Where should we go?
That was the question Karel and I asked ourselves.. Hmm *fires up google flight search and destinations* .. What's affordable for a student and someone who's on a tight budget?.. Scotland. Perfect! It's close by and just in our price range! That'll do. I book my flight and she books her train. We proceed to look up places to stay, or in the words of Karol "somewhere to lay our heads" since we don't plan to spend that much time indoors anyway.. And why should we when there's a great big world out there to explore!
*Scrolls.. scrolls.. scrolls ..* Bingo! We've found it! Kick Ass Hostel (female dorm) it is! Right there smack dab in the City Centre, just within walking distance of most of the Historical Sites.. And most of all, right up our price street. Yay! .. We book our reservations. Done. Now time to sit back and wait for our travel date.
The day arrives..
I get up super early, even though my flight is not until 12:30 pm that afternoon I have an early start. I have to get a Coach to Stansted Airport at 9 am from Startford.. Ugh. This is going to be a long day. I do last minute packing (one never knows what one may need) then I make breakfast, shower and get dressed.. It's time to hit the road! I head to the Tube Station, get on the train and arrive at Startford in no time. My Coach doesn't leave for another 10 mins, so I queue up. The Coach gets there 5 minutes before 9, and people start scrambling to get to the head of the queue. After loading our bags on the bus they start checking everyone's tickets. Finally after a bit of confusion we're on the way! It will take another 55 minutes to get to Stansted. Time for a bit of shut eye...
I sense rather than hear or see that the Coach has arrived at the Airport, and when I open my eyes we are just turning into the parking lot. Woah, there I go again with my semi psychic skills (but that's a whole other story for another time).. I get off the bus, collect my bag and head into the Airport. I go straight to the bathroom to let that pee out that I've been holding for the pass 55 mins! Heaven. Afterwards I spot a passing employee and ask him where my Airline Terminal is, he points me in the direction and I queue up for the 2nd time that day. After what seems like FOREVER I get to the lady at the desk, she looks at my ticket then tells me "oh you just need to head over departure straight ahead" .. WHAT?! You mean to say, I've been standing in that queue for 45 minutes all for NOTHING?!!! .. Yep. Basically.
I make a dash for the direction she pointed me in, and mind you, my flight leaves in an hour and I still have to go through security check and the whole bit. Great. Perfect start. *insert massive sarcasm* .. I queue up in security check for the 3rd time that morning. After yet another crawling pace, my bag goes through the scanner and has to be doubled checked (where they take my deodorant, just great) and then I'm all clear. I rush to my terminal and queue up for the 4th time that morning. My flight is delayed. All that rushing for nothing.
Touch down in Scotland.
Finally, after what seems like ages, I arrive in Edinburgh. I purchase a Tram ticket and board the next one out. I watch the lush scenery slide by from my window and soak up all it's beauty. Before you know it, I'm at my stop. I jump off and make my way to my Hostel, according to Google Maps, it's a 14 minute walk away. 10 minutes in and I stop to reply to a Whatsapp message I get from the girls back home, as I start to type a response I look up and I'm taken by surprise at what I see looming above me.. Edinburgh Castle!! Right there in front of me! It takes my breath away. I stop typing and press the 'record video' button to send the girls. I figure that's better than words.
Phew. I've made it!
I check into the Hostel and they tell me my friend has already checked in and is in the room. She's been there for a few hours now. I should had taken the train. -_-
I get upstairs to our room and open the door. I feel like I've stepped into an episode of "Orange Is The New Black". Eight bunk beds line the room. Karol is lying on the top bunk of the one directly to the left, and a few other girls are in the room as well. I set my bag aside and flop down on the lower bed. "Well finally" she says. I know right? My sentiments exactly. We laugh. After chatting for a few minutes about the journey here, an awkward silence fell in the room filled with strangers (more girls came in during the time we were speaking) I decide to introduce myself.. "I'm Sam" I say to the quiet room. Everyone one proceeds to start telling me their names and we exchange hellos (there was no way I was going to sleep in a room full of girls and didn't at least know their names).. Formalities out if the way, we decide to head out on the town. We're here! Now the adventure can commence!
