Business Trip - Part 2

Before I start in on Glasgow again, I just want to point out that in the first 48 hours of not watching Netflix, I read two books (the first book I read was ~300 pages and the second is ~350 pages), reorganized my closet by color and sleeve length, and played with my hair, eventually giving myself blue hair. Well, blue streaks in my hair. I also went to crew practice, met up with a friend for a few hours to discuss upcoming travel plans, took a nap, went to a horse race, and went for drinks with friends twice. This past weekend I also went to a Flogging Molly concert. It was incredible. Go if you have the chance!

Speaking of Celtic things... back to Glasgow!

My flight to Heathrow arrived at 7:35 a.m. on Saturday, Feb 2, which gave me an hour and a half to make my way through customs and through security, and get to the next gate before that took off at 8:55. Again, a bright side of flying business class is that your ticket gets a "FastTrack" note which means you get to skip the giant lines. For those of you who have missed connecting flights because of a late arrival of the first leg of your journey, you know what a blessing this is. Anyways, I got through with enough time to wander around the massive Terminal 5. Weird thing about the UK: When you buy anything (water, newspaper, candy) from one of the stores, you have to give them your ticket/flight number. Strange.

The flight from London to Glasgow is pretty short, so we landed in Glasgow around 10:20 a.m. British Airways did provide us with breakfast of sliced bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, and a roll.  Overall, a pretty greasy breakfast, but hey, it's better than a pack of peanuts or pretzels. Even though I was tired, I was planning on dropping off my stuff at Millennium Hotel...

... and then heading out for some sightseeing before my friend Calum arrived in town to show me around the city where he went to university. Unfortunately, by the time I checked into my hotel around 11, I was exhausted. So, I ended up sleeping for 2.5 hours. It took a while to get moving again, so it was 2:30 p.m. by the time I left the hotel and walked the half-mile to Glasgow Cathedral.

After spending an hour or so looking around, I walked back to my hotel just in time for my friend to meet up with me there. We had an early dinner at The Living Room, where I had the special: Teriyaki Salmon, which did come with some greens. After dinner, I went skipping down the street (because I was excited about being in Glasgow), while Calum rolled his eyes at me. We took a taxi from Central Station to McPhabbs, where Calum's uni friend, Colin, works. There, I got to indulge in my favorite cider (Kopparberg), and share a plate of haggis, neeps, and tatties. Haggis is yummy, but I recommend not looking into the ingredients if you really want to enjoy it. Also... not Paleo thanks to the oatmeal that it contains. After a little while, we walked over to The Park Bar, where we chatted with Calum's cousin Calum... about his uncle Calum, while drinking cider. Anyone else recognize a common theme here?

If you go to Glasgow, I strongly recommend going to The Park Bar. There's live music (including bagpipes and accordian) and friendly patrons.

We ended the evening with a munchy box, which is apparently a popular late-night post-drinking snack in Glasgow. And yes, it was actually called a "Munchy Box." Not Paleo-friendly, except for maybe the meat, but even that is a stretch. I ate part of it anyways. Because nothing's worse than waking up on vacation hungover, and getting some food into your system is a good idea.

Let me summarize:

Breakfast - somewhat Paleo

Lunch - what lunch? oh, you mean sleep... yeah, that was Paleo

Dinner - partially Paleo

post-Dinner haggis - maybe Paleo

post-drinking snack - definitely not Paleo

Paleo fail. Of my food choices, I went for the most reasonable Paleo option without being super demanding of hold this and that... And really, all you can ask for when you're traveling Paleo is to do your best. Now, if you're celiac or have a food allergy, obviously you can find stuff because you'll be much more careful, but for me, I figured, while in Rome Glasgow... So, with the happiness from being in Scotland, I tolerated my gluten headaches and upset stomach from dairy.