A short while ago I landed and made it through passport control, etc. ...I am now in Scotland!
My flight was mostly uneventful: I sat in the first row of the airplane (Norwegian Air, so not actually first class) between an English lady named Vivita who was returning home to England after having lived in Australia for 47 years, and a local Scottish woman named Jill who had just been visiting her recently married daughter in Boston. Both seemed like very plesant people, but we were all more focused on getting some sleep in. Fortunately I did actually get some sleep in, despite the medium+ turbulance we experienced throughout the flight. I guess between my previous misfortune to fly through much rougher air on several occasions (making this seem like small fry) and my latent Marine Corps instincts to sleep on planes, I was able to make it work. I will say that investing in a proper neck pillow at Target before I departed for the East Coast was totally worth the money I paid.
I was served a meal, which was surprisingly good for an economy flight on a budget airline, and I also got some reading in. I've been slowly (intentionally) working through a book I was recently given as a gift: "On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From The Twentieth Century" by Timothy Snyder; and "The Space Academy" which is the sequel to "The Space Elevator" by John Sylvain, which I had really enjoyed. I'm reading two 'lessons' per day from "On Tyranny", one in the morning and one in the night, and finding it motivating- after a certain fashion. I definitely recommend it. Meanwhile I'm enjoying "The Space Academy" so far. I can be hyper-critical of science-fiction, and of fiction in general, so I have my occasional gripe, but there's a lot I like about the series. In particular, I love the "quotes" which are included at the beginning of each chapter- some real, from real historical Earth figures, but some fictional from famous works of alien cultures. Here's an example from "The Space Elevator" that I particularly liked:
"'You think I lived this long because I was careful?’ The oldest of the gathered queens asked with a ringing shout. Then she laughed and laughed. She laughed a laugh that shook the rocks. It rattled the walls and rang the armorial plates of the Glach-nao waiting outside in the mist. She laughed until her side lungs ruptured and her remaining hearts burst and she died. She continued laughing for two days after that. -Traditional, ‘The Fable of the Dragonbear Hunt’ (EeEeAaO)"
I think reading some of these quotes and small bits of poetry at the beginning of each chapter might have inspired me, because as we started our descent into Edinburgh, I found myself looking out the window and spontaneously composing this limerick:
Par Avion
Here I sit, above the clouds, and all the world's my oyster
Yet at home, I have no pearl, no precious to look after
So I roam, through foreign lands, searching there for my treasure
But if found, I cannot keep, for what I seek's adventure
Nay I must- I will steal it! In form: memories remembered.
After debarking the plane and making it past passport control I got some cash (in UK Pounds) and figured out what bus I'll need to get to Glasgow, where I'll be staying in a hostel I reserved a couple days ago and meet up with an old friend of mine from Seattle for a couple days of adventure. We might try to go hiking out in the countryside which would be awesome! After getting the logistics settled, it was just an issue of figuring out the airport wi-fi to make this post! Stay tuned for more as it happens, and as I have time to write it!