Let's hit the town!
We head out for our first exploration of Edinburgh City, Selfie Stick in tow (Karol) and Snapchat constantly snapping (Me) we're all set to take in what this rustic new place has to offer. We head up the street to the City Square where they have live performances and tours happening. The Bagpipes playing in the background is absolutely captivating. I fall a little more in love with the City after just 30 minutes of walking around. Since we got in a bit late, well me to be more specific, we decided to go back to the Hostel and freshen up to go out later that night... Later comes and we're ready to go again. Where should we go? We have know idea what's there to do here on a Monday night, so we pull out our trusted friend Google and start searching places to go and things to do. Karol comes across this Pub Crawl thing and we decide to do that, since the meet up location is only a 10 minute walk away. We say goodnight our roommates who are in for the night and head out the door.
Crawl?
We get to the pub where the crawl was supposed to kick start.. It's a ghost town. The three guys that we saw by the bar were literally grabbing their coats and heading out the door. We walk up to the lady behind the bar and ask her if we're at the right place, "Yes, this is the place." she says. Great. I proceed to look at the Menu sitting on the counter. I'm straving! Last time I ate was breakfast that morning, and that was eons ago! Hmm.. They have pizza, can't go wrong there. I ask Karol if she wants to eat here. No. She's not feeling pizza. She wants a burger. We ask the lady if there's any place close by that serves burgers.. "Oh sure! There's a City Cafe just a few pubs over." We thank her and tell her we'll be back for the crawl after we eat..
We get to the Cafe and right away I like the vibe of the place. It's lively and there's an in-house mic man. Perfect. We grab and Menu from the bar and look around for seats. It's packed. We ask one of the waiters if there're any seats available and he goes to check.. One just opened up, yay! Now I can sit down and stuff my face (at this point I feel full from gas, but I still want to eat).. We sit down and scan the Menu, Karol spots and Rib, Mini Burger, Sausage and Chips platter. I'm too hungry to protest! Shit, everything sounds good to me.. Let's get it! The waiter comes and takes our order. While we wait, Karol says she's going to check in on the pub where the Crawl is supposed to start and see if any other people showed up. While she's gone the Mic man announced that there's going to be a pub game. I love games! It's a quizzing competition with 5 rounds of 10 questions featuring various categories like Music, Film, Geography etc. Say no more, I'm sold! Each group has to come up with a name where the first name is an Actor and the second is a name of a band, points and given for the most clever group name. I instantly think of Leonardo DiCaprio (I'm slightly obsessed) but hey, they say confession is the 1st step to recovery! Leonardo and the 21 Pilots it is! ..
Our food arrives and Karol gets back a few minutes after, I've already started to stuff my face. God, this is good! She sits down and starts eating as well. Yes, this is bliss. The games start and we have a blast eating, laughing, shouting, the whole works. We even made some new pub friends. Safe to say, we came last in the games, but fuck it! We gave it a good go! Time to head back to the Hostel. Not too bad for our first night out.
Next day..
It's day two in beautiful Edinburgh, what shall we do today? .. Google. You're the answer to all my conundrums. There're free City Walking Tours happening every half an hour. That'll do. We get our clothes ready and head to the showers (Orange Is The New Black keeps popping in my head) .. We're ready in no time, some or the other girls have already left the room to have an early start exploring, we say bye to the ones that are left and head out. I want breakfast before we go trotting all about the City, so we head to the sister Hostel of the one we're staying at. I order the full Scottish Breakfast (when in Rome right?) .. Karol orders the same but doesn't want the Haggis, which we came to find out is Lungs. Hey, I'll take it. Can't knock it before you try it, I always say! Safe to say, I loved it. We finish our breakfast in no time and rush to the starting point of the next Tour. They're already gone. Shit. The next one doesn't come for another 30 minutes. We start to walk to see if we can catch up with them, and after 8 minutes or so, we find them. Success!
