ECONOMY COMFORT CLASS
If your flying experiences have been like ours then you know how uncomfortable Economy Class travel can be--cramped seats, no leg room, poor service. So when we had a chance last spring to upgrade for $100 a ticket to Economy Comfort on Delta from Portland to Amsterdam we took it. Four inches of extra leg room, wider seats, priority boarding, and early off were worth the bucks.
Anne waiting in the airport.
This trip we again booked through Delta, but we would be flying an older Boing 777 run by KLM. The option for Comfort Economy Class came up in the last 24 hours and at a price of $185 a seat. That’s quite a bit for four inches of leg room, but it allowed us to get the only two seat row in a plane configured 3-3-3. We took it. When we got ready to get on the plane in Vancouver we found out KLM’s Comfort Class doesn’t include priority boarding, instead we ended up boarding last.
KLM 777
Our two seats did have a mile of extra leg room (bulkhead seats), but the seats were so tight I had to pop down into the seat between armrests which didn’t move and only after pulling out my seat belts. Once in the seat I discovered that they had forgotten to pad the seats (I swear my butt cheeks could feel the welds of the seat braces) and that they tray table would only lower to about a 45 degree angle--for meals I’d have to hold a tray in one hand and eat with the other--there would be absolutely no chance to write. All this lovely “comfort” for only an extra $185 per seat per flight! The attendants quickly got tired of Anne and my complains and found a poor sap who would trade his empty three seat row for our uncomfortable two seat row. Still in Economy Comfort we could at least fit in the new seats and put our trays down usably. Comfort was still hard to find on this flight as KLM kept the air temperature at just below sauna level. The food, normally not good on most flight, was spectacularly bad on this flight--we found practically nothing edible. It's okay, though, both of us have ample fat reserve so that we didn't starve. We both have to say, though, that the KLM flight crew did the best job they could in trying to make us comfortable and they really doted on the fellow who got stuck sitting on the welds for eight and a half hours. The lessons here are: pick your seats carefully and know what you’re picking.
Note: There are websites which will rate seats on various aircraft so you can check out your seats before you sign up for them. Check out these sites: airlinequality.com, seatplans.com, airguideonline.com, seatgeru.com.
THE WEATHER---WHAT ELSE!
The weather here in Scotland has been shiite all summer! In fact, records show that it has been the wettest spring and summer since 1912. The Wednesday we arrived was cloudy until we got on the M9 (motorway) and were about halfway from Edinburgh to Crieff; then the rain lashed down in big drops so hard that the wipers on our Toyota Auris rental could barely keep up. The storm only lasted for a couple of miles though and then it turned to a steady drizzle.
Crfieff in the Rain.
We got to Crieff and our B&B and upacked just before the next storm hit. Lightning, thunder, torrential rain! From the kitchen we watched as the patio filled up and the water creeped up close to the doorwell. As we got ready to start bailing out the kitchen the storm passed. This was the heaviest rain we’ve seen in 21 trips to Scotland.
Crieff town square.
We’ve since found out how bad the summer has been. At Gleneagles Kings Course there are major lakes where there have never been lakes before.
Gleneagles Kings Course.
Our course, St Fillans, is a quagmire of mud and muck and to play you must wind your way around the wet parts adding at least half again to the distance of the holes.
Anne in one of the dry spots of St Fillans GC.
Courses are closed. The bridge at the Falls of Dochart in Killin will be closed for a month for repair. At Bridge of Allan the locals were isolated as every way in and out of town were flooded.
We’ve had several nice days for golf and touring, but we also came in soaked after the last 11 holes were in the rain on the Kings Course at Gleneagles. For the weekend we head down to Melrose in the Scottish Borders to play three golf courses new to us. The forecast is decent, but as my nephew the weatherman says, “Anything beyond 24 hours is science fiction.”
IT’S TOO BAD, BUT THIS PROBABLY WOULDN’T HAPPEN IN THE STATES
Fall Veg for sale at House of Bruar.
Talking to James the caterer from the tea room at St Fillans Golf Course (where we’re members) we heard these details. One day a member of the club brought in a brace of pheasants he had recently shot. James immediately put pheasant soup on the evening’s menu. In another instance, a neighbor gave James a deer he had shot foraging in his crops--a legal poach in Scotland. James dressed the deer, sold half to the chef at Deil’s Cauldron (a restaurant he and Marion used to own in Comrie), the rest he put on the evening menu as venison liver and onions, venison stew, venison medallions with pepper sauce, and game pie. A great creative use of local products. Too bad British Health and Safety (as well as our FDA) would never see it that way. Here everyone just stays shut up and eats the bounty.
Anne journaling at the Red squirrel in Crieff.
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