Celebrating the holidays and hogmanay COMPLETED 2/25 - Page 16 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
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There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
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Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Don't most laws vary quite considerably between states? I've never forgotten American friends of ours driving in California, and we were asking them if a law applied (I think it was turning on red - I can't remember now) and they told us they weren't 100% sure, as the laws were so different from one state to another.
Yes, there are far too many things like that here! Especially with the driving I think it should be standardized as it's dangerous!
Nice, misty Scottish weather. Makes you realize why those northern cows and sheep have such warm coats. Super-nice hotel room.
Yes, there are far too many things like that here! Especially with the driving I think it should be standardized as it's dangerous!
Definitely. I mean how dangerous is it that people don't even know the laws of the road between different states?
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Nice, misty Scottish weather. Makes you realize why those northern cows and sheep have such warm coats.
Indeed. We were also saying at the weekend, as we found some Highland cows near where we live, that presumably because of their coats, they need less care, because they're used to just being outside and getting on with it.
By the way, turning right on red (if there is no on coming traffic) is legal in all 50 states and has been since 1978. Some intersections can have signs prohibiting it, e.g. an intersection that already has a dedicated right turn light.
The highland cows are just so adorable with their shaggy hair. You got some great shots of them, too. Your room is so spacious and very nicely furnished.
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By the way, turning right on red (if there is no on coming traffic) is legal in all 50 states and has been since 1978. Some intersections can have signs prohibiting it, e.g. an intersection that already has a dedicated right turn light.
Good to know for us foreign drivers, and I'm sure that will come in handy on our travels!
Monday 29 December – part four: “the pastry lady!”
After a few minutes in our room, we headed down to the lobby, as I’d noticed people having afternoon tea when we arrived, and that appealed to me.
Bear in mind, it was now about 2:15pm, and apart from some snacks in the car on the way up, we hadn’t eaten since breakfast. Well, when we looked at the menu, I couldn’t see any afternoon tea offerings.
I went up to ask the staff about it, and it turns out you have to book up to 24 hours in advance, so it’s not available to walk-ins. I think the woman sensed my disappointment and told us we could have some pastries, even though the menu said that they were only available at breakfast. Mark went for a cup of tea, and I had a hot chocolate, and look what arrived!
We were very impressed with the selection, and it certainly did what we wanted, and filled us up. Even better, it only came to £12 ($19), which we thought was great value, considering what we’d been served. As I went up to pay, the server called me the “pastry lady”, which we thought was classic.
Mark was now on a mission – he needed to buy a tie, as he’d managed to leave his at home, and needed it for his suit for New Year’s Eve dinner. He’d come up with the idea of getting a Highland cow one, which I thought was a very cool plan, so he asked where we could get one, although sadly the responses weren’t encouraging. However, we figured we’d head out and try some of the Scottish souvenir shops, as surely one of them must have one?
We saw some beautiful buildings, and familiar sights as we hit the streets of Glasgow…
We found this shop…
… which had some great things in it, although we decided to carry on browsing.
We made our way over to George’s Square, which was where they had the Commonwealth Games store and the “Big G” during the Games. Look at it now – very different!
We wandered round to see the Christmas tree…
… and the city chambers with its war memorial in front.
We then headed up to have a look at the brave fools on the skating rink. Appropriately enough, “Let It Go” from Frozen was playing. It wouldn’t be the last time we’d hear this today…
We made our way over to the little area they had selling food, as Mark spotted that there was a bar selling mulled wine. Works for us! Sadly, they didn’t have any amaretto to go with it, as they do in Brussels, but in fairness, it didn’t need it, as it was very sweet.
How sweet of them to still fix you all tea and hot chocolate along with pastries. It all looked superbly delicious. Your wanderings around Glasgow looked enjoyable, but I'm wondering about the highland cows tie.
How sweet of them to still fix you all tea and hot chocolate along with pastries. It all looked superbly delicious. Your wanderings around Glasgow looked enjoyable, but I'm wondering about the highland cows tie.
Hmmm.... let's just say there's a niche in the market to be filled there.
Monday 29 December – part five: maybe we won’t be having dinner there then…
From the centre of George Square, we headed over to the Millennium Hotel, which was the scene of the tragic crash involving a refuse (garbage) truck just over a week ago, in which six people had died. The flowers here were really something, and it was very moving to read the messages in the various cards.