Our Tour Guide's name was Jonathan Rhodes, and he was fantastic! Each tour lasts two hours (and by walking, no less) but I can honestly say, it didn't feel like it. He was so captivating and funny. The crowd was made up of both young and old, and he had everyone tuned into every word he spoke. By the end of the tour, I had fallen in love with Scotland a little bit more..
Arthur's Seat.
After we wrap up our tour with Johnny (he insisted everyone call him that) we ask him what other places there are to see around the City. He tells us about Arthur's Seat, the peak where tourists tend to climb and few other attractions. We decided to go check out the peak, after all we only have less than 24 hours left in Scotland, and think of the selfie shots you can get from up there! Seems like a win win situation. He suggests we use the bathroom before we head up there, because there's no way to go once we've gotten to the top. We head into a pub and take his advice, just to be on the safe side. This isn't Antigua after all, can't just drop your knickers and take a leak in the bushes (oh, the little joys of home!) .. We make our ascend. Damn, I need to start leg days again! The struggle is all too real. We don't even make it half way up, we're wearing the wrong shoes and we definitely don't have the energy to go all the way to the top.. So we content ourselves with the distance we've managed to climb and get our cameras and phones out..
It's official. I've fallen totally in love with you Edinburgh. *insert photo here* ..
We head back to towards town and stop at Nando's before heading back to the Hostel. It's been a great day!
Ring the alarm!
We get back to our room and there's only one girl in the room. Everyone is still out from this morning, guess the City got a hold of them too. We decide to take a quick nap before heading upstairs to the Lounge, where they're having a games night tonight.. After about an hour sleeping, we wake up and start to get ready. Our regular routine out the way, I had just finished applying mascara to one eye when the fire alarm screeched to life!!! OH FUCK! What the hell is going on? Karol goes outside to investigate and people are scrambling left and right in the halls. She rushes back in and says "Sam, we have to go! Grab your passport and purse and let's go!" .. Are you kidding me? Shit. I hurry and apply mascara to the other eye! There's no way I'm leaving this room with one eye done. I start to throw all my stuff in my suitcase while she grabs her passport. The Brazilian girl who's in the room with us climbs down from her bunk and says "What's going on?!" .. Umm, what the hell do you think? The bloody fire alarm has gone off, get your shit and stop asking questions! "We have to get out of here" Karol says to her as she stands there like a statue. "But I'm in my pajamas!" she replies. This girl has got the be fucking shitting me, I think as I toss the last of my clothes in my suitcase and zip it shut. Karol comes back in and shouts "Sam, come on! LET'S GO!" Okay, okay, I hear you. I take one last look at the empty bunks of our roommates who are still out for the night and think, well damn, all your shit is going to burn and I'm going to have to break the news to you girls. Oh well. Sorry. I wheel my suitcase out the door and watch the Brazilian still standing there clueless as fuck. Was nice knowing you. As Karol and I get halfway down the stairs, the blaring alarms stop. You have got to be kidding me! .. A guy comes up the stairs and shouts to everyone making their way out their rooms "It's okay guys, you can all go back to your rooms now. Everything's fine!" All that panic and rushed packing for nothing?! Well damn. Better safe than sorry I always say.
Last day.
It's the final day here, and I'm sad that my trip is coming to an end. It's been a great time! We got back to our room late from games night, because we ended up going out with a few of the girls from our dorm (the ones I thought I was going to have to break the news to that all their stuff had burned). We had a blast. Late night eats and drinks are always fun. We pack up our suitcases, exchanged Instagram info with everyone, say our goodbyes and head out the door. We check out downstairs and leave the Hostel. It's been a great Kick Ass. We head over to the other Hostel again for breakfast, order our food and sit down to eat. This time I have scrambled eggs on toast. We finish up and head out for our final walk around the City before I get my Tram and Karol gets her Train. I fall in love all over again. Such a beautiful place, with all its old buildings and vibrant history..
