Change of Venue

After a few years of putting up our day trips from around Scotland, the UK and Europe the family is moving to Texas. We have a whole new continent to take a look at.
Before we moved though we had to take care of US Visas – which were an adventure in themselves. A trip to London for the Interview and a frantic last minute trip to collect passports meant that we were sick of the site of the US Embassy by the end of the process but we made it.
On the 30th of March we flew out of Glasgow headed to Austin in Texas. We already knew it was going to be a long journey before we started but we didn’t realize that when we landed in Amsterdam we were going to be delayed for 9 hrs!! That was some delay but Amsterdam airport is one you would pick if you were going to be stranded.  Click for more details of our Sojourn in Atlanta.

After being stranded we flew over to Atlanta.  Unfortunately it looked like they downgraded the airplane (may have been the cause of the delay) so we ended up not having individual screens for movies etc which sounds like the most first world of first world problems but Ben was hugely disappointed as this was one of the reasons he wanted to get on the plane in the first place.  Anyway we ended up watching Pitch Perfect (which I would describe as 1.5 hrs of my life I won’t get back and Ben agreed) then Hitchcock which I really liked (Ben was indifferent but did want to see Psycho afterwards).

We then had a layover in Atlanta (Click for more on this) which is the largest airport in the world apparently and it was big and had to go through Immigration and the dreaded Visa and I94 stamp.

Eventually we got into Austin the next morning around 11am and picked up our hire car before heading to find the hotel.  We were all pretty hungry by this point as we had substituted Supermarket Sweep for breakfast so when we got a wee bit lost and ended up in the mall beside the hotel we decided we’d eat first.  Our first meal in Texas was in Blackfinn Ameripub which was pretty good and has an excellent childrens menu.  The kids liked the novelty of attentive and smiling waiting staff!  Ben had the grilled cheese sandwich and loved it!  He’s easy to please that boy.

We then headed to our hotel which was the Homewood Suites (also by Hilton).  Decent wee hotel which is all about Suites rather than rooms and gives free breakfast and dinner!  The dinner choices are fairly limited but what do you want for free!

Ben did have a wee wobble on the first day as we had been travelling for 36 hours and he was pretty violently sick when we got to the hotel.  He decided at this point that Austin was too hot and he wanted to go home.  A good nights sleep and some food and sustenance was enough to convince him it was fine and he wanted to stay!

So our Big Texas Adventure is now underway!

Atlanta Airport and Immigration.

We landed in Atlanta at about 1.20am which was pretty late for the kids and then headed straight to Immigration. It was very late so their 40 odd immigration officers were reduced to 3 – the queue was long and boring. When we did make it through the immigration officer announces that we don’t have the correct documentation!! This definitely panicked us a bit and we were escorted to the secondary area. I was pretty convinced that we did have the right paperwork but there is no talking to the immigration guys as any traveler to the US will tell you. After about a half hour wait in the waiting area the senior immigration guy tells us our paperwork is in order and that the first woman had been looking at the wrong form! I had told her this but she looked at me like it wasn’t her concern what I thought! Oh well!
After this we went through customs and then were given a hotel room for the night in Atlanta. We stayed at the Doubletree Hilton which was a nice enough hotel and the airline provided a pretty good overnight bag (so that we didn’t need to collect all our big bags) which had tooth paste, brush, deodorant and even a t-shirt for sleeping in!
Unfortunately we had to be on a flight at 8.30am the next morning so our stay at the Doubletree was pretty short as we arrived at around 2.30 and had to leave by 6.30am! We were given some vouchers for our troubles in Amsterdam (200 Euros of KLM vouchers and some food vouchers) then again in Atlanta ($50 each of airport vouchers) which we had to spend at the airport. So it was a bit of a supermarket sweep when we got to the airport as we had $200 to spend in a half hour or we would lose it! I ended up buying a nice Bluetooth speaker which I had had my eye on for a while and is pretty decent and some aftershave. Carol got some perfume and Soph got a Panda (which she named Atlanta). Poor Ben didn’t see anything he wanted and was too tired anyway!
Also in Atlanta airport we saw an A-lister which beat my sighting of Sam Torrance at Glasgow airport the week before. Going through security at the same time as us was Jay-Z the most famous husband in the world 😉 He was going through Priority rather than the normal security with us plebs but we hit the other side at the same time as him.

Amsterdam Airport.

A 9 hr delay on our flight meant we spent the best part of 10 hours exploring the airport. It’s a huge hub for Europe so has lots to do. We firstly went to McDonalds for a wee treat for the kids and for the novelty of ordering the meal without actually speaking to anyone (all done electronically!). Next we set ourselves up in the quiet area of the airport which has reclined chairs looking out onto the runway. For big delays this is great as you can go for a snooze (although I would not recommend the blankets that other travelers have discarded..as that’s just boggin ;-)) or you can sit and watch something on your laptop etc.
Later we went to the Rijks Museum which is an offshoot of the main museum in Amsterdam and contains lots of painting by the Dutch Masters. It was pretty good and a useful way to waste a half hour or an hour (if you don’t have kids champing at your heels). The museum even has its own gift shop which has some nice stuff but is pretty expensive.
After a good wander round the shops we settled again in the quiet area before heading over for dinner in the main canteen area which has a Delph theme and some of the seats are giant delph cups and teapots. One of the teapots even has Disney films on a loop – although Sophie stormed out of this after a few minutes complaining that they were ‘speaking some foreign language’ (yep they will do that missus in Holland!).