Journey to Belgium

We left Glasgow and made it to the airport with no problem. Once we got there, though, we found that Adam's and my flight to Belgium had been delayed, so we had to wait around for a while. When we were finally in line to board, alarms started going off. They'd been testing them earlier, so at first I thought it was just another test. But then everyone started walking away from the gate, back the way we'd come, and we ended up in a crowd of people leaving the airport. Outside, we stood around in a walled-in concrete area, no one seeming to know what was going on. We found Dan in the crowd, and then we just waited.

It wasn't terribly long before they let everyone back in; we had to go through security again, though. Adam and I said goodbye to Dan a second time, and then we boarded our plane. Because of the evacuation, though, the flight was further delayed, so we just sat onboard a while before it took off. All those delays meant we would be late to meet my aunt at the train station in Mechelen, Belgium.

An hour or so later we landed at the Charleroi airport. Because I was so hungry we ate before we got a bus to the train station, taking more time, and once at the station we had to figure out the train schedules. We tried asking a French-speaking attendent for help, but ran into what Adam called "not a language barrier, but a language wall". Looking at the schedules ourselves again, we got it figured out, but we had just missed the train to Mechelen.

There was supposed to be another train in a half hour, but it wasn't in the list of soon-to-arrive trains. The only thing to do was wait an hour for the next one after that--we were going to be so late to meet Aunt Karen! But since we couldn't do anything about it, we decided to make the most of our extra time and sat down in the train station hallway to play a game of chess on the board we'd bought in London and that Adam had carried through Ireland and Scotland.

Partway through the game, a man passing by stopped and asked, "Joue de cheque?", which means "playing chess?" in French. He knelt next to the board and watched our game for a while, occasionaly giving advice that we couldn't understand. Once or twice he moved Adam's pieces for him, and they weren't very good moves. Eventually he left, indicating that Adam's position was hopeless, and wishing me "Bon chance," good luck.

When our train finally came we made it to Mechelen fine, but we were two hours late, and we didn't see Aunt Karen anywhere. While I was getting money out of the ATM Adam asked, "What color hair does your aunt have?" He had just seen her riding away from the station on a bicycle.

Although I'd been to visit them in Belgium before, I didn't remember how to get from the train station to my aunt and uncle's house, so we decided the best thing to do was what we'd been doing all day--wait. We sat down on a bench in front of the train station, and--of course--we started a game of chess.

Before long Aunt Karen came riding up on her bike; she'd just left her post at the train station to check on her children, who were at a friend's house. It was a great relief to see her, and after stopping by to pick up the kids we went back to their house and had a delicous dinner of Belgian soup, finally at our destination.

Two cities of Scotland

We left Ireland bright and early Saturday morning and made it to Glasgow-Prestwick airport in Scotland. The only thing I really remember about our arrival in Glasgow (after taking a train from the airport) is being surprised and confused to see that Scotland's pound notes looked different than England's; I was in a daze after getting up so early and the rush of travel. To get to our hostel we took the underground, which was smaller and much simpler than London's.

Our stop was Hillhead, and, true to the name, we had to walk up a steep hill to get to our hostel. But we finally made it, and I went to sleep as soon as I could.

After I woke up I wandered around the neighborhood with Adam; everyone else had already awakened and gone out. We walked through the grounds of a college, in a nice park by a river, and eventually up and down streets, stopping in every bookstore and thrift shop we saw. It was a very laid-back day, taking it easy after the slight stress that always accompanies travel, and it was a nice way to be introduced to Scotland.

While there we also made it to Edinburgh overnight; it was fairly inexpensive to take a bus from one city to the other. The first day we split up and each saw the city on our own (the pictures in my Scotland Facebook album give a better idea of that than my words can). We ate dinner at a Scottish pub; as usual, the pub food was amazing.

The next day was another hiking adventure, this one in the hills just outside of the city. Dan had walked up himself the day before, when it was clear and he had gotten a great view, but as luck would have it, that day was foggy. After we climbed up just a little ways, the city disappeared in the mist, the only proof of its existence the muffled traffic sounds that still reached us. I didn't really mind, though, because the fog made the landscape mysterious, even mystical, like we were in Lord of the Rings. We climbed higher--as in Howth, it was sometimes literal climbing--until we reached something that seemed to be the top. There was nothing around us but the mist; no more hills that we could see, nowhere to go but back down. It was like being on an island. The fog was so thick that I could see it obscuring the others even when they were just a little ways away.

We eventually headed back down and returned to the city, eating at the same pub as the night before. Then it was back to Glasgow, where our flights were booked out of; we spent one night there before leaving the next morning, which was an adventure in itself . . .

The first day

(Journal paraphrase from last night)

I’m in my cozy (meaning very small) room at the Highbury Centre (http://www.thehighburycenter.org/ ). It's like a maze in here—twisting corridors, several flights of steps spread throughout—and it’s huge. I haven’t gotten lost yet, although I haven’t fully explored yet either.

Back to the plane ride—we had to circle over the airport several times because of a delay. We descended very slowly. Once on the ground, we had to wait for an available gate. Finally off the plane, we waited in line at customs. After getting through we met the two professors and then waited for no-one-knew-what. It seemed we were destined to be continually waiting. At last, though, we boarded the bus and were off through London.
It was so cool—the old buildings, the green grass, the double-decker red buses, the telephone booths, the British phrases on signs. The drive did last a while, though, so it was nice to finally make it to the Highbury Centre.

I unpacked somewhat, then we all met for a trip to the ATM and to get some lunch. We walked, and although it was warm compared to PA and Houghton right now, it was windy and felt pretty cold. I got some money and a sausage roll, pastry crust with sausage inside. I was really hungry, and it was really good. After a little wandering into stores, we walked back to the HC through a light English drizzle.

Wireless doesn’t work in my room, so I ended up in the lounge, trying to make it work there on my laptop. That took a while, but finally it did. Those of us who were there played Spoons to keep ourselves awake, and it helped.

For dinner we had some sort of soup, shepherd’s pie, and an apple pie-custard dessert. It was good.

My head's been feeling weird all day, and now I feel like I'm wilting. Time for bed.

On the plane

Note: Most of these posts will be paraphrases from my journal, like this one, written on the plane.

My journey to London has begun. The plane took off about an hour and a half ago, and here we are, flying, probably over the Atlantic now. It’s been a strange day—frantic, last-minute packing, saying goodbye to everyone, leaving in a hurry, then a sudden slow-down when the three-hour drive started. We arrived at Newark early, around 5:45. I was feeling dazed by that time, so after lugging one of my suitcases through part of the airport, I was very relieved to see the familiar faces of some of the Londoners. After check-in, I said goodbye to Mom, which was sad, and went through security. We sat around there for a few hours, talking and eating, before boarding the plane. I tried to sleep after eating and watching a movie, but it was just too uncomfortable. Finally I dropped off, only to be awoken by the announcement that the plane was beginning its descent and we would be landing in about an hour. After that I gave up.