We take our last sets of pictures and snaps before saying goodbye to each other and heading our separate ways. On the ride back to the Airport I take in the last vestiges of Scotland as is slips by from my window.. Before you know it, I'm back in London.
Thank you Edinburgh, for being warm, welcoming and exceptional.
Love, Sam.
*Scrolls.. scrolls.. scrolls ..* Bingo! We've found it! Kick Ass Hostel (female dorm) it is! Right there smack dab in the City Centre, just within walking distance of most of the Historical Sites.. And most of all, right up our price street. Yay! .. We book our reservations. Done. Now time to sit back and wait for our travel date.
The day arrives..
I get up super early, even though my flight is not until 12:30 pm that afternoon I have an early start. I have to get a Coach to Stansted Airport at 9 am from Startford.. Ugh. This is going to be a long day. I do last minute packing (one never knows what one may need) then I make breakfast, shower and get dressed.. It's time to hit the road! I head to the Tube Station, get on the train and arrive at Startford in no time. My Coach doesn't leave for another 10 mins, so I queue up. The Coach gets there 5 minutes before 9, and people start scrambling to get to the head of the queue. After loading our bags on the bus they start checking everyone's tickets. Finally after a bit of confusion we're on the way! It will take another 55 minutes to get to Stansted. Time for a bit of shut eye...
I sense rather than hear or see that the Coach has arrived at the Airport, and when I open my eyes we are just turning into the parking lot. Woah, there I go again with my semi psychic skills (but that's a whole other story for another time).. I get off the bus, collect my bag and head into the Airport. I go straight to the bathroom to let that pee out that I've been holding for the pass 55 mins! Heaven. Afterwards I spot a passing employee and ask him where my Airline Terminal is, he points me in the direction and I queue up for the 2nd time that day. After what seems like FOREVER I get to the lady at the desk, she looks at my ticket then tells me "oh you just need to head over departure straight ahead" .. WHAT?! You mean to say, I've been standing in that queue for 45 minutes all for NOTHING?!!! .. Yep. Basically.
I make a dash for the direction she pointed me in, and mind you, my flight leaves in an hour and I still have to go through security check and the whole bit. Great. Perfect start. *insert massive sarcasm* .. I queue up in security check for the 3rd time that morning. After yet another crawling pace, my bag goes through the scanner and has to be doubled checked (where they take my deodorant, just great) and then I'm all clear. I rush to my terminal and queue up for the 4th time that morning. My flight is delayed. All that rushing for nothing.
Touch down in Scotland.
Finally, after what seems like ages, I arrive in Edinburgh. I purchase a Tram ticket and board the next one out. I watch the lush scenery slide by from my window and soak up all it's beauty. Before you know it, I'm at my stop. I jump off and make my way to my Hostel, according to Google Maps, it's a 14 minute walk away. 10 minutes in and I stop to reply to a Whatsapp message I get from the girls back home, as I start to type a response I look up and I'm taken by surprise at what I see looming above me.. Edinburgh Castle!! Right there in front of me! It takes my breath away. I stop typing and press the 'record video' button to send the girls. I figure that's better than words.
Phew. I've made it!
I check into the Hostel and they tell me my friend has already checked in and is in the room. She's been there for a few hours now. I should had taken the train. -_-
I get upstairs to our room and open the door. I feel like I've stepped into an episode of "Orange Is The New Black". Eight bunk beds line the room. Karol is lying on the top bunk of the one directly to the left, and a few other girls are in the room as well. I set my bag aside and flop down on the lower bed. "Well finally" she says. I know right? My sentiments exactly. We laugh. After chatting for a few minutes about the journey here, an awkward silence fell in the room filled with strangers (more girls came in during the time we were speaking) I decide to introduce myself.. "I'm Sam" I say to the quiet room. Everyone one proceeds to start telling me their names and we exchange hellos (there was no way I was going to sleep in a room full of girls and didn't at least know their names).. Formalities out if the way, we decide to head out on the town. We're here! Now the adventure can commence!
