better late than never

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wow long time no talk....there's really no excuse this time but I've been trying to save money and not use internet but I'm fast becoming a 'smart traveller'....i found a local library that has free internet time!! woooohooo!!! so anyways i think you are all in need of an update...i just dont know where to start...

after contiki finished we spent a few more nights in the contiki hotel with some other fellow contiki travellers who were flying out after a few days. when we got back to mick & di's, it was like christmas had come again!! after 3 weeks of living out of a backpack with minimal amounts of clothing, we got straight into our suitcases that we had left behind and put on some new and clean clothes!!! oh it was heaven!!! haha so anyways we spent another 2 weeks with mick & di and we pretty much spent the first few days catching up on lost sleep and then the rest of the time lazing about the house and trying to find somewhere to live. after a while of searching for cheap living in london we realised that we would never get anywhere cheap enough where we could save money as well as live. so we looked into other places to live throughout the UK. Ireland was our first option but we couldn't find any short term flats or anything that would suit us so we moved onto Scotland. We found an advertisement for a hostel in Edinburgh that cost £180 per MONTH....cheap as!! there was a few pics there with it and it looked really nice. the kitchen had been renovated with modern furnishings and all that. i gave them a call and they said they had availability for the month so ash and i talked about it, searched a bit more and decided to go with that one. i paid for the deposit and told them i'd fix the rest up when we got there. Next we had to get some flights which was pretty easy seeing as there are so many airlines over here!! We ended up flying with EasyJet. It wasn't as cheap as we could get it but we booked 3 days before we wanted to leave so we had to expect that!! We flew out on the 9th March on a cold and raining london morning. we had to get our suitcases down the many flights of stairs in the apartment block and then walk 5-10mins to the tube station. Our suitcases wouldn't fit through the gates so we had to get them to let us through the side...it was a fun trip and im sure the many spectators we had enjoyed the sight!! 😊 we had to get the underground and then get off and get on the overland train that would take us to the airport. when we arrived at the aiport station we went and got the shuttle bus to the airport terminals and took our bags to be checked in. spent a few hours at the airport then flew on up to edinburgh.

Edinburgh was just as cold as london if not more but we were just happy to be out and about doing something with ourselves!! New city new excitment!! We had no idea where the hostel was or how far it would take to get there so we went and asked a cab driver who said it would cost about £10. £5 each and no hassle with bags was a good option for us at that stage so we jumped in and headed over to our new home. the driver pointed things out to us as we drove and within about 10 mins we were there. ok so when we found this place on the website it looked really modern and new...im guessing the pictures were taken when it first opened...50yrs ago!!! haha no but seriously this place was dodgy!! I would rather camp in a tent and use a shovel to dig a hole than use the bathrooms at this place!! the worst thing was we went straight to reception(tiny room about 4m x 2m - no joke!!) and paid for the first week before we actually got to check the place out...we had been put into a mixed dorm room which wasnt a big deal because we were being moved into a smaller female dorm in a few days. we did have some strange room mates though...1 wierd spanish guy that slept in a g-string on the top bunk and didnt like to put any other clothes on when goin to the bathroom...1 guy that slept in nothing but socks and didnt mind that we were in the room when he decided to get changed...another guy that partied all night and when we woke up the next morning there was fluffy purple cowboy hats and other wierd costumes....lets just say they were an interesting bunch of people!! so anyways i could tell you about that all day but thats not the good stuff...we decided that we would check out the area, see what jobs were around, and other places to live!! we were at an internet cafe on the 2nd(or 3rd) day and were looking at other hostels in the area(in london, we had only looked at short term flats, not hostels) and found one that had cheap monthly rates, mini movie theatre, laundry, tv room, bar, gym, sauna and cool dorms!! the thing that caught our eye with this place was the fact that all the bunk beds in the dorms had privacy curtains on them so if someone had the lights on or you just wanted to have some quiet time you can just close the curtain and no one will bother you (people also think that when the curtain is closed you are trying to sleep so they try to be quiet!!). i tried to call them to see if they had availability but i couldnt get through but we found out that they had a shuttle bus that took people to-and-from the city every hour of the day. so we went and met the bus and checked it out. this place was a palace compared to the other one....actually it was heaven compared to any place ive stayed in...except the nice hotels ive stayed at over the years and on contiki..everything was exactly the way its shown on the website and the best thing was, they had availability!! our problem now was that we had paid for a week at the other hostel...this thought brought us back to reality and we got the shuttle bus back into town to sort something out. we told the people at the hostel that we had found live in jobs that started asap. we got a refund and were out the door early the next morning.

so the hostel is fantastic!!! i seriously dont wanna leave this place...except to travel somewhere else!! its a really old castle type building...apparenly it used to be an old hotel. its right on the beach...well the closest thing to a beach as possible. its really a beautiful area...ill take some pics and show u so u can all be jealous and wish u were here!! mwahaha 😊

ok well i only booked this computer at the library for an hour and someone is booked in after me so i have to leave u all in suspense and come back another day...

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