My Summer of 2023

Chapter 10, Making It to The Van – On Time

Or, A Funny Thing Happened On My Way To….

This day I would be joining a 5-day group tour of the Scottish Highlands via Rabbie’s Tours. I’m sure most readers will pronounce Rabbie’s as RAY bees, when, however, in Scotland it is pronounce RA bees (or ROB ees). This company offers many tours around the UK and Europe, not just Scotland. I choose the 5-day tour of the Highlands to get the best possible experience at a reasonable cost, seeing the most territory in this time frame, in a comfortable and safe manner.

I want to mention that, soon after we arrived in Edinburgh, Graham and Maralyn guided me through the busy festival crowds and St. Andrew’s Square on how reach the bus station. We took less than 15 minutes from my hotel to get there.

So, easy-peasy for me to follow the next morning, right?

HA! Not so.

I left the hotel in plenty of time, not wanting to be the last person to arrive, be on time and for the van to leave on time. Except that I missed one tiny step – not cutting through St. Andrew’s Square for the most direct route.

So, continuing on my merry way, oblivious at first that I had not taken the correct route, I continued further away from St. Andrew’s Square and the bus station. But soon enough realized I needed to re-route myself only to find myself on streets that were under construction, sidewalks closed on different street levels, or maybe going the wrong direction. Yeah, I was lost and my iPhone GPS was not being helpful.

OK, so now I’m nearly panicking, as the tour info said they would wait for no one.

Sweating as I hurried along trying to find St. Andrew Square as a focal point to recover my missteps and find my bearings, I finally asked a local for directions and hurried at a near run to reach the station in time.

And then a line on the only escalator down to a lower level as the adjoining stairway was closed for repairs. Almost frantic, no I WAS frantic, as I had less than 5 minutes to spare before the van was scheduled to leave the station. Racing around people with their luggage, bags, children and whatever other obstacles could be thrown in my way, (come on, hurry up, get out of my way!!) I was the last person to arrive and the driver and check-in people were waiting for me. And to my eyes, at that moment, they seemed to be very displeased with me.

As Queen Victoria (or Elizabeth) was said to have stated (you can throw in the British accent here), “we are not happy, nor are we pleased”.

Of course that was really just my imagination. I think…

Checking my name off the list – the last and nearly tardy one – they directed me onto the van to the stares of all the other (timely) members of the group. Oh brother, they must think I’m going to be the one who will hold everyone up on this trip. Keep an eye on THAT one!

However, I was not REALLY late as there were still a few minutes to spare before the scheduled departure time. I kept reminding myself of that fact. Not that it made much difference with the mood I was in just then.

Sweating, breathless and somewhat embarrassed, I found my seat, hunkered down, shed my outer jackets to cool down, just kept quiet, took deep breathes and calmed down – Ommm…

THEN to top it all off, the van was required to wait another 20 minutes before we could actually leave the station. What a waste of anxiety on my part.

But I can laugh about it all now.

“I know worrying works, because none of the stuff I worried about happened” Will Rogers

Some addition shots from Edinburgh, including my hosts, Graham and Maralyn Reid.