We made our way down to the Gallery of Modern Art, which is where the refuse truck had first gone out of control. Considering the distance between here and where it eventually crashed, I’m amazed that only six people died, as it had to go through two major traffic light controlled junctions. No-one knows what happened, although there are reports that the driver was slumped over the wheel, so I think the general consensus is that he had something like a heart attack or stroke, but all indications are it was just a horrific accident. Anyway, here there was another set of flowers, and this one was like a carpet…
The Duke of Wellington, who always wears a cone on his head, thanks it’s thought to local student tradition, was still in his usual finery…
We made our way over to the St. Enoch’s Shopping Centre, still hunting for a tie for Mark. Wow, the decorations in here really were something!
We took the opportunity to pop in here…
… but found nothing we liked the look of. The sound of a group of young girls (and by young, I mean maybe five or so) trying to sing to “Let It Go” from Frozen, which was playing in there was too much for us, and we beat a hasty retreat!
I found a Tie Rack store on Google maps and it was in the centre, so we made our way there, only to find that it was closed, which we’d suspected, as we thought the whole company had gone to the wall, and sadly we were right.
We made our way back out of the centre, and decided to head back to the Scottish souvenir places we’d been to earlier.
In one, Mark found a tie, and I got some shortbread for work, a Highland cow toy, Highland cow fridge magnet and Highland cow Christmas decoration – do you see a pattern here?
After we’d done that, Mark headed back to the other Scottish souvenir store, and he found this:
We were going to get dinner at Yo Sushi, but when we walked in there, there must’ve been about 20 people already waiting. Ok, that’s not going to happen, as that’s not going to be a quick wait, and by now, it was coming up for 5:00pm. We’d been out walking in the cold for nearly two hours, and we were both shattered, so we made our way back to the hotel.
We had a couple of hours of downtime, during which time I sampled the shower and, unless I was doing something drastically wrong (which is possible ), it had some of the worst pressure I’ve ever encountered of any hotel shower, which meant it took forever to wash my hair.
I also discovered that I could make our Fastpass+ bookings for the rest of our upcoming Disney vacation, having thought I could do that tomorrow, so I got on and got that sorted – one more thing ticked off the list for that vacation!
Eventually, we started to get hungry, and having looked at their list for room service, and realised that the prices weren’t that extortionate, we decided to treat ourselves. We called up, and were told it could be up to 40 minutes wait, but actually it was nowhere near that long.
I got the Great British board: potted ham and parsley, piccalilli (both of which Mark had), prawn cocktail, crumbled farmhouse cheddar, crusty bread. Now if you look at it, you’ll notice it had no cheese on it, but I didn’t clock that until after I’d eaten it, and by the time I’d finished eating, I was comfortably full and in no mood for anymore food, so I didn’t bother to say anything.
Mark got the chuck and brisket burger, grilled bacon, melted farmhouse cheddar (so that’s where mine ended up! ), fries, and tomato and chilli chutney.
For dessert, I had the Belgian chocolate truffle torte with caramel ice cream, which was very nice.
Mark had the sticky toffee pudding with a jug of custard.
I won’t give these scores, as it’s a bit hard, given it wasn’t eaten in a restaurant, so you can’t really score atmosphere or service, but I have to say, it worked for us, and saved us having to go anywhere, and gave us dinner for a reasonable price.
Not long after we’d finished eating, I saw Hazel had posted on Facebook that she’d forgotten to book a taxi for New Year’s Eve, and Mark instantly said that he’d happily drive, so I messaged her to let her know. I was a bit surprised when she came back and said it would take either two cars or two trips, as I’d wrongly assumed that it was just the four of us out for New Year’s Eve – mainly because when she’d asked if we wanted a dinner and dance, she only mentioned Graeme was relieved when Mark said he was happy with just dinner. Thankfully, a short time later, she messaged back to say they were sorted with a taxi, so we’re all set now.
With that problem solved, we could head to bed, knowing we’d see them all tomorrow.
The weather today was cold, but dry with fog on the drive up and temperatures only reaching a high of the high 30s. The best thing today was seeing the Highland cows at Pollok Park. The worst thing today was the fog on the drive up. The funniest thing today was Mark’s Highland cow hat. Today we tried re-visiting George Square And the result was my goodness, it looked very different from the Commonwealth Games! The most magical moment today was seeing Highland cows close up.
Next: how long does it take to get from the car park?
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Love the hotel room! Very cool! 
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I think the woman sensed my disappointment and told us we could have some pastries, even though the menu said that they were only available at breakfast. Mark went for a cup of tea, and I had a hot chocolate, and look what arrived! 
Sadly, they didn’t have any amaretto to go with it, as they do in Brussels, but in fairness, it didn’t need it, as it was very sweet. 
Your wanderings around Glasgow looked enjoyable, but I'm wondering about the highland cows tie. 
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