From California to the Hebrides
Our journey began June 15, 1996 in San Francisco where we (I-Maura, my husband-Rob, our daughter-Jennifer, and my mother-Roberta) embarked for points east. Because Jennifer (who is almost 16) had no desire to be stuck in as boring a spot as Tobermory and especially with people as boring as her parents, she was scheduled to fly on to Munich to spend the week with a German girlfriend and her family.
The first indication we had that things were not going quite as planned was when we got to London. In order for Jennifer to make her connection to Lufthansa and the rest of us to make our connection to British Midlands (different terminals), we were going to have to send my poor innocent, naive, tenderfoot, rookie baby off all by herself with a flight attendant to catch her flight all alone. Well, that's how it felt ("Here's the door" - boot). The report came back later that she really enjoyed going off on her own. After all she is at that age where she knows everything and nothing fazes her. Come on mom, get real!
We make our flight and were off to Glasgow where our connections were even tighter. Nevertheless, we had our strategy mapped out. When we landed, we would push and shove, grab our bags, grab a taxi, rush to the strain station and away we would go. HAH!!
First, we were ten minutes late getting into Glasgow. Then, the airline had misplaced my mother's bag. By the time we got that cleared up, the train was long gone. The strain however was still there. So, we debated. Take the 6:00 train and stay in Oban? Stay in Glasgow and go to Oban in the morning? Or, since I had already, weeks earlier, been in contact with the ferry company and been told there was a 6:00 p.m. ferry, take a taxi (gasp) to Oban and catch that ferry. The main reason for this option was we already had accommodations in Tobermory and Jennifer had been told that was where we would be in the event she had problems. After much deliberation, we decided to take a taxi (gasp) in order to catch that 6:00 ferry. The drive was pleasant as was the driver who was talkative and friendly (Aha! Some American suckers!).