We have arrived in Scotland. Landed in Edinburgh picked up our rental camper and hit the road. We have had no internet access only wifi through our phones so it has been impossible for me to update our blog. I have taken lots of photos and now I have to make sense of them all and make some hard choices. Looking back on photos is a good way of sorting through what is important and what isn't. My one big disappointment is that we did not bring a 'real' camera and only using my iPhone X. The picture quality is good, but only for up close. I really wish that I had a camera with a 'real' zoom. But I am making do with what I have and this is what I have so far.
I love these taxis ... so British. There is a fibre glass window between the driver and passengers, the driver speaks to passengers through an intercom. I guess being a taxi driver is a dangerous occupation.
It has been a long flight ... 6 hours from Newark to Edinburgh. Lars and Roxcy slept most of the way, still pretty tired when we got here. I knitted this hat for Lars when he was little ... it still fits him. Not sure what that means ... maybe my knitting is too loose or Lars' head has not changed in size?? It suits him though.
Pretty money ... Every pound is $NZ2, the last time we were in the UK every pound was $NZ3. I do think the British pound goes a long way. Mike & Chris very generously gave us money to help out with Lars and Roxcy ... it has been very helpful.
Here is our Spaceship Camper van ... very compact! This has been such a good idea ... we pull into our camp ground, hook in our power and settle in for the night/s. So much easier than fussing around with a tent. It is 'very' wet here this summer ... I have many family memories of putting tents up in the rain ... finding them leaking and then packing them up the next day. Everything is damp when camping in the rain.
This is the inside of our camper ... Pete and I sleep on mattresses on the floor and Lars and Roxcy sleep on mattresses that are set up on top of the back seats and small table. It is not 'quite' like our beds at home, but we are getting better at sleeping like this. I really hurt my back before we left VT and it was very, very painful for me for a few days. This reminds me of our trip around the States in '96 with our children. We had a VW Vanagon that we slept in ... all 6 of us. It was so much fun. We listened to the Lord of the Rings on tape, a CD of the Eagles and Joan Osborne, What if God were one of Us across the States. Lars & Roxcy have their electronic devices loaded up with movies and books. They also have books to read. We have a ritual every evening that goes like this ... 3 things that we enjoyed, prayer and a movie. Chris has created a treasure hunt for both of them and they have to tick things off their lists as they do them. Chris is great like that ... full of ideas to help keep Lars and Roxcy interested.
There was an animal safari park next to our first camp ground so we took the children to see it. There were giraffes, lions, tigers, rhinos etc. We had a funny conversation with Lars about the Rhino's horn it went something like this. 'That Rhino's horn could really cause some damage, even kill you.' Lars' response ... 'no, it would just crumble'. Pete's response ... 'oh really Lars. How would you like one of those horns rammed up your butt??' I thought it was so funny.
We had a feed of Fish & Chips on our first night. They come in cardboard boxes here, a little like pizzas. I asked Roxcy what she thought of them ... she said 'they are disgusting!' I guess we wont be having them again.
We tagged along behind this beautiful Ferrari for a few miles. The roads here are narrow and used as main thoroughfares for all traffic including big trucks. Feels a little suspenseful sometimes when these big trucks are driving towards us and there is not a lot of room on the road. There are a lot of BMWs, Peugeots, Volvos, Renaults and Land Rovers on the roads here. We have seen 2 Alfas, some Japanese cars, the odd Porshe and Jaguar. Pete feels very confident about our choice of BMW ... it seems that they are seen as very reliable here, a go to car for daily use.
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