I cannot emphasize enough how much I love living 6 minutes from the airport. The parking lot (carpark) is half the size of the lot in front of the Milton Winners and is only 3 pounds/day.
The lay-out: KOI (Kirkwall International Airport) is about as big as the Winners itself, with a check-in desk, displays of the local arts, crafts, and distilleries, and a small cafeteria. Beside the café counter there is a bar counter, which, at 7:45am, was closed (obvs). Imagine my surprise when the bar opened at 8am on the dot, and 4 guys lined up for their early morning, pre-flight pint. Gotta love the Scots. (Actually, in retrospect, I shouldn’t be quite so judgemental; exactly 24 hours later I was sipping a mimosa at my breakfast table. The waiter offered, what was a girl to do?)
One hour flight, then a one hour wait for our luggage (shades of the Seine), then off to the cruise port in Rosyth (there is a 900 year old castle ruin in among the warehouses and garages at the port).