It was the trip of a lifetime! I thought the farthest country that i'll ever be in all my life will be the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It never crossed my mind to set foot on Europe for a working trip, not even for a personal vacation, due to financial incapacity (LoL). So when our QC Engineer informed me that I'll be tagging along for the next Pre-Inspection Meeting to UK it was like answered prayer. Hahaha.
So, after Visa application, flight and hotel bookings, preparing itineraries and meeting documents we're off to UK for a 16 hour flight via KLM (Manila-Taipei-Amsterdam-Edinburgh). It's a loooong flight and my back aches due to small legroom of KLM, but when we passed by the immigration officer in Edinburgh all the tiredness and hunger has gone. Hello Scotland!!!
"Iba ang simoy ng hangin sa Europa in fairness!"
Enough with the "wow' and "ahhh" moments, first things first. We need to get to downtown tog et a bus to Glasgow. You see we made an error in airport. There's actually a international airport in Glasgow and yet we selected Edinburgh as our arrival airport. The two cities are 200+ miles apart and can be reach via train or cab or bus. The lovely Travel office in the airport told us that it is not advisable to take the cab because it will be very expensive so she advise us to take the bus in downtown. After getting all the information me and Mam vadette hurriedly went to the waiting shed for the bus that will take us to downtown.
"Our saviour: bus schedules"
Thank God for efficient bus system and on-time departure, after an hour of bus travel we finally made it to Glasgow City. From there we get a taxi to bring us to The Glynhill Hotel in Renfrew (outskirts of Glasgow) for our hotel accommodation (which is near the vendor shop which we'll be visiting). From the sunny Edinburgh here's what welcomed us in Glasgow:
"Btw, this is summer season in UK"
After we've settled in the hotel and freshen up a bit, we immediately go out and look for restaurant and check out the neighborhood of Renfrew.
"I love the idea of pushing the button for a stop sign. We should have this here in Manila"
Most of the buildings in Renfrew are made of red bricks. From office buildings to stores and Churches. They probably have lots of this here in UK. Though I think it's another way of insulating their buildings during winter season.
"FYI: church services during Sundays are in the morning only. All church are closed in the afternoon"
"The Town Hall is like a Hogwarts tower/ Medieval castle combined. So cool!"
Day 2 of the trip. We had our Pre-Inspection Meeting with our Valve vendor and the meeting did very well. It was finished (meeting plus shop tour and valve testing) at 3:30PM thanks to the very cooperative vendor and complete technical documents (special thanks to Glory Ann for preparing the technical binder! yahoo!!). And after the wrap-up meeting and saying our good-byes we returned to our hotel and sprint our way to Glasgow City center. It's time to celebrate the success of our meeting!
Actually, when we set our foot to Glasgow the first place we've visited is H & M store. I know we should have chosen the museum and cathedrals but the 70% sale is just too hard to resist. And since we arrived around 4:45PM we have to make a quick shopping since the store closes at 5:00PM. Ang aga!!!!
Luckily the quick dash to the mall lead us to the train station (which we will use going to Edinburgh) and the Glasgow City Chamber (HQ of Glasgow City council) Nice! Hitting 2 birds with one stone.
Fronting the City chambers is the George Square, wherein people mingle, hang-out, do socials and of course photo-op! Happiness right??
Here you can see the statues of Queen Victoria riding a horse, famous poets, scientist, inventors, generals and politicians who are Scots. Talk about prestige right? =)
"Sir Walter Scott all the way up there!"
"Sir Robert Peel and some seagull"
"All hail to the Equestrian Queen Victoria"
"Well known scientist James Watt"
It was barely a week ago from the Olympics, hence the Olympic logo at the square. Sayang hindi kami umabot sa Olympic season. =(.
"Lovely flowers at Glasgow park. Though it was cloudy, the flower reminds me that it's still summer in UK"
"The center of justice and government of Glasgow"
"Lion at the Chamber, one of Scotland's trademark"
Though the trip to Glasgow city was short, it was still memorable. The lovely al-fresco cafe, the free entrance museum (which we didn't make it), the elegant stores (LV, Prada, Gucci, Mark and Spencer, H & M), the hanging out at George's Square and the seagulls makes the perfect post card memory.
Next stop: EDINBURGH!!!