Scotland Travelogue: May 17th (First Day)

Tokyo was drenched in heavy rain from morning, a fitting departure for someone widely recognized as a 'rain man.' I met up with a bartender from Ginza with whom I've had prior connections, checked in, and departed Haneda Airport at 11:45 AM on an ANA flight amidst the rain. As expected, once we were above the clouds, the rain stopped, and this was a long flight of approximately 12 hours. In economy class, I had a large, loud man beside me, making the space extremely cramped. Initially, we fought over armrests, but since he had been working late and sacrificing sleep time, he fell asleep quickly. However, I was woken up several times by his incessant sneezing and coughing at abnormal volumes, making it a somewhat unlucky seat. Still, I justified it as prevention for economy class syndrome and continued sleeping. After my sleep deprivation was alleviated, I spent the remaining time reading a book I had been saving to read during a proper break. It felt like ages since I last read without thinking about work, and there I finally realized I had entered a long vacation. Arriving at London's Heathrow Airport around 4 PM local time, the weather was cloudy and slightly chilly. Here, trouble struck. The transfer time was tight, but our flight was delayed, and the immigration lines were extremely long, not moving at all. After a direct negotiation, we were allowed through early but still missed our connection by a touch. The BA (British Airways) lady strongly said, 'Too late!!' This unexpected situation right at the start of my foreign trip was surprising. Necessity forced me to negotiate in clumsy English for the next flight, but it turned out that the price was about three times higher—nearly 50,000 yen in Japanese currency! I thought maybe there was a misunderstanding due to my poor English, but apparently not. It was a painful expense, but since our luggage was being transported and we wanted to arrive today, we took the expensive 8:45 PM flight to Aberdeen. Arriving in Aberdeen after midnight. It had been a while since I last visited Scotland, and as expected, my first visit to Speyside was also rainy. (Laugh) Perhaps because it was night, the shirt and light trench coat were too cold. Renting a car, we headed straight to Craigellachie. We had planned to stay at the Craigellachie Hotel. With no streetlights and pitch-black, plus rain, we had some trouble navigating but arrived around midnight. *Driving in pitch-black with only the car's headlights* *The Craigellachie Hotel at night. This photo is from a different day; on the actual day, it was even darker. The whisky festival organizers, including the Campbells who had arrived a week earlier, waited late into the night. We shared a late dinner and restarted with a drink at the hotel. Despite frequently meeting these people in Japan, reuniting abroad—especially in Scotland—felt particularly special. The Craigellachie Hotel seems quite clean for Scotland, with comfortable beds. I joined the bartender who came along and fell asleep immediately. *The hotel was clean. The toilet was also clean, but I'm unsure why I took a photo...* #Scotland Travelogue 2016