Scotland 2023. Day 0.

Today was supposed to have been Day 1 of my eight-day trip to Scotland, but British Airways cancelled my flight, without “by your leave”, so I have lost day and a half of vacation. Anyway, in an hour or so I will take a 7:30 pm flight to London Heathrow, and by tomorrow I will be landing in Edinburgh at 9 pm. It is going to be a really long travel spell.

Faby brought me to the Modesto Mall at 10 am to take the bus to the metro terminal in Pleasanton, and suggested that I could spend the day in San Francisco riding the trollies, which is exactly what I did. I got out at the Embarcadero metro station, and took line J down the peninsula to Balboa Park, had a rice bowl with fried gyoza at a hole in the wall (I got there two minutes before a horde of hungry teenagers who had just got out of school), and then took line K back to downtown, where I changed light rail to line N to go past Golden Gate Park and all the way to Ocean Beach. Then back to downtown to take line M back to Balboa Park, to take the metro and finally get to the airport. It was a delightful slow trip through a beautiful city on a sunny day, with people enjoying the many parks and street side cafes!

 Once at the airport the evil folks of British Airways paid me back for getting a super cheap ticket by sticking me in the middle seat back in row 78. Grr!

But all is well that ends well, and I look forward to visiting legendary Scotland with its fine pubs and landmark geologic sites.