Well...it wasn't really a first day...
We flew to Boston where Jared bought snacks and I got clam chowder from Legals. We also order a wheelchair for mom - which - no one told me would be really, really hard to push between terminals. It was a slog.
The flight from Boston to Edinburg was around the same amount of time as from Portland to Miami but it was an overnight with both dinner and breakfast. We had all three middle seats - and no kids sitting immediately behind us. It also was NOT a fart plane, thank god. The food was not very good but I was able to get about 50 minutes of solid sleep (more than I usually can get on a plane). Jared slept not only on the plane, but on the car ride to the plane.
We arrived around 9:30 am and there was someone who arrived with the wheelchair and pushed it - and it was also a much easier wheelchair to push. We couldn't check into the AirBnB until noon, so we sat at a coffee shop at EDI and had a cappuccino.
I was able - with some trouble - to hook up with the EDI WiFi and I ordered an Uber. Our Uber driver was very chatty and very very nice. He helped us find our place - which would have been difficult without him.
On the way from the cab to the AirBnB mom stopped to talk to a guy from South Africa who offered to help her with her bags. I was the Sherpa but even I couldn't carry every single bag: I have two backpacks, Jared has one backpack and one TimBuk2 bag, and my mom has a purse, a backpack and a large (LARGE) roller bag. It was a difficult slog with all the bags.
Once in the AirBnb (which was large and warm), everyone went to bed. I woke up after 2 hours and was ready to go - no one else was. Finally I was able to rally people enough to organize dinner. Jared and I walked to Tesco and bought 26 pounds worth of groceries (it's a cheaper market than Safeway). I made pizza and salad for dinner . Nothing too fancy but it was fine.
Jared and Mom had a hard time managing through dinner - and I wanted to see more of the city. So I will wake up early to go to the Saturday farmers market in Leith and take a walk around the city. So far - it is rainy and cold for September, but the city seems very doable. Very good public buses, and trams. The people are super friends. Case in point, at the supermarket I wanted to apply for their club card and I couldn't so the woman at the check out defied her boss' order and scanned a card to give us the discount and then talked with us about where we were from. She was from Poland. Again - every person has been overwhelming friendly - and it is also nice to be somewhere where everyone speaks English. I forget how my poor language skills add a level of stress to everyday life in Miami.
More tomorrow. Hopefully I can get Jared and Mom to go out and expore at bIt.
