Walking to Scotland

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Friday morning we walked to King’s Cross Station with our luggage and got ready for our adventure to Scotland. Little did we know what kind of adventure we had coming our way.

I went to Scotland with my friends Jenna, Tyler and Russell. It ended up being a really good travel group. I knew Jenna before I came to London. She was my friend, Emily’s roommate sophomore year before Emily and I went to Luxembourg. So I got to know her really well then and then over this past year. Tyler is Jenna’s boyfriend and I have had quite a few classes together. I really just got to know him over this past year because we both lived in Hawk’s and had classes together so we would carpool. They are both really great people and have similar interests as I do to which makes it nice when we are traveling. Jenna is from Chicago and Tyler is from Wisconsin. Russell is in Tyler’s fraternity, so I met him through Tyler. Russell is also on my competitive team so I have really gotten to know him since being here. Russell is such a goofball and always telling jokes so he keeps us entertained when were hours into train rides. He is from Middletown, Ohio, so just about 45 minutes from school.

When we went to the train station we had to push our way through to get to the front and start finding a seat. Little did we know that when you purchase a ticket (which you think means a seat) you are not guaranteed a seat. You have to pay more for a specific seat reservation. So pretty much every seat was reserved and there were a ton of extra people on the train as well. In the UK it was a bank holiday so no one had work on Monday so most people take off and travel that weekend as well. We were in crowds of people on the train with everyone trying to go in different directions. We ran into some older Canadian ladies who were determined to make it to their reserved seats, but they just did not understand the concept of no space for anyone to move as we were in a deadlock between luggage and people being smashed up against each other. She tried to explain to us to move and it was not possible until she moved back so Russell had to ‘politely’ explain to her what needed to be done. Needless to say it was an entertaining first few minutes. After the initial chaos we still could not find seats and had to end up standing for the whole 4.5 hours to Scotland. So we now joke that we walked to Scotland. It was a very long journey. The first 3ish hours did not seem that bad. It was the last hour that was miserable. All I wanted to do was sit down and rest for a little bit. My knees hurt and I was ready to get myself off the train. Though once we made it we were able to get fresh air and walk around and stretch ourselves out. After arriving in Edinburgh we had to make our way to the hostel. It was about a 15 minute walk - but it just seemed so much longer with our luggage. I ended up bringing a little bit bigger bag than my backpack and suddenly my bag now felt like it had bricks in it. But, once we arrived at the hostel it was the best feeling to sit down and put my luggage down. We got freshened up from our walk to Scotland and then headed out to find dinner. There was a pub across the street from our hostel so we ventured there to check it out and see what they had. I ended up getting a burger and chips. It actually wasn’t that bad and filled me up to give me an energy boost. After dinner we decided to walk around through the park and check out different parts of town. We wandered around and just took pictures of the city. Upon arriving we all loved the city. It just seems so quaint and beautiful. There is a lot to do, but yet there is still so much history and scenic views as well. We made our way through a graveyard and into the park and took multiple pictures of the castle, the main attraction and site. After walking around we all needed something a little sweet so we walked through the main pub/restaurant area to see if we could find something. Everything seemed a little pricey or closed already so we ended up at McDonald’s to get a McFlurry since they are only one pound here. It ended up being a bargain and quite an entertaining adventure so it worked out. There are such eclectic people that were there we were seeing all sides of Scottish people and tourists. We had a long day and were planning on getting up early to start seeing the city the next day so we headed back to the hostel to hit the sack.

