Welcome to Dalkeith, Scotland

Our travel from Minneapolis to Dalkieth, Scotland was quite eventful. Our flight out of Minneapolis was delayed for about 2 ½ hours because a truck ran into our plane. They repaired it relatively quickly but had to get clearance from Toulouse, France before we could leave. The flight to Paris was long, about 8 hours. We were sitting in the middle of the plane and since it wasn’t a full plane, they were nice enough to give us all 4 seats. This allowed us to spread out which was great. Oliver slept on and off and did well for the most part. Chris and I watched movies and tried to sleep, but couldn’t ever really get comfortable enough to fall asleep for long. There were so many movies and TV shows available for free. We got dinner and breakfast and there was also complimentary wine and beer. These things made the long plane ride a little more bearable.

crawling while waiting for our plane
to be repaired in Mpls

high five in Mpls

We arrived at the Paris airport Wednesday morning and were told we should try to make our connection. Little did we know we had to go through security again and it was on (what seemed like) the other side of the airport. When we arrived at our gate there was just one flight attendant cleaning things up. She just shook her head at us. So we went to Customer Service where we stood in line for a long time. When it was finally our turn they told us the next flight to Edinburgh was not until 3:30 pm. They nicely gave us vouchers to get lunch. We had a hard time finding a place to eat, but ended up in a little cafeteria where we had sandwiches and chocolate mousse.  After eating we went to wait for our flight. We were all so exhausted by this point that we fell asleep. We had to take a very crowded bus to our plane, which Oliver did not enjoy. The flight to Edinburgh was just under 2 hours and went smoothly. The snacks were delicious compared to what we’re used to in the US. We had these little pesto crackers and toffee shortbread. Yum!

We arrived in Edinburgh around 5:00 pm and had no problem going through customs. Our first passport stamps! Unfortunately our bags did not arrive and we were pretty bummed, though somehow not surprised, by this.

We got a taxi and headed for Dalkeith House. Unfortunately it was rush hour and they had had heavy rains earlier in the day so several areas were flooded. This meant a 30-minute cab ride became about an hour ride. Oliver fell asleep on the way and Chris and I tried to take in all of the sights. We arrived at Dalkeith House and no one answered the door. Luckily some students were walking up right behind us and they let us in. We got our room, said hi to the other faculty, ate some snacks, and crashed for the night.

The last few days we’ve mostly been dealing with jet lag. We’ve seen a little of Dalkeith, finally got our bags (two days after we arrived), observed tea time, and had dinner at a local pub with the other faculty here. We're getting adjusted and looking forward to the rest of our time here.

street view of Dalkeith

love the taxi cars here

Our room here is quite nice. In fact the other faculty are envious because we have one of the bigger rooms since we have a baby. It is a corner room with huge windows, lots of storage, and probably about 18' ceilings. Quite lovely!

view from our bedroom window