(Totally new- with new characters and plots…Unmissable entertainment!!!)
Aberdeen airport was a breeze. Still, it has 12 gates and I have been known to get lost in a hallway, so I took note of my surroundings. It was incredibly clean and well organised, from the car return to the bag drop to the check-in and I even found my favourite perfume in duty free for way less than I normally pay. The day was looking up.
LSI – you may think ‘Long-String Instrument’ or ‘Love Sex Intelligence’ but you would be wrong. It is so obvious. LSI is the airport code for Sumburgh, the main airport for Shetland in Scotland and located forty kilometres from the main town, Lerwick- population about 7000 which is around a third of the total population of the islands. Our flight from Aberdeen took just forty-five minutes and although it was a small thirty-six-seater, I was still impressed with how quickly we got our tea and a biscuit.
We had a tip off from travellers who had been to Shetland before, and we had prebooked our car hire through Bolts. Absolutely brilliant. When asked about needing the extra driver we explained that yes, we would but only on the very last day as I would be catching an early flight and Sue a late ferry from Lerwick. If he could speak Australian, we would have heard him say, ‘No worries love. Just drop the car at the ferry terminal. All good.’ While his brogue was thick, we understood his meaning but not the finer details. We reiterated. No charge for extra driver? Noooo. No charge for different drop off? Nooo. We were good to go.
It was cold and overcast but it was still early. We had oodles of day light. We had decided to go to the Jarlshof Prehistoric and Norse Settlement and the Sumburgh Lighthouse. The latter was closest so we headed there. Minutes after we left the airport, we were confronted with traffic lights. Really? A warning, ‘Stop when lights show’. We were driving over the end of the runway!!!
We arrived at the Lighthouse carpark and headed along the cliff walks, looking for puffins. We were rewarded. We were both so thrilled. We got our photos and poked around the Lighthouse too. It was closed but the little gift shop was operating so we harboured in there for a while out of the cold.
By this time, we were starving. It was late afternoon and breakfast seemed a distant memory. We called into the Jarlshof Prehistoric Norse Settlement, but decided the hotel looked more inviting and they were selling hot soup and crusty bread. A busload of people had just left and we were the only customers. Afterwards we went and had a cursory look around the settlement but were eager to get to our accommodation and settle in. Located in Scalloway about five minutes west of Lerwick we had a two-bedroom chalet perched on the side of a hill overlooking the harbour. Of course, once we had done that it was off to Tesco’s for the basics- wine and other stuff.
Just love it! Were you able to assist in the solving of any murder mysteries?