Traveling to the Top of the World

This trip, the top of the world is the most northernly point in the United Kingdom - Unst. 

Packing. Almost a month away from home, going to someplace cold (layers) and planning to play with robots takes a LOT of stuff. At least for me. But we got it all into one big suitcase and one small one, plus our "personal" items. 

A Perfect Time to Travel

The airport was SO quiet, which is not something I say about airports very often. Secruity was fast and the plane was almost empty! Apparently not many people vacation in February. The back section of our A330 was almost empty, so I got a whole row of 4 seats to myself. I actually slept for a few hours. 

Heathrow was not quiet. We had to go through customs, pick up our luggage, then take the tube to a different terminal, where we checked in with British Airways, went through security again, and then find our new gate. Mom was a trooper - it was a LOT of walking and transitions. We hoped to have our SIM cards working, but I couldn't get our sim compartments open with a paperclip, so we did all of that with no help from our phones. The last flight was also pretty quiet - mom and I shared a row of 3 seats. 

Aberdeen airport is small and easy. While mom got a paper book, I stopped in an electronics shop where a nice guy changed out my sim card. And voila - my phone worked again! Pokemon, maps, and another check of the ferry. The crossing still looked rough, but not cancelled. 

We took the bus from the airport into the town center. It was easy and cheap - and amusing. We sat next to two guys from Nigeria who had tons of luggage. They had no working sim card, so I used mine to help them figure out where to go next. They looked pretty tired and confused. We didn't get to sit on the second floor because our luggage was too heavy to pull up the stairs. 

We still had a couple hours to kill, so we stopped at Union Square for lunch. Mom watched the luggage for 1/2 hour and I did a quick walk around downtown Aberdeen. I passed Ship Row, which has been around since 1281. History has a different scale here! We also found perhaps the only Apple store in northern Scotland and another really nice guy installed mom's sim card and showed us pictures of his friends who were just in Up Helly Ah in Shetland. 

Last trip, in July, lots of people in Aberdeen (the customs guy, the cab driver, etc.) asked us why we were going to Shetland. This time - most people tell us about their trips to Shetland or their recommendations or their friends who live there. 

Next up - the NorthLink Overnight Ferry!