Spring Break III: Edinburgh

Loch Ness 

The final and most arduous leg of our 10 day journey...I'm sure Scotland is great, however, my friends and I were stuck on a tour bus for most of our time there so I couldn't really confirm or deny that opinion. Just kidding, we were only stuck on a tour bus for 16 hours and what we did get to see in Edinburgh was quite interesting.

Travel: Just another routine Ryanair flight into Edinburgh. Yet again, I was able to sneak my forbidden, second bag in by hiding it under my jacket....this was the last time I would be so lucky though. We got to take our first trip on a double-decker bus when we arrived at the Edinburgh airport. I've got to say, Ann Arbor don't got nuthin on the public transportation in Europe. Hopping on buses, trains, metros, tubes etc. feels like second nature to me at this point in the semester. We would never think of getting a cab from the airport, as is customary in the U.S.

Fun lighting on the double-decker bus

self portrait 

Accommodations: Let's face it, the Ritz would almost be a let down after our spectacular hostel experience in Dublin so our hostel in Edinburgh was just OK. Nothing special but it was clean and we still got to have a private room which is always nice. Jules and I even got to share a bed! 

Food: couldn't really tell you what food in Scotland is like because we kept having to eat falafel.

Activities: We arrived late Wednesday night and found that most restaurants were closed so we grabbed some falafel and went to bed. We had booked another bus tour earlier that month that would bring us through the Scottish Highlands up to Loch Ness and then back to Edinburgh all in one day. This sounds fantastic in writing: 'see Scotland in a day for only 33 pounds' BUT in practice it turned out to be a bit of a fiasco. Spoiler Alert: I will be a whiny complainer for the next several sentences****.  After our first bus tour in Ireland, I had learned that the type of people these tour companies appeal to, are those that like to say they've done things but don't necessary relish in the experience. The buses will stop at famous locations such as Loch Ness and Inverness and the bus driver will announce, "You have 5 minutes to take you pictures, then get back on the bus!". The tours are a nice way to see a lot of things if you have a little time, but I would much rather go back and see these things on my own and experience them, rather than just take goofy pictures in front of them. That being said, it was great to see Loch Ness.

I DON'T recommend this company 

Loche Ness

Foreboding 

Loch-Nell Monster 

The weather in the Scottish Highlands was the most volatile I've ever experienced. We were constantly driving through a repeated pattern of snow, rain, sleet, sun, snow, rain, sleet, sun, WIND. The land itself is quite varied as well with dense forests turning into sharp mountain ranges separated by huge lochs and surrounded by desolate prairies filled with lots and lots of sheep and funny looking cows. After spending some time at Loch Ness, we got back on the bus in preparation to make the 4 hour drive back to Edinburgh. This is when things got weird...

After driving into a snowy mountain range, our bus stopped and I looked out the window to find that we were halted in a long line of stopped cars, extending further than I could see. Unalarmed at first I sat and waited. After about 40 minutes we started to get confused and antsy, so we asked our jovial and extremely rotund bus driver, Davy what was the matter. He then called his supervisor who informed him that there had been an accident at 2 (we reached the traffic at 4) and that they were "investigating" the scene, meaning that we could be stuck there for hours or even overnight. At this point I started to panic. I'm all for adventure, but being stuck on a tour bus full of people you don't know in the middle of a snowy tundra over night in middle-of-no-where Scotland is just unpleasant. We all asked Davy why he couldn't turn around and he replied that it would take too long to back track and reach the other road. Apparently, due to the extremely low population in Scotland (about 5 million) there are only 3 roads running through the highlands, which are separated by hundreds of miles. Thus, we waited with absolutely no idea when we would start to move again. Four agonizing hours later, we began to inch forward, and eventually we started to drive. This experience highlighted some of the vast differences between crisis management in America and in Scotland. The Scottish had a very "well, there's nothing we can do about it" attitude, while us Americans had a very, "GET ME THE F*** OFF THIS BUS" attitude. 16 hours after getting on the bus in the morning, we arrived back in Edinburgh just in time for all restaurants to be closed, forcing us to eat falafel....again. 

Jules was forced to entertain me so I wouldn't cry on the bus

The next day, we toured the Edinburgh Castle which was interesting and provided a spectacular panoramic view of the city. The city itself has a very castley feel, and it is one of the most unique cities i've seen in Europe. After seeing the castle, we had lunch and tea at the Elephant House cafe, which is where J.K Rowling began writing the Harry Potter series. 

Edinburgh 

The Edinburgh Castle 

view of the city 

Thinking of ideas for my next successful series of novels

Where Harry Potter was born 

Sadly, after lunch we had to bid farewell to Teague who needed to fly home early to meet her Father in Florence. Jules and I then wandered around the city, which turned out to be pretty gloomy in the rain. We then changed rooms at the hostel and took a nap before heading to a pub for dinner. After a few pints we walked to the meeting spot for an underground tour of Scotland that we had heard was fun. The tour guide was very entertaining and we learned less-known facts about the City of Edinburgh as we meandered the dark streets up to a gate which led into the vaults of the South Bridge. The tour guide opened the gate and ushered us into the dark, slimy-walled bridge vault. He explained how thousands of people died in the vaults during the Fire of Edinburgh and then proceeded to scare the crap out of us with several spooky stories, after which a man who apparently get's paid 10 pounds per scare, jumped out and screamed "BOO". It was a very creepy tour, but probably the coolest part of our stay in Edinburgh. 

The next morning, Jules and I rose very early after a night of little sleep  (a man in our hostel room had hickups ALL night) and caught the bus to the airport. Throughout the spring break posts, I have mentioned my struggles with the Ryanair bag policy. Ryanair prohibits passengers from carrying more than one carry-on on the plane, even if it is a bag you bought in the airport. I had managed to sneak my camera case on the other flights by concealing it under my jacket, but in Edinburgh, my luck would run out. 

First the very nasty airport worker, after discovering my sneaky ploy to hide my second bag, told me to put the camera bag in my back pack. This took 5 minutes of me franticly tearing out clothes and shoes in my backpack in order to stuff in my camera case. Finally, sweaty and bitter, I tried to walk onto the plane again. This time they forced me to put my backpack, which was obviously stuffed to the max, into one of those baskets to see if it was an acceptable size. By this time I was angry; angry at Scotland, angry at Ryanair, angry at the Ryanair workers. I spent another 5 minutes violently forcing my obviously too-full bag into the basket before one of the workers told me I needed to pay 35 pounds to check my bag. I replied with something rude and inappropriate and was told that if I did not compose myself I wouldn't be allowed to board the plane. Finally I sucked it up and paid, glaring at the Ryanair worker all the while. After a seemingly endless day of travel, I arrived in home sweet Florence and ran to the nearest restaurant to enjoy some much-missed Italian food. 

Note: even after 3 days in the city, we still left having no idea how to pronounce Edinburgh. Is it Edinbrah, Edinborow, Edinburg??? No one knows. 

Overall the trip was incredible and I could not have asked for better travel companions. Despite a number of harrowing experiences, we all remained civil and sane thanks to each other. These memories, along with the ones that are too scandalous for my blog (kept in a journal instead) will stay with me forever. 

3 cities 3 girls WE DID IT

Next post: my mom visits!