Day 1 28th July, 2024

 To Day 2

Day 1.          28^th July, 2024

Pre-Departure beer.

To Edinburgh

Blue Skies, Sunny, 24ºC

And so I arrived.

Surprisingly, even after one of the longest, squishiest flights of my life, I wasn’t that tired.

My day started with the short hop from Amsterdam to Edinburgh. After the 14 hours from Seoul to Amsterdam and the rushed 40 minute connection, the one hour hop into Edinburgh was a doddle. The best part was the air tour of Edinburgh as we came in to land. The first sight I got of my old home, was Arthur’s Seat. The big, beautiful hill that dominates the centre of town. It brought a big smile to my face, with the immediate thought of, “I’m back!”

It’s been 12 years since I last visited and 25 years since my first arrival in the country. It was so good to be coming “home” again.

Flying in over Edinburgh. You can see Arthur's Seat in the middle of the city in this picture.

Three bridges over the Firth of Forth.

The red one is the 'Firth of Forth Bridge'

The white one at the back is the 'Firth of Forth Road Bridge'

I have no idea bout the middle one. I've never seen it before!

My first pie since my last visit to Australia. This made me so happy. :)

What wasn’t so good, was the dodgy as hell, rip off merchant that sold me a SIM card for my phone. It was suppose to be £30 for 150GB of data for 1 month. What I got was a £30 SIM card that sporadically worked for 24 hours. I’ll save the details, but let’s just say half of day 2 was spent trying to fix it, then getting a replacement SIM card from another company.

Tip for other travellers: Skip getting a SIM from the airport, and especially from W H Smith, and instead, head to a proper phone shop like EE in Princess St.

Anyway, after getting my useless SIM, I jumped straight on the Airport Shuttle (£5.50) into Waverly Station. After helping a couple of Spanish grannies find their hotel, I went straight to Pollock Halls (Edinburgh University) to drop off my backpack before check-in, then went straight back to Rose Street in New Town to get some supplies from the camping store.

The rest of the day was spent walking around town, visiting all my old haunts. Greyfriar’s Bobby, South Bridge, Princess Gardens, Lawn Market, The Meadows… just to name a few. I went for a hike to Sailsbury Crags in the afternoon, just before check-in and it was up here that my Achilles tendon started hurting. Not a good sign for the hike.

Greyfriar's Bobby. Famous dog and pub in Scotland.

The Meadows.

Arthur's Seat, in the middle of the city.

Sailsbury Crags, next to Arthur's seat.

I went down to Pollack Halls to check in and put my stuff in the room. It’s a typical dormitory room and brought back a lot of memories of Shelton Halls at Gatton. But for only £60/ night, it’s by far the best value and location in town. Oh yeah, on the way here, I stopped at 26 Oxford Street, my old home, just a couple of blocks over. It looks exactly the same, but I doubt Lizzy, my old land lady, still lives there.

In the evening, I ventured out to try to find a good curry. Sadly my favourite curry shop of all time closed a while ago. After walking WAY more than I would have liked, I gave up and went back to Greyfriar’s Bobby’s Pub (via the firs pub I stopped at on my very first night in Edinburgh 25 years ago) and had some haggis and pork bangers on mash. The caramelised onions on it were the best I’ve ever tasted!

Pollack Halls, Edinburgh University, where I stayed while in Edinburgh.

The money has changed a bit since I was here last. 

Dinner my first night here. Haggis and pork bangers on mash, with caramelized onions and gravy. Yummy!

This was the first bar I visited on my very first night in Edinburgh 25 years ago. 

Victoria Street. One of the most colourful and famous streets in Edinburgh.

The Elephant House. 

A coffee shop CLAIMING to be where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter.

It isn't, but it's funny to see all the tourists taking their pictures in front of here.

South Bridge Railing.

The Elephant House (Closed)

THIS is the cafe where J.K.Rowling wrote Harry Potter... but they moved to Victoria Street.

I use to pass this regularly when I lived in Edinburgh... right about the time she would have been inside writing the books.

Sadly, by the time I got back to my room, I was in so much pain, I could hardly walk. I’m a little concerned I may have just stuffed my chances on the West Highland Way.

 To Day 2