Getting to Glasgow

Getting to Glasgow from Mexico wasn’t quick or easy. But I’m here and saw some interesting stuff on my first day, which I’ll write about in a later post. For now, here’s the story of my adventure in getting here.

Mexico to Istanbul

I travel light: just a small rollaboard and a backpack.

Food

I left the house on Monday at 5:15 and drove to Sanmina, where I picked up Luis. He drove me the rest of the way. Got to the airport by 6:00, sailed through security and had a burger while I waited for my flight to board.

We arrived at MEX around 11:00. Then I had to walk the entire length of Terminal 1 to try to find where to check in for my Turkish Airlines flight. That is such a challenging airport for finding things. Fortunately it’s not the first time I checked in for Turkish Airlines in MEX, so I kind of knew what I was looking for. But still wandered for a while on the wrong floor before I found it. 

Since the flight wasn’t scheduled to depart until 3:45, there was no one working yet. So I settled in for a long wait. Around 1am they started checking people in.

More food

After check-in I got to visit the “generic” lounge. That’s what I call the lounge for airlines that don’t have a lounge at MEX. it’s small, but at 1am it wasn’t too crowded. I had an omelet because it was offered, and some snacks because they were available.

At about 3am I headed to my gate. I think there was some confusion about the flight time. When I originally booked, the departure time was listed as 4:45, but when Mexico didn’t go on Daylight Saving Time this year, Turkish Airlines sent me a message that the departure time changed to 3:45. But the flight still didn’t leave until after 4:45. So I spent a long time waiting at the gate. And I figured I’d have a shorter-than-anticipated layover at IST.

Still more food

The flight to IST stops in Cancun first. That leg is only about an hour, and then there’s a 90-minute layover. A lot of people get off and get on in Cancun. I guess it’s a popular destination for travelers from Turkey. They served a small sandwich during the short flight.

It was already light out when we departed Cancun. So we got breakfast shortly after takeoff. This consisted of various cold items and then a hot dish. A big and delicious breakfast.

I forgot to take a picture of the hot dish; I don’t even remember what it was. Eggs I think.

Then after plenty of time for sleep, and two movies (The Menu, which I didn’t like very much but was too disturbing to fall asleep during; and Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, which was good but light enough to doze off a few time and not feel like a missed too much), I felt a bit peckish. Fortunately they offer an assortment of snacks any time. I asked for mixed nuts and fresh fruit. I got a small bowl of nuts, a banana, a pear, and an orange.

Dinner in the morning 

About two hours before we landed, they served dinner. It was dinnertime back in Mexico, but almost breakfast time in Istanbul.

Dinner started with an assortment of salads and other cold appetizers, served from a cart. I asked the flight attendant to make selections for me, and she put together a plate of about six different items.

Then came the main dish. We had a choice of steak, fish, or pasta. I went with the pasta.

I somehow failed to get a picture of the dessert, but I had two small Turkish sweets (similar to baklava) with ice cream.

We landed about 5am Istanbul time, so only 15 minutes late considering we departed over an hour late from GDL.

Istanbul to Edinburgh

When you get off the plane, there are clear signs directing you to passport control and international transfers. They give walking time estimates. It said 15 minutes. That may have been a optimistic estimate. Every few minutes, I came to another sign: 14 minutes; 12 minutes; 11 minutes; 8 minutes. Gradually the numbers got smaller. Finally, another security scan and I was through into the international departure terminal.

I love flying Turkish Airlines because they have great service and great food. Nowhere is this more evident than in their Business Class lounge. I had about 90 minutes there. As you can imagine, I wasn’t the least bit hungry.

But yes, more food

I couldn’t let that stop me from having a simit, what is sometimes known as a Turkish bagel. (No photo, sorry, but there’s one here, from my trip to Turkey last year.) (Coincidentally, that post is titled “Food, food, and more food;” I don’t know what it is about Turkish people and their desire to feed me.)

The food selections in the lounge are incredible. But I just couldn’t. And soon it was time to head to my gate for the flight to EDI.

After an additional security check, all the passengers were corraled in a very small area to wait to board. This was the only inefficent experience I’ve had at IST. It’s a new and very modern airport, but they just didn’t plan for an area large enough to accommodate passengers who have had this extra security check before flying to the UK.

Not done eating yet

Soon we boarded, and we departed right on time And guess what: breakfast was served!

I dozed some more after breakfast and then watched two episodes of Abbot Elementary, a show I’d heard good things about but never seen. And they we landed at EDI, on time at 10am.

The approach was really nice.

Edinburgh to Glasgow

In what may have been the quickest pass through an airport, I got to passport control, and even though there were quite a few people ahead of me, they had a bank of automated passport scanners set up. I just walked right up and scanned my passport and the door opened and I was through. Never even talked to an immigration officer.

I knew which bus I needed, went out the airport entrance, and there were buses lined up to Edinburgh city centre. I asked one of the agents were was the bus to Glasgow, and he pointed to it. It was 10:20, and the bus was scheduled to depart at 10:25. I made it easily, tapped my credit card and paide for my ticket. An hour later we arrived at Buchanan Bus Station in central Glasgow.

eSIM

It was about a ten minute walk from the bus station to my hotel.

I purchased an eSIM and got it installed and set up before I left the airport, and it was working fine until I got off the bus in Glasgow. Then, all of a sudden, I had no internet connection. So I couldn’t bring up the directions with Google maps.

Fortunately, thinking ahead of the risk of not getting the eSIM set up, I took a screenshot of the walking directions before I left home. So I knew generally where I was going, and I made a few lucky guesses and got to the hotel easily enough. As soon as I got to the hotel, the internet connectivity started working again.

Early

It was not yet noon, and my room wasn’t ready. I asked the young woman at the desk how long it would be, because “I’ve been traveling for two days and I just want a hot shower.” So she shuffled some things around and got me a room that was ready now.

Oops

After I got settled in my room, I realized I had brought the wrong adapter type for plugging in my North American electronics into UK wall outlets. I knew the UK uses three-prong plugs in a triangular arrangement, and I had some like that from my trip to Argentina. But the UK version is completely different.

I asked at the front desk, and she had some she could lend me, but I told her I needed some I could buy since I would be traveling around. She sent me to a store across the street that has some travel accessories. Unfortunately, they had the kind to adapt from UK to North America, but not the reverse.

But here I am right next to a train station. Travelers come to train stations from all over the world. 

And sure enough, I found a bookstore that had the correct adapters.

And that is the story of my journey from Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico, North America, to Glasgow, Scotland, UK, Europe.