We head out for our first exploration of Edinburgh City, Selfie Stick in tow (Karol) and Snapchat constantly snapping (Me) we're all set to take in what this rustic new place has to offer. We head up the street to the City Square where they have live performances and tours happening. The Bagpipes playing in the background is absolutely captivating. I fall a little more in love with the City after just 30 minutes of walking around. Since we got in a bit late, well me to be more specific, we decided to go back to the Hostel and freshen up to go out later that night... Later comes and we're ready to go again. Where should we go? We have know idea what's there to do here on a Monday night, so we pull out our trusted friend Google and start searching places to go and things to do. Karol comes across this Pub Crawl thing and we decide to do that, since the meet up location is only a 10 minute walk away. We say goodnight our roommates who are in for the night and head out the door.
Crawl?
We get to the pub where the crawl was supposed to kick start.. It's a ghost town. The three guys that we saw by the bar were literally grabbing their coats and heading out the door. We walk up to the lady behind the bar and ask her if we're at the right place, "Yes, this is the place." she says. Great. I proceed to look at the Menu sitting on the counter. I'm straving! Last time I ate was breakfast that morning, and that was eons ago! Hmm.. They have pizza, can't go wrong there. I ask Karol if she wants to eat here. No. She's not feeling pizza. She wants a burger. We ask the lady if there's any place close by that serves burgers.. "Oh sure! There's a City Cafe just a few pubs over." We thank her and tell her we'll be back for the crawl after we eat..
We get to the Cafe and right away I like the vibe of the place. It's lively and there's an in-house mic man. Perfect. We grab and Menu from the bar and look around for seats. It's packed. We ask one of the waiters if there're any seats available and he goes to check.. One just opened up, yay! Now I can sit down and stuff my face (at this point I feel full from gas, but I still want to eat).. We sit down and scan the Menu, Karol spots and Rib, Mini Burger, Sausage and Chips platter. I'm too hungry to protest! Shit, everything sounds good to me.. Let's get it! The waiter comes and takes our order. While we wait, Karol says she's going to check in on the pub where the Crawl is supposed to start and see if any other people showed up. While she's gone the Mic man announced that there's going to be a pub game. I love games! It's a quizzing competition with 5 rounds of 10 questions featuring various categories like Music, Film, Geography etc. Say no more, I'm sold! Each group has to come up with a name where the first name is an Actor and the second is a name of a band, points and given for the most clever group name. I instantly think of Leonardo DiCaprio (I'm slightly obsessed) but hey, they say confession is the 1st step to recovery! Leonardo and the 21 Pilots it is! ..
Our food arrives and Karol gets back a few minutes after, I've already started to stuff my face. God, this is good! She sits down and starts eating as well. Yes, this is bliss. The games start and we have a blast eating, laughing, shouting, the whole works. We even made some new pub friends. Safe to say, we came last in the games, but fuck it! We gave it a good go! Time to head back to the Hostel. Not too bad for our first night out.
Next day..
It's day two in beautiful Edinburgh, what shall we do today? .. Google. You're the answer to all my conundrums. There're free City Walking Tours happening every half an hour. That'll do. We get our clothes ready and head to the showers (Orange Is The New Black keeps popping in my head) .. We're ready in no time, some or the other girls have already left the room to have an early start exploring, we say bye to the ones that are left and head out. I want breakfast before we go trotting all about the City, so we head to the sister Hostel of the one we're staying at. I order the full Scottish Breakfast (when in Rome right?) .. Karol orders the same but doesn't want the Haggis, which we came to find out is Lungs. Hey, I'll take it. Can't knock it before you try it, I always say! Safe to say, I loved it. We finish our breakfast in no time and rush to the starting point of the next Tour. They're already gone. Shit. The next one doesn't come for another 30 minutes. We start to walk to see if we can catch up with them, and after 8 minutes or so, we find them. Success!
Our Tour Guide's name was Jonathan Rhodes, and he was fantastic! Each tour lasts two hours (and by walking, no less) but I can honestly say, it didn't feel like it. He was so captivating and funny. The crowd was made up of both young and old, and he had everyone tuned into every word he spoke. By the end of the tour, I had fallen in love with Scotland a little bit more..
