Glasgow, Scotland UK

August 15, 2011

Departed our international flight on Aer Lingus from Tampa Florida. Everything went smooth before and during the flights. Aer Lingus was a typical airline, nothing special, nothing bad. I will say that the counter service people were nice, one of the bags were over just a little and they let it through with out an extra charge. The service in flight was fine as well as the food and movie selection and the economy seating was adequate.

August 16, 2011

Glasgow

We arrive in Glasgow airport around 8:00 AM, claimed our luggage and were greeted by our CIE Representative where we waiting approx 20 mins for more passengers to arrive and were escorted to our tour bus. The CIE bus was very nice, all leather seats, comfortable and adequate leg room, large picture windows with some seating a little less desirable for photo taking. All in all we were happy with the bus. We arrived at our hotel -The Thistle hotel in Glasgow around 9;00 AM and our rooms were ready for us which was great. It was a very nice city hotel in a great location for exploring. Unfortunately we had only 1 evening here so we had only a quick introduction to Glasgow. The rooms were very nice and large. We decided to have breakfast at the hotel and although it was ok, the price was incredibly high for a buffet breakfast. About $50 USD for two....After breakfast we needed to stay awake so we took a walk around the hotel area and were greeting by our first rain fall. Headed back to hotel to meet our tour guide and other fellow travelers for our first City tour with CIE. CIE has the bus driver and the tour guide as one, where most tour companies have separate people, I prefer CIE's way (less to tip). Our Drive/Guide was Robert, whom at first took a little time to warm up to, but he ended up being a good guy, a wonderful tour guide offering much knowledge of the area and a great safe bus driver. Before we started our tour, we picked up our local guide for Scotland and his name was Malcolm. He was great and really dressed the part. Each day he had a different kilt on. Also very knowledgeable and funny. We took a tour of the old Medieval part of Glasgow, with it's old buildings and homes and area I would love to come back and explore. We passed Glasgow Cathedral and were suppose to go by the famous George Square, however, Brad Pitt was filming a movie there so the area was closed down. (No we did not see Brad!) It was raining pretty hard now and our first stop was at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. What an interesting place, so many different things to see, from art, to natural history and other wonderful and extensive collections.

We arrived back to the hotel at 5:00PM and met everyone for a complimentary welcome drink before dinner. Dinner was decent but we called it an early night around 9:30PM -jet lag started to kick in.... ***Great tip about CIE tours, everything is all inclusive, they do not try to sell you "additional tours", they have a full American breakfast everyday full 3-4 course dinners except for 2 night we were on our own. Lunch is your only expense, so there is not a ton of extras you must pay for. So basically the price you pay before you leave home is it! Just add a few $$$ more for lunches and your set....and whatever you spend on souvenirs.

August 17, 2011

Loch Ness and Nairn-Scotland

Up early, 6:00 AM, breakfast at the hotel and on the bus at 8:00 AM heading to the beautiful Scottish Highlands and to see if we can locate Nessie....First we drove to Loch Lomond (Loch meaning Lake in Gaelic), which was beautiful, the lake was sparkling clear, with rolling hills and partly sunny skies (no rain yet). We had time to walk around and take a few photos then headed for the highlands to GORGEOUS Glen Coe. Wow! Talk about rolling hills and green, this area was incredibly beautiful, just they way you picture the highlands of Scotland. As we existed the bus we were greeted by a gentlemen in kilt playing his bagpipe. It was a nice drive along the rolling highland hills, such beautiful scenery as we headed for lunch to Fort Williams. After lunch we stopped in the quaint little town of Loch Ness and prepared for our cruise on the famous Loch Ness to search for Nessie...The cruise was short but relaxing and a little cool and unfortunately no Nessie sitings.

On to Inverness which was also a lovely town and arrived at the Hotel Newton in Nairn, which looked like a castle or a manor home right on a golf course. These rooms were nice as well as large. This evening we had dinner at the hotel where we were treated to a typical Scottish Highland cabaret which featured haggis (I do not recommend this!), bagpipes and traditional song and dance. The dinner was very good, minus the haggis, and the show was nice.