So it begins--Inverness on the schedule

To get to Scotland from Idaho County is a lengthy ordeal at best.  You have to want to go there.  To be packed sardine-like in a transatlantic flight, to say nothing of similar conditions on connector flights and the brutal 8 hour time difference, requires a certain amount of stoicism to be sure.  So for us, booking the least number of hours aboard aircraft or in airports is key, for sanity's sake and physical tolerance alone.

Inverness Cathedral April 9, 2022

In the halcyon days of our first trips to Scotland, we simply drove an hour to Lewiston Airport.  We would leave our rig in their free parking lot and from there fly to Seattle, which is our direct international gate in this part of the world. 

But with corporate decision making being what it is, powers that be decided that Lewiston would be closed to flights except those that route through Salt Lake.  That would be fine.  Nothing against the Land of Zion.  But the problem is that routing through Salt Lake will add hours as well as additional layovers to the flight.  

So keeping sardine time to an absolute minimum, we continue to book through SEATAC with several direct transatlantic gates.  This does, however, make a bit more work on our part.  Getting to Seattle now entails a +3 hour drive up to Spokane for the commuter turbo prop that we used to take from Lewiston.  

In the plus column, if the Spokane commuter is well-timed, the Seattle layover is minimal, less than two hours for the late afternoon or early evening direct.  The drawback is that return trip. 

River Ness and the spires of Inverness April 9, 2022

The Seattle commuter lands in Spokane after 9 p.m.  Then there's that +3 hour drive home facing us, a genuine slap-the-face-and-swill-coffee ride of questionable safety.  Recovering from "jet lag" on the fly, so to speak.  It's either that or (probably more sensibly) book a room in Spokane and make the drive during daylight hours. 

In any case, Inverness was chosen as our "jet lag recovery" place, i.e. our first couple nights on the 2022 Scotland tour.  (This assumes one can ignore a night already spent on the transatlantic flight).  

We chose Inverness for this, not because we necessarily wanted to start there.  To be honest, it was more a function of how the transportation links hook up for a trip to Orkney.  That said, neither was Inverness a "second thought" stop.  In fact, we chose to spend three nights there, with something of an excuse (as if we need one).  We were waiting for the Monday morning (April 11th) commuter flight from Inverness to Kirkwall.

Inverness Cathedral April 9, 2022

If it were not Inverness for our first night, the only realistic option would have required spending our first night in Glasgow.  True because the flight landing in Glasgow does not connect with the Kirkwall flight...not until the next morning, Saturday (April 9).

Having already spent many nights in Glasgow we were not keen on another, not when so many other places remained.  Besides, a Saturday flight into Kirwall, if we would have stayed in Glasgow the first night, had a separate set of issues.  Not the least of which was that the "car hire" place (Orkney Car Hire) has a short day on Saturday, closing at 1 p.m.  [Incidentally, a plug. Orkney Car Hire is highly recommended, based on our experience doing business with them.  First class.]    

Anyhow, all this extra "stuff" to consider pushed us onto Scotrail, to a location where we intended to recover from the "big flight".  That location was Inverness.  Actually, we spent our first weekend on the 2022 Scotland tour in Inverness.  Or rather, we spent Saturday and Sunday there.  Friday had essentially been consumed, landing in Glasgow and then spending the better part of the rest of the day on the Main Highland Rail Line.  About all we had left in us Friday evening was to take dinner in the hotel restaurant, and trade humor and barbs (and an occasional lie or two) about Idaho with the few patrons and staff there.

Inverness April 10, 2022

Inverness is a charming city on the banks of River Ness.  No denying it.  It is something of a destination place too, assuming one were avant-garde, hip and all that--we are not and don't even try to be.  We have our own thing happening.  

But Inverness does currently enjoy a reputation as a travel hot spot among younger Europeans and Americans.  Many treat it as the end of the line in the Highlands.  It really isn't.  Above it there's Sutherland, Caithness and...Orkney.  We intended to go considerably further north.  

But while in Inverness, we did see many backpackers alight, doubtlessly from the Continent.  And we also saw many oldsters, principally  Americans.  Exactly where they may have been destined during their weekend is unknown.  They never appeared to make it very far from the hotel bar.

As for ourselves, we did make several walks which will be recounted in another post.  Our principal destination was Culloden Field, as would perhaps only be right to do given it occurred at the same time of year. 

Darla on the walls of Inverness Castle April 10, 2022

In 2018, similar to the options we had in 2022, we  boarded Scotrail, the West Highland Line from Glasgow to Oban, where we spent the first night.  This year, we boarded Scotrail's Main Highland Line to Inverness for our first night.  Again, it was a scheduling matter.  

Even then, the schedule ended up requiring a foot race from Glasgow International immediately upon clearing customs.  To make the train we wanted was a quick-walk.  Even at that we barely caught the 500 Express airport bus into central Glasgow.  Our goal was to catch the 12:09 p.m. Scotrail to Inverness from the newly renovated and redesigned Queen Street Station.  We did, making the station with maybe 10 minutes to spare.  The 500 Express we took was the only bus that would've done so.  Had we missed it, we would have been on the next train.

The 12:09 p.m. Scotrail was not a make or break train per se.  It was more a matter of convenience.  Had we missed it, about 30 minutes after the 12:09 we had the option of taking the 12:34 p.m. train also to Inverness.  What the 12:09 p.m. train did was cut rail travel time to Inverness by over an hour since it avoided a long layover at Perth Station by traveling through the station.  The 12:34 would have arrived at Inverness right in the middle of peak rush hour.  As it was, we beat it with the 12:09.   

As for advice, because we were uncertain from Idaho if we could even make the 12:09 (it was a tight footrace), we purchased "good anytime of day" passes that would work on either train.  The logic went:  if we miss the 12:09 we can probably make the 12:34.  It's an example of trying not to be penny wise and pound foolish.  Attention to the Scotrail schedule (times and layover stops) is worth doing if you use it.