Saturday we woke up and got all of our stuff together because we had to move hostels since there wasn’t availability at one hostel for all three nights. We had to move our stuff to the other side of the bridges which was about another 15 minute walk. This hostel was a lot more in the mix of all the activities and was right off of the Royal Mile. After getting checked in we headed up to the Royal Mile to walk around and check out different shops. We made our way to one end: the castle. After reaching the castle we got a few more pictures and decided that it was not worth the 13 pounds to go inside. (I went through when I was there last year - so it worked out that the group didn’t want to go in.) We ended up venturing to the Scotch Whiskey Experience. This wasn’t an actual distillery, but took us through the whole process of how whiskey is made and then we had a “sampling experience.” To learn how whiskey was made we got to take a ride in a whiskey barrel. Quite an adventure. There are four main regions of Scotland that produce whiskey and they each have a unique scent and taste. So we got to learn about the four regions and smell samples and then choose which one we wanted to try. I got the one that smelled like sugar cookies and sweets, but let’s just say that is not exactly how it tasted. We then went into the actual tasting room. This room was walls just filled of all types of whiskey that they had been collecting for years. They here taught us how to properly smell and taste whiskey. So I can now so I am a expert - ha! I think you actually have to truly enjoy the taste for that. After our whiskey adventure we headed to lunch. Little did we know when we went in that it was the restaurants first day, but the food was delicious. Since it was opening day we got a free glass of Glenlivet. Now my dad would have quite enjoyed this, but after our struggles to finish our first glasses at the tour we were less than enthused. Being polite though we had to drink it. Luckily I had some Coke left so I had a little mixer to mix in. Though as the weekend went on and free drinks are passed around you get used to it a little more and can appreciate the local culture with the drink. After lunch we rushed over so we could join the free city walking tour. I had done one with the same company in Munich last year and it was one of the best I had been on, so we thought we would give it a try. Our tour guide, Izzy, was quite an entertainer. She is a Chicago native, but came over to get her masters in Edinburgh and decided she really just wanted to be a tour guide. The weather started turning worse, so umbrellas were up and it got quite chilly. We were able to see some cool Harry Potter sites and learned some interesting history on the city. We saw where J.K. Rolling wrote her first two Harry Potter books. She wrote in a café, because she could not afford electricity in her small apartment. She sure has come a long way, because she could now heat the whole city of Edinburgh and still be ok. We reached a dog statue that is very important to the city, because the dog was the only animal to ever receive a key to the city for the great work he did. We asked a lady to get our picture and specifically asked with the dog and us, after checking the picture we realized we got us, but the dog’s head was cut off. The picture provides a wee bit of laughter. After our walking tour we went in search to find some food for dinner before meeting back up with the group. We searched around for something relatively cheap and what we ended up with was Pizza Hut. It was a nice little flavor from home. We had some pizza and the most amazing dessert dish - a hot chocolate chip cookie cake with a small scoop of ice cream. We decided to do the pub crawl with the walking tour group. We got a discount because we did the walking tour that day and then an additional discount because of the hostel we were staying in. With the tour we were able to go to 5 different pubs and get to see the local hot spots. I’m glad we did the tour just to meet some locals and see more of the city. Sunday we woke up bright and early to catch the bus for our day trip up to St. Andrews and around Fife. We were on a 16 passenger van and started off by heading to the bridges. We got to see the Forth Railway Bridge. The weather was not so great, light drizzle and a breeze coming at us. From the bridge we worked our way to Anstruther. This is a small fishing town on the water that had a few fun shops we could walk through on our short stop in the city. Then we made our trek to St. Andrews. After arriving in St. Andrews we were able to wander around and get food. We headed off for food to get some energy and then walked around the city. We went to the ruins of the old cathedral and then made the coastal walk back to the golf courses. Once we reached the golf courses we found the famous bridge on Hole 18. As typical tourists we walked up and snapped our picture with it as well. We had to quickly walk through the shops and head back to the bus. We then took off for Falkland to see the Palace. There was not enough time to walk through and get the full experience so we took some pictures and then just walked around the city. It was a quaint little town and fun to see some more of the outskirts in Scotland. We then made the trek back into the city. We got back just in time to do a little shopping before the shops closed and headed for dinner. We had to make the journey back to the hostel we stayed in the first night, so we got our luggage and started the walk. The sun had come out and turned into a nice day, so it was a pleasant adventure back to the hostel. We took it easy and tried to go to bed earlier after our long day. Sunday I woke up earlier than the group, so I got ready and walked over to the cathedral and took some pictures and walked around. When I got back to the hostel everyone was ready to go so we took out for the day’s adventures. There is a cliff high up above the city down the main road, Prince’s Street. We walked up the hill and go the most amazing view of the city. After snapping some pictures, we started making our way back down and heading to the hostel to get our luggage. We stopped at a hot dog stand to grab some lunch and sat on some marble blocks to eat. Right as we were finishing some little birds started swooping around. Lucky as I am I got a little dropping right on my head. Perfect for the train ride home. We got back to the hostel and grabbed our luggage to head to the train station. When we got there we tried to catch the 4 pm train, but there were no seats and after our “walk” to Scotland on Friday we decided we would wait for the next train and make war to get seats. We had an inside guy give us some information on how to find seats, so it was time to just wait and be prepared to run to the train. With a few minutes until the train came we stood up and got in position to fight for seats. We ended up being the first ones on and got seats for us all. Thankfully we could ride back to London, instead of walk. Once we got back to the flats we put our stuff down and went to the grocery to get some food to get some dinner and have food for breakfast. After getting food I came back and went straight to the shower and then to bed. It was a very successful, fun weekend away. Can’t wait for next weekend in Ireland.

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Photos

Castle
entrance of the grounds

Castle
last point you could get to before you had to pay

Edinburgh
On the park grounds

St. Giles Cathedral
Stained glass at back of the cathedral

Edinburgh
walking around the first night

St. Giles Cathedral
inside the cathedral

Edinburgh
making our way to the hostel

St. Giles Cathedral
The pope stand

Edinburgh
Welcome to the city

Edinburgh
the travel group - Russell, me, Tyler and Jenna

Loving Life
Outside St. Giles Cathedral

In the Park
walking around

At the Castle
Jenna and I

Edinburgh
Castle

Edinburgh
On the Royal Mile

The Thistles
take one

The Thistles
take two

The Thistles
take three! the album cover.

In the Park
at the graveyard site

Royal Mile
on our walk around the city