Christmas in Wales: Part 7, Back to Scotland

And so the time came for us to get to Bristol airport, hop out of the car (cleverly leaving my gloves behind on the back seat), and head into the terminal.

We waved goodbye to my Mum (and shed a few tears) then went through security which felt like a much more relaxed affair than when we went through it in Glasgow. The guy was pretty helpful so even though you had to strip off your jacket, belt, shoes, pull your Kindle out your case, put all your medication on display to the other passengers and all the other little things we do to stay safe, it wasn't anywhere near as awkward as on the way down.

It was also quicker as well and soon we were in the departures area where we had about an hour and a half to kill before our flight's gate was announced. Mr Click and I played a round of Carcasonne, I wandered round WH Smith, we both took advantage of our hour's free internet.

I think it was a lot more relaxed because we knew there was no rush to get home. We'd got our hotel booked for Glasgow so all we needed to do was get there. It wasn't as though we had to race on for a ferry.

And the weather was nicer. Which made the return flight a positive breeze.

Once on board we had a brief plane selfie, as you do, then settled in to watch the safety demonstration.

The plane was completely packed on this flight so we were actually able to take off a little earlier than scheduled. It was such a clear day that we had a perfect view of the ground the whole way back as well. I wonder if the view would have been so interesting if we'd not been flying back in the dark, as it happened, there were large splotches where there was just darkness and then lights where you could trace roads, towns, small settlements. In some places you could even make out flashing Christmas decorations!

Doesn't that photo look like something out of a sci-fi movie?

I think that it might be Liverpool. I remember speculating with Mr Click about where we were and then just a few minutes later the pilot announced that we were almost there.

Scotland was a little cloudier but we could see along towards where the island was. It felt so weird seeing it but knowing we weren't heading that way until the following day.

And then the next thing we knew we were back on terra firma, waiting for everyone else to get off the plane since we weren't in a rush. We sauntered straight out of arrivals and onto the airport link bus, decided against going out for meal and picked up a picnic from Sainsbury's outside Buchanan Bus Station.

I think the wait for the taxi was almost as long as the time to get from Glasgow Airport into the centre, if not slightly longer, but eventually one showed up and we went to the Premier Inn at Charing Cross.

We've stayed there several times. It's right next door to the King's Theatre so we always picked it when we were stopping over for a show. Normally the rooms are your average pokey little Premier Inn rooms, but it appears that they have some super special rooms in there too which are unlike the regular ones.

The building is a square shape with about 25 rooms to a floor. The corners of the building have two rooms in them, with a sort of diagonal slant to one of the walls. And they are MASSIVE!

We had these two vast windows which looked across towards the Mitchell Library, a huge bed, and a bath (which I was kind of disappointed that I didn't get to take advantage of because it was 9pm and we'd not yet had our tea).

I did make a video because I thought it was so cool:

I don't know if it just felt so much bigger because we'd stayed in the EasyHotel the week before (which felt like it was about the size of the bed in this room), or if this was a huge room by Premier Inn standards. Either way, I wish we'd been there a little longer to fully enjoy the luxury of the place.

But we'd had a long day and so it was soon time for bed and all too soon after that it was time to get up again.

And just a few hours later, we were back home, collecting our labrador and unpacking our cases.

But we had a fantastic time away and an excellent Christmas. Lots of happy memories and fun. And now we have several other trips to plan as well!