Europe Adventure Day 1-2

Several months ago, I may have mentioned that we stumbled upon a travel agent who was going to help us plan our trip to Peru, which included hiking to Machu Picchu. After some back and forth, we decided to make an appointment to see her and put down a deposit on the trip. On our way there, Bean got a call from his dad who started the family business. They were awarded a free trip to Scotland, and it was being offered to us.

My first question was: when is it? The answer: sometime in September.

My next question was: can you do both? The answer: no.

So I struggled with my grand scheme in life being thrown off- Machu Picchu this year, Italy next year to make a baby. If we skip Peru this year, that puts us back a year and I can't wait any longer to have a baby! Ultimately we agreed that it would be idiotic to give up a free trip, even if it falls on my favorite day of the year- my birthday- and even if we were on vacation over my birthday last year and I didn't like it. Whine, whine, whine. I know. Free trip!

So here's the recap. 

Of course, traveling with Bean means getting to the airport insanely early. I think we were there a good 2.5 hours early and it took us maybe 20 minutes to get through security. So we got a little snack, and filmed an intro to the trip on our new video camera! If I can figure out how to include video clips, I will but most of it is pretty boring. 

We had some champagne and a mimosa at the winery inside the airport, which was right next to our gate. 

I was having a pantene pro-v hairday, except in the picture you can blatantly see the bad layers from my last haircut! I was the most excited about the flight there. I knew it would include dinner and some sleeping- the flight is overnight to help with jet lag- so it would go by quickly. I chose the lasagna for dinner (it was great!), and Bean had the (disgusting) chicken curry. I really love cafeteria-like food.

 We had a short layover in London, then it was an hour flight from there to Edinburgh, Scotland. We got to the hotel around 2pm on Day 2, checked into our lovely hotel room- it was bigger than anything typical in Europe- got unpacked and took a little nap. I think since we'd worked so much leading up to the trip we just wanted to relax a little bit and watch some bad British TV.

There was a group dinner that night, so we walked around the block to The Jam House, where it was held. Here's what I thought were some cool buildings- little did I know they were probably the most boring ones we saw! There are some really cool architectural places in Edinburgh.

Bean is really good at taking pictures of us that turn out well. Every picture of us from this trip was taken that way, and not once did someone offer to take our picture the normal way. But it's ok because I think they are all good! Notice the cute nametags on red strings, they really go with every outfit. Also, this is the only time I wore heels the entire trip. It's also the only time I wore sequins.

I loved the art at the Jam House, like these weird voodoo doll ones.

This was my favorite and I don't know why. I couldn't stop looking at it, but I wouldn't want it in my house.

And, since our friends teased us about making a Scottish baby, we found one to take a picture of instead:

So that's our Scottish baby. Cute teeth, huh?

It was obvious that we were the youngest people there, but we went back to the hotel bar afterward and met a couple from Toronto that was on the trip too. They were probably in their 40's and we had a great time chatting with them about everything from politics to family to kids to friends. As we went to say goodbye, we learned that their names were Peter and Jenn.

Great start to the trip- everything involved in getting us there was effortless for us which was the best part. We didn't have to worry about how to get from the airport to the hotel, or worry about our luggage. We went to bed fairly early to be ready for our first full day in Edinburgh.