Arthur's Seat.
After we wrap up our tour with Johnny (he insisted everyone call him that) we ask him what other places there are to see around the City. He tells us about Arthur's Seat, the peak where tourists tend to climb and few other attractions. We decided to go check out the peak, after all we only have less than 24 hours left in Scotland, and think of the selfie shots you can get from up there! Seems like a win win situation. He suggests we use the bathroom before we head up there, because there's no way to go once we've gotten to the top. We head into a pub and take his advice, just to be on the safe side. This isn't Antigua after all, can't just drop your knickers and take a leak in the bushes (oh, the little joys of home!) .. We make our ascend. Damn, I need to start leg days again! The struggle is all too real. We don't even make it half way up, we're wearing the wrong shoes and we definitely don't have the energy to go all the way to the top.. So we content ourselves with the distance we've managed to climb and get our cameras and phones out..
It's official. I've fallen totally in love with you Edinburgh. *insert photo here* ..
We head back to towards town and stop at Nando's before heading back to the Hostel. It's been a great day!
Ring the alarm!
We get back to our room and there's only one girl in the room. Everyone is still out from this morning, guess the City got a hold of them too. We decide to take a quick nap before heading upstairs to the Lounge, where they're having a games night tonight.. After about an hour sleeping, we wake up and start to get ready. Our regular routine out the way, I had just finished applying mascara to one eye when the fire alarm screeched to life!!! OH FUCK! What the hell is going on? Karol goes outside to investigate and people are scrambling left and right in the halls. She rushes back in and says "Sam, we have to go! Grab your passport and purse and let's go!" .. Are you kidding me? Shit. I hurry and apply mascara to the other eye! There's no way I'm leaving this room with one eye done. I start to throw all my stuff in my suitcase while she grabs her passport. The Brazilian girl who's in the room with us climbs down from her bunk and says "What's going on?!" .. Umm, what the hell do you think? The bloody fire alarm has gone off, get your shit and stop asking questions! "We have to get out of here" Karol says to her as she stands there like a statue. "But I'm in my pajamas!" she replies. This girl has got the be fucking shitting me, I think as I toss the last of my clothes in my suitcase and zip it shut. Karol comes back in and shouts "Sam, come on! LET'S GO!" Okay, okay, I hear you. I take one last look at the empty bunks of our roommates who are still out for the night and think, well damn, all your shit is going to burn and I'm going to have to break the news to you girls. Oh well. Sorry. I wheel my suitcase out the door and watch the Brazilian still standing there clueless as fuck. Was nice knowing you. As Karol and I get halfway down the stairs, the blaring alarms stop. You have got to be kidding me! .. A guy comes up the stairs and shouts to everyone making their way out their rooms "It's okay guys, you can all go back to your rooms now. Everything's fine!" All that panic and rushed packing for nothing?! Well damn. Better safe than sorry I always say.
Last day.
It's the final day here, and I'm sad that my trip is coming to an end. It's been a great time! We got back to our room late from games night, because we ended up going out with a few of the girls from our dorm (the ones I thought I was going to have to break the news to that all their stuff had burned). We had a blast. Late night eats and drinks are always fun. We pack up our suitcases, exchanged Instagram info with everyone, say our goodbyes and head out the door. We check out downstairs and leave the Hostel. It's been a great Kick Ass. We head over to the other Hostel again for breakfast, order our food and sit down to eat. This time I have scrambled eggs on toast. We finish up and head out for our final walk around the City before I get my Tram and Karol gets her Train. I fall in love all over again. Such a beautiful place, with all its old buildings and vibrant history..
We take our last sets of pictures and snaps before saying goodbye to each other and heading our separate ways. On the ride back to the Airport I take in the last vestiges of Scotland as is slips by from my window.. Before you know it, I'm back in London.
Thank you Edinburgh, for being warm, welcoming and exceptional.
Love, Sam.
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