Trip of a Lifetime (Part One)

I. An Inauspicious Start

I'm standing in the Coach Line at CVG, and the Delta employee tells me if I really want to check my garment bag along with my golf clubs and suitcase, it's going to cost me an extra 100 bucks. So I decide I have time to take it back to my car and come back. But of course I have to re-pack everything. I sprain my thumb in the process. Not a good start. Then Roger and I see Tom Cope and Charlie Scroggin in the terminal. What are the chances of that? Charlie wanted to know why we didn't invite him. Awkward.

We finally got to Scotland, after a bit of panic in Atlanta. They changed the gate on us, and we almost missed our connecting flight! Then we get to Edinburgh, but no luggage! Oh crap! Again, after a bit of panic, everything shows up. Whew!

So now we have our luggage and clubs, and it's time to board the shuttle to the rental car lot. Only one problem: it's a Friday morning rush hour at the Edinburgh Airport, so the shuttle is completely packed. And here we come with oversized luggage and golf clubs. We get a lot of dirty looks, and a couple of people can even be heard grumbling about us. Wow, rough start.

Now it's time to rent the car. Roger panics and suggests that we upgrade to a car with an automatic transmission so we don't have to worry about shifting. I ask, but they look at me like I have 3 heads, and indicate that they don't have any currently available. I say OK, just give us the stick shift, we'll manage.

We get the car, and immediately cannot figure out how to get it in reverse. We literally have to put it in neutral and PUSH it out of the parking spot so we don't have to use reverse. Later on we notice that there is a little switch nestled under the shifting knob that you have to pull up on when you put it in reverse.

I stall the car three times before we get to the highway, get honked at, and even flipped off by a taxi driver (Welcome to Scotland, Laddie!). Now we are driving on the WRONG (opposite) side of the road, with little to no sleep for almost 24 hours. Whoo-Hoo!!

We're heading north to Carnoustie for our first tee time. It feels so good to get out on the open road, away from the airport madness. We stop at a little roadside restaurant/gas station to freshen up and call home. I can't figure out how to use the pay phone, end up swiping my credit card and getting an operator, and she connects me so I can at least let my family know I've arrived safely. I find out a month later that this 4 minute phone call cost me 20 bucks.

Roger decides that he wants to try some fish and chips, since he is in the UK. The fish is huge and smelly, and it comes with mashed peas that look like they are radioactive, they are so bright green. Roger paid approximately 20 bucks for this masterpiece, and promptly pitches the entire dish into the trash can after about two bites. We slink over to the Burger King counter and order double cheeseburgers instead.