Troon Scotland

Our stay in Scotland was fantastic. The afternoon of our arrival, the clouds broke and we had perfect weather for our overnight there. From what I understand that the weather here is picky, so we were lucky to catch this great country under sunny skies.
We flew into the airport at Prestwick and the controllers sound so PROPER over the radio. They are somewhat hard to understand and the ICAO phraseology takes a little getting used to, but all in all it’s pretty much the same as flying in the US. Filing flight plans, however, is an entirely different thing……
We stayed in the Scottish town of Troon, which is world famous to all the golfers out there. Troon is great…it’s exactly what you think of when you think of a small town on the coast of Scotland. The town itself is very neat, with small grey building and cottages with narrow streets filled with traffic round-abouts. Being the UK they drive on the left side of the road, so you have to keep telling yourself “left left left” while you are driving. It takes some getting used to.
We had a great time sightseeing. We went to Castle Cullean (pronounced Ki-ll-ean) which dates back to the 12th century. It has been transformed over time into a manor house that is pretty spectacular. We investigated the country side and explored the ruins of a castle dating to the Dark Ages. And, of course, we hit up the local pubs. Pubs in the UK are nothing like the loud, smoke-filled places in the US. People from the town gather in the pubs to catch up, socialize and watch football (soccer) and rugby. Its great- you can actually talk and carry on a conversation. Not to mention that the beer is fantastic-the Guinness tastes so much better here than in the states for some reason.