My ill-fated trip

July 2024 -- My recent trip to England and Scotland could have been better. My DSLR camera stopped working several days into the Yorkshire Dales portion of the trip. I had to rely on my cell phone for taking pictures. Not only were the pictures inferior, but it was a constant struggle to maintain charge on my phone. For reasons unknown, my back-up battery packs were failing to charge. Eventually, I figured out how to make the phone last longer, but it was still a struggle to maintain charge. I needed my phone not only to take pictures, but to navigate public transport. This became a major cause of angst to me.

My week in the Yorkshire Dales was enjoyable. At the conclusion of this portion of the trip. I took an early morning train to Edinburgh. After spending the day exploring the city, I came down with Covid. The progression of symptoms was fast:  respiratory, GI, and fever. I was unable to go on my five day tour of the North Highlands. Not only did I lose the money I had already spent, but this was the part of the trip I had been most looking forward to. Instead, I relocated to a hotel in Falkirk, outside of Edinburgh. It was an expensive taxi ride (from my Airbnb in Edinburgh), but Falkirk turned out to be a good place to recover from Covid. The people at the hotel were very nice to me, even bringing me breakfast one morning.

The Park Hotel in Falkirk where I recovered from Covid.

I didn't leave my hotel room much for three days. Luckily, I was within walking distance of the pharmacy and grocery store. I met two nice nurses who showed me where the pharmacy was. After I was a little better (fever broke) I started to venture out. I visited a few places including Callender House, Stirling Castle, the Kelpies, and the Falkirk Wheel. I didn't feel great and it wasn't as good as visiting the North Highlands, but at least I salvaged something from my trip (to Scotland). After the four days in Falkirk, I returned (via train and bus) to the same Airbnb (in Edinburgh) for two nights. I was able to go on my Outlander Tour. I still didn't feel the best, but I enjoyed the tour. Ironically, our guide's name was Jamie. He was great tour guide and wanna-be DJ. We visited Lallybroch, Castle Leoch, Blackness Castle, Linlithgow Palace, and Culross.

The final leg of my journey was a day layover in Paris. I had a very early flight out of Edinburgh. It had sounded like a good idea when I planned it, but turned out not to be. I hadn't known the Olympics were so close when I booked the stopover. The first sign of chaos was when I couldn't exchange any money because all the computers were down. I took a train into the city, was given bad advice, and got off in the middle of nowhere. I ended up taking a cab to the Eiffel Tower. None of the cabbies spoke English. 

There were police everywhere in the city and a lot of barriers near the Eiffel Tower. I got on the subway again and found out where to catch my hop-on, hop-off "Toot" bus. The bus stop was near the Arc de Triumph. It was cool to see this classic landmark. I envisioned victorious Allied troops driving through the arch. I didn't enjoy the bus tour too much, as it was miserably hot, there wasn't any decent commentary (on what we were seeing), and the bus didn't pass by any of the famous landmarks (I had wanted to get off at the Louvre). No doubt the bus route was altered by the Olympics. When I finally got off the bus (after the two hour drive through the city), I was anxious to get back to my hotel (near the airport). I was ready to go home. I could knock Paris off my bucket list. It could have been better, but at least I saw a few things and got to experience Paris.

I got to see a few things in Paris.

When I boarded the first train, it was wall-to-wall people. It was hot and I could barely stand it. I just needed to go a few stops. A few people got off at the first stop, and it was more bearable. But then the train failed to go. There was an announcement (in French). I asked someone to translate it for me. They said it would be 10 to 20 minutes before the train left for the next stop. After a few minutes, there was another announcement (in French). The subway wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. I needed to get to the airport (where my hotel was). My translators said to follow them. They'd direct me to the right train.

After walking what seemed like forever underground, we boarded another train. We got off at the first stop, and they told me which train to take to get to the airport. When I got to the platform for my train, I learned that there were power issues and the trains weren't going anywhere anytime soon. I went above ground. I was in a large train station. I could feel my pulse racing. How was I going to get to my hotel? I decided my best option would be to take a taxi to my hotel. It was an expensive ($100) taxi ride with a grumpy cab driver, but eventually I got to my hotel. My nerves settled. I had a nice dinner (pizza and a couple of cold cokes) and conversation with a fellow American traveler. My hotel room was very nice. I slept uninterrupted for 10 hours. My flight home the next day went without a glitch.