18th July
I had spent the night in a fairly daggy guest house and looking out of the window did not have a lucky feeling about the weather for flying
Initially I had thought I'd booked the afternoon flight but, as would become apparent, you should never book flights while drunk/hungover/on call at 3am (not sure which one applied but today was a total cock up!!)
Discovering I had in fact booked the morning flight, I had just enough time for a wander around Castlebay






And it was off on the bus to the airport, which was unusually painless

18th July 2019
LM452
BRR-GLA
1150-1300 1223-1312
Loganair DHC-6 Twin Otter

The airport itself (for those who don't know it) has 3 runways which are all made of sand and part of a beach, meaning the schedule is heavily dictated by the tides
There is a cafe selling amazing cakes and also souvenirs (got a tea towel for the mother in law, sure she'll appreciate it ), a control tower (!!) and an expansive area for viewing the runway. I think there might have been wifi but I'm not 100% sure on that








The plane was slightly late arriving and I was a bit nervous but when I saw the ops car head out I figured we were on




There was a chap from Melbourne getting worried about his airbnb check in time. We spent some time being mistaken for a couple. Meanwhile I had spotted another cock up, namely that I was supposed to be on a flight out of GLA 40 minutes after this one landed- with no luggage check through possible.... (see point above re not booking when incapable...). Boarding was delayed while the crew had a cuppa, a quick safety briefing from the FO and then we were off





Views were somewhat limited by cloud but impressive nonetheless





On arrival, since we hadn't cleared security in Barra (as there isn't any) we had to wait for 2 members of staff to escort us. Of course this was not a fast process; I also managed to put the Captain's nose out of joint by regaling him with a story about pants being pulled for secondary screening when he flies, even when in uniform (oops! but he does look a bit dodgy)

By this point my plan had advanced from "she'll be right" to "I can just take my checked bag as carry on" to "screw it, I'll just work out a rebooking plan later"

I made it to the check in desk just as my proposed flight was pushing back

18th July 2019
LM434
GLA-KOI
1340-1500
Saab 340B

LM711
KOI-WRY
1630-1654
BN2 Islander

The check in desk was somewhat unhelpful- yes they could help me with my back up plan but would have to charge me a fee (OK...), so I should do it online. Unfortunately given the segment was already a no-show so managing it online was not possible
I therefore resorted to phoning up, and the luckily the most helpful man in the entire world was on the other end of the phone

So the plan was hatched, for a no show fee and a fare difference (which was about 100 pounds all together), I was transferred to...
18th July 2019
LM399
EDI-KOI
1750-1905
Saab 2000

This was marvellous news for a couple of reasons, one of which was I get to experience the Saab 2000, how cool is that?

Anyway, it was off to an Uber, and an hour later and 82 quid lighter I was in Edinburgh

I had clearly not realised that my ticket had booked into W class, which apparently meant I got lounge access at Edinburgh (result!)- unfortunately it was the Aspire lounge, and it was rammed. But at least there were scones


Having had my fill of cake I headed out to do a bit of spotting. It had been raining and this made for some unusual take offs and landings (compared to what I am used to...)



I also entertained myself for 5 minutes speculating what was happening in this situation:


And then spotted the SAAB arriving


The flight was not very full and guess what, there were Tunnock's caramel wafers for all!
Still loving the tartan antimacassars


I had managed to get a window seat finally but unfortunately not on the side for a decent view of the Forth Bridge. Still, can't have everything I suppose

Even with rain and clouds the views into Kirkwall were pretty nice


Is this a Churchill barrier I see before me?

The revised plan required me to stay a night in Kirkwall and take a ferry to Westray the next day, since I'd missed the interislander and the flights were rammed full for the rest of the week
I took a bus into town; the driver, in trying to be helpful insisted on dropping me not at the bus station but some random point in the docks, which meant I had to walk slightly further in the rain

I was staying at the West End hotel, which it appears is owned by an Australian (I was recognised!!)- The West End Hotel, Kirkwall, Orkney
Sadly I arrived too late for dinner, which sounded amazing, but was able to sample their extensive gin menu (is this where QF got the idea for the LHR lounge??)