, my parents were regular visitors, staying with us at our previous home on the horse-farm in Hillsborough, for several weeks at a time. This worked really well, as I used to be crazy busy working at Duke, and was never able (or willing!!!!) to take much time off and miss work.
As my parents would come to the US regularly, I didn't have to travel back to Scotland. In fact it's been almost 12 years since Duke University moved me over to North Carolina, and I haven't returned to the UK in all that time. In 2011 when we left the UK, I had lived and worked in England for well over 10 years and my parents would visit me there.....so it's been rather a long time since I spent much time in my hometown of Ayr….. especially in the winter!!!!
Anyways, my November trip to see my Mom didn't happen, as the day before I was due to fly out from Norfolk, I was rather unwell, ended up in the ER, and my trip had to be cancelled….. unbeknownst to my Mom at the time, as the visit was to have been a surprise for her birthday, and she had no idea of my plans.
Over Christmas I decided to tell my Mom about my cancelled trip, and I promised to reschedule in the new year. As things worked out, delaying my trip wasn't such a bad thing after all, as recently Mom was given the date for some routine surgery, and, with flight credits to use, I decided to travel to Scotland to be with her and Dad during her recovery.
So….. at early o'clock on Monday I will be driving up to the airport in Raleigh. Originally, I had planned to fly out of Norfolk airport, which is the closest airport to Hatteras, but that trip would have entailed a 2 1/2 hour drive to Norfolk, a flight to Charlotte, then a flight to London, another flight to Glasgow, and then a rental car to drive the remaining miles to my parents’ home in Ayr.....and subsequently, exactly the same journey back to Hatteras. Raleigh on the other hand, has a direct flight to London, and for me is only a couple of hours further away than Norfolk, the big upside is that this would negate the need for two of my flights.
With 4 separate flights as opposed to 6, I'll have fewer transfers.... and the fewer the better - looking at the percentage of flights that actually arrive on time these days, is frankly scary. I would have had to book flights with long stopovers between each, so I wouldn’t miss the transatlantic flights (and if they were on time, that would be a lot of hanging around at airports…yuk!).
My Raleigh-London flight is a night flight which suits me, as hopefully I’ll be able to sleep some, before arriving in the UK, which is 5 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. Bearing in mind, once I land in London, I have to change airport terminals at Heathrow to catch my Glasgow flight (and having flown in and out of Heathrow more times than I can count, I know how crazy busy it gets), then finally on arrival in Glasgow, an hour's car trip to Ayr. If all goes to plan, I should be at my parents home by late Tuesday afternoon(UK time) 😊. I'll be in Scotland until the 8th Feb, when I’ll begin my return journey to my Hatteras home, arriving back at the inn late afternoon on Friday 10th of Feb.
My plan is to write…..a lot!!!!! Some of which I promise to share along the way. Now, I probably won't have much time to post to many Facebook groups, so if you want to make sure you're along for the ride, you should subscribed to my blog website, so you automatically receive my adventure updates. It's super easy to subscribe, just click the link to the website below: https://www.myatlanticlife.com/
and enter your e-mail into the box on the top, right hand side of the page.
I'm so excited to be going back to Scotland for a visit, and I would love if you would join
me 💕
For now, I'd best go, I've got some major packing to do...🤪
... and I need to spend time before I leave, with JB, Bailey, Bodie and Pumpkin, who will be staying to work on projects around the inn whilst I'm off on my adventure!
Until Next Time...
Take care, Stay Safe and....and if you haven't already, why not subscribe to my blog and join me via "My Atlantic Life" on my Scottish adventure!
Love and Hugs,
Pam
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