Day 1-2 Glasgow

After what seemed like quite a long wait, we had all day to contemplate our navel, we finally made it to the airport, checking in and customs completed we finally got on board and headed off. Emirates seemed quite a good airline and the staff were very attentive however the seats are quite cramped.
Nothing can really make up for cramped legroom and general lack of space however all in all the flight was not too bad to do by. Quite a long stretch nearly 13 hours and we finally arrived first thing in the morning to 32°C heat.
Surprisingly our window companion didn’t use the toilet the whole flight and managed to last well over 12 hours without going in spite of drinking quite a fair amount of fluid through the flight though no alcohol. In contrast both John and I went at least three times each.
Dubai airport is an exercise in overindulgent extravagance. Huge mauls, vast duty free store, and many, many restaurants. A huge cosmopolitan array of people moving backwards and forwards throughout the time we were there.

Dubai Duty Free

Finally our flight to Gatwick airport was called and we loaded on board and on this occasion had seats down the back just Jo and myself in a group of two only. This gave us much more room to spread and stretch and finally after another seven hours sitting we got into London.
Gatwick is London’s second airport and appears to be the stepping off point for most Londoners are heading for holidays either in Spain Cyprus Greece and other parts unknown. A huge Evan flow of people mostly in shorts and thongs and rather scantily dressed for what you’d expect in the UK. We had a four hour layover in the Gatwick and this tended to frustrate Jo quite a lot particularly as we had been awake at that stage for what seemed like two days. Luckily the flight to Glasgow was simply an hour left on time arrived on time and unloaded quite quickly. To expedite things we took a taxi into Glasgow and the YHA which is situated in a very beautiful part of Glasgow on a hill overlooking a number of cathedrals and museums.

YHA Glasgow

Our room of course is on the second floor and as with most youth hostels there are no lifts! Again as with most youth hostels the building is quite old and the floors are quite high in that the stairs are long steep and somewhat arduous after 36 hours without sleep. Our room however is quite large with twin beds and overlooks the park and has great views to the west of the city.

Room with a view

The receptionist at the hostel suggested a couple of places to eat one of which included a pub which sounded like beer to us and so we headed off down through the park to one of the local pubs. Half a pint of lager later then a meal and another half pint and we both felt much better.

Then back to the hostel and collapse into bed where we slept for the best part of 10 hours, rising just in time to catch the continental breakfast provided at £4.50 at the hostel. Surprisingly the coffee albeit from an urn, was quite nice and the general selection was fairly broad.

We have decided to catch the hop on hop off bus that Glasgow has like many cities and we flagged one down prior to it in fact having started the service. The driver must have taken pity on us and stop at non-authorised stop to let us on and then having accused me of being a senior and Joe is being my sister gave us a student discount which saved us a couple of pounds. The tour, are as is the thing with these hop on hop on systems, was quite comprehensive and gave us food for thought and places to visit later. Glasgow is a surprisingly beautiful city with a huge amount of history some very lovely architecture and some very interesting buildings that have resulted from having just held the recent Commonwealth Games. The huge boatbuilding industry which once time to time had 500 boat builders is now limited to one only that being run by the BAE  Aerospace which is an odd title for a boat builder. It builds warships now.
At the end of the tour we hopped off in Glasgow Central and had a walk around the various shopping precincts and malls and then re-caught the bus and took it out to the motor and transport Museum on the doc land area. This held a comprehensive display of all things transport from prams to bicycles to motor vehicles motorbikes cars trucks trams steam trains and anything you can think of including a still hold three master which was moored in the Clyde River.

The Glenlee

After the museum it was back on the bus and then stop at the Glasgow University, Hunterian Museum, which had on display many of we Hunter’s collection and also some of his the sections and anatomical drawings which are quite remarkable for the year that is the 18^th century. It has many other items that have been given to the museum by various other donors including some artefacts from New Zealand Pacific region and one stuffed Thylacine from Tasmania.

By this time it was well after three and we thought it time to head back to the youth hostel, where we tried to it chose Sim card for her phone to work. This however was somewhat thwarted by a very poor Wi-Fi connection in the hostel and some difficulty in actually activating the Wi-Fi. Frustration dto abandonment and heading off for dinner at one of the local Indian restaurants. Surprisingly there was no beef on the restaurant menu at all and we decided on a couple of hot chicken dishes which are certainly whetted the appetite and provided us with quite a delicious meal. On enquiring of the waiter the reason for the dearth in fact the absence of beef dishes, he explained that beef in Indian restaurants is not very popular in Glasgow and that chicken or lamb and seafood are the major choices.