Tim BrancoSt Andrews The Old Course: 7:00 AM, Monday May 15th
It is a beautiful brisk 49 degrees this morning in St Andrews on The Old Course, foursomes are lining up outside on the first tee. It is a full sun morning in St Andrews, which is very rare indeed. The wind is about 10 – 15 MPH out of the north and in your face off the first tee this morning.
By 7am the sun is already well up as Sunrise in Mid- May is at 4:30am and it sets around 10pm, actually its only dark here from about 11pm to 4am, barely 5 hours.
Walking the historic streets of St Andrews at 5:30am this morning was a bit strange but very cool.
Before I go much farther, let’s return to the start of this excursion on Saturday in Orlando International Airport in Florida.
We all have to pay our dues, so they say with trips to some of the greatest places on earth, St Andrews Scotland is no exception. Let’s start with thanking Sean Winton from Distincte Travel, for all the amazing planning and staging he and his teams provided to make all of this possible.
We left Orlando at 8:30am on Saturday evening, little delayed so let’s call it 9:15pm, for a direct flight to Dublin Ireland to arrive Sunday morning at about 9am. What feels like forever or a whole night and a half a day. Just the same we do get into Dublin at 9:45am mostly very tired from not sleeping on the plane too well.
With a few hour layover we finally board a small prop jet to Edinburg, Scotland, just a one-hour flight across the Irish and Celtic Seas into Edinburgh, Scotland.
A fine gentleman holding a sign to greet us packed is up for the 1.3-hour ride to St Andrews across some of the most picturesque countryside landscapes of the Fife region of Scotland.
When you make a turn on a country 2-lane road from wide open view to finally seeing St Andrews Scotland right there in front of you, it is an amazing spectacle.
You almost immediately see The Old Course and The Old Course Hotel stretching out in front of you. Like almost all tourist to the “Home of Golf” you can’t wait to get to out and explore.
We checked into a very smart Airbnb right on North Street, within walking distance of everything and began our own journey to St Andrews!
On your first Day in St Andrews, it is usually between 3pm-5pm before you arrive and get into your rooms so golf on day #1 is a bit of a stretch. Then again, it does not get dark until after 11pm, so have at it if you wish!
Most choose to walk out onto the Old Courses for a Stroll, (Yep you can just do this everyone does), and then find a great place for dinner and night #1 festivities, which are not going to go late because your body clock at 9pm after dinner is saying its 2am in the morning…..Get to Bed!!
Read Next Post In The St Andrew Series: SCOTLAND GOLF: KINGSBARNS
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