Monday, May 7, 2018

Scotland day 1: arrive to Scotland

We nervously went to the airport for a 455pm attempt at delta one Msp to ams. We were 3/4 with 3 seats open. Got to the airport and check in one hour and two minutes prior to departure. Dropped my commissions checks off at the wings financial in the ticketing hall and headed to our gate. Within an hour there miraculously was one more delta one seat that appeared! We were 3/4 with 4 open. And we got it! Delta one across the pond on Matt's benefit. We each ordered a 12year mccallan to commemorate the scotch tour we were planning on doing. We also each ordered the lamb chop. Yumm yumm. Slept for a few hours and before we knew it we were in ams 1 hour early. We landed at 730. We were planning on taking the 9 to Aberdeen or the 10 to Inverness; both however were red. We noticed on the departure board the flight to Edinburgh was leaving in 20 minutes and just down the hall. We got to the gate and te agent said if we could list for the flight we would have a seat. So 17 minutes prior to departure we listed and had seats to Scotland! We were together too. Quickly booked a car so we had some sort of plan ($140) One hour and a half after 7 hours to ams and we were in Scotland! We deplaned on an exterior stairwell and waited a bit for customs to open. Got through no problem. Matt changed and I booked a hotel near a few northern highland distilleries.

We got our car, it was 930am Scotland time or 330am Msp time. The lady recommended pitlochry as a small town for lunch on the way north to Inverness. About an hour from the airport. So we were on our way. Driving on the other side of the road and a stick. Made it to a distillery Blair athol. Looked around the pretty setting and stopped by the visitor centre before continuing onto pitlochry. Pitlochry is a small town with a river and dam. It had a cute Main Street. We found a car park but had no small change to pay the meter. 15 minutes free. So we walked down to the dam, checked out the fish ladder and then back to the car. Reupped the 15 minutes and then went to the toilet and checked out a few shops before continuing our way up to speyside. We stopped at the dalwinnie distillery, the sister of Blair athol which is also the highest distillery in Scotland resulting in only losing 1% evaporation where most others lose 2-3% evaporation. Pulled up to dalwinnie and we were exhausted. We both tilted the chairs back and took a solid half hour cat nap. I ordered a tasting tray. Not knowing much about scotch, it was scotch. We then continued our way to a hotel near the glenfiddich distillery. We arrive about 330 only to learn the distilleries close around 5 and taxis are super expensive. The hotel was a small bed and breakfast and we were the only guests. And it was quite a sleepy town, we decided we had time for two distilleries. Per the hotelier recommendation we went to glenfarclas. They had some bottles dating back to 1920. There were some rowdy tourists that took over most of the tasting room. We sampled a couple and then went on to glenlivet. Being hungry we were hoping for a little something just before we make it back to our hotel for dinner. Arrived about 20 minutes prior to closing. No bakery items looked appealing. But we sampled a twelve year executive which only is available in Asia. It was pretty good. Matt picked up a couple minis to bring back and we were on our way to the hotel for dinner. He ordered a steak pie and I ordered a venison sausage and mash. The food was delicious. Before long we were ready for bed at 8pm. 930a breakfast the next morning and then continue to check out the distilleries.

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