It didn’t take too long for us to figure
out while planning out a whole semester’s worth of trips around Europe that
things would add up fast if we flew everywhere. To our surprise, megabus does a
lot more than go between Minneapolis and Chicago; it has an international
component that just so happens to include busses from London to most major
cities in Europe, for prices similarly low as in the states. Booyah! So,
Jackie, myself, our flatmate, Kunal, and our friend, Roshni, booked some bus
tickets and eagerly awaited our trip for the low price of £30. Hostel booked
too, we were all set. Or so we though until we got an email three days before
we left asking how we had liked our stay in our Edinburgh hostel. Turns out we
had accidentally booked the hostel for the weekend before, and now were
homeless for the trip. A stressful afternoon ended with us finding a last
minute hotel for pretty cheap with a room for two. Study abroad travel tip #1:
hotels are nice but rare on these trips, but when you shove more than the
recommended amount of people in a room, it can come out to the same price as a
hostel. Heck yeah.
Finally sorted out
and ready to leave, we piled into a megabus Thursday night for the long 10 hour
drive to Edinburgh. Luckily, on the way there we were on a ~*~Megabus Gold~*~
coach, meaning we all had little (and I mean little) beds to sleep in, rather
than seats. I was lucky enough to snatch a single one on the ground, with
Jackie and Roshni nearby, sort of squashed together in two singles next to each
other, and Kunal with the worst bed, some weird hammock thing which was hovering above Jackie and
Roshni’s, meaning he had to be strapped in like a mummy so he didn't fall to
the floor every time the bus turned. I, similarly had a bed above me, waiting
for its passenger. And quite a passenger it turned out to be. We soon met our
pal for the ride, a Scottish guy who was already a little bit trashed when he
got on board, cracking open a secret bottle of vodka. At least he offered us
some. We could hardly understand him, but managed to work out that he had been
in the paper for jumping in the Trafalgar Square fountain after a footie match,
but managed to escape arrest, unlike his slower friends.
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| That's our boy diving |
After a little bit
more mangled conversation (Scots are hard to understand even when they're
sober, which apparently is not a lot of the time, we learned), including me
being called a ‘cheeky bastard’, we finally hit the hay and didn't wake until
Edinburgh.
We figured the
best way to orientate ourselves with the city would be to take a hop-on-hop-off
tour bus around. Walking to the bus stop, we quickly saw the most notable
tourist attraction: Edinburgh Castle.
So, first stop on the tour (besides breakfast at a café where at 7 in the morning people were already
ordering pints) was the Castle, obviously. After a quick drop into ‘The Scotch
Whisky Experience’ nearby, we wandered around the castle, but decided to stay
on budget and skip going inside. The outside is cool enough. Here’s me trying
to, um, encourage Jackie to take a picture with me to capture the memory.
Walking down from
the castle, we took a little pit stop in an information building and found a
nice set of stairs where Kunal and I did our best to recreate Beauty and the
Beast.
To my extreme
delight, there were some people outside with Tony the owl that we got to pet
and hold. No one else wanted to help me steal him. Can't blame ‘em, dude had some major talons. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around and exploring
Edinburgh and found some of the cutest little shops ever.
The best shop we
found was this cramped little secondhand bookstore.
It was sorta the coolest bookstore ever. Super cheap with a
great selection, I had to be told off by almost every member of our party when
I was seriously considering buying, and somehow hauling back to London, fifteen
books. I was somehow persuaded to narrow it down to seven. Even then, it only
added up to £20. Next time I head to Edinburgh I’m bringing a suitcase
dedicated to stuff from here. Among my purchases were: Never Let Me Go, Lord of the
Flies, The Corrections, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
& The Philosopher’s Stone (gotta
get those authentic British versions!), and two little Observer’s Books, one of Common Fungi and one of Astronomy.
We also found a super weird 'American Candy Store' that had all sorts of gross 'American' candy that we've never seen before, including Angry Birds Soda, marshmallow sandwiches, and root beer flavored barbecue sauce.
Exhausted from
walking around since 7 am on little sleep, we took a little coffee break at the
Elephant House Café, or as it’s more famously known: the place where J.K.
Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book. Word is that she still pops in there
from time to time, so people have scrawled messages of adoration all over the
bathroom, hoping she’ll see it someday. Always up to do a lame touristy thing,
Roshni and I scribbled our own little messages there. Kunal also ordered the
largest pot of coffee I have ever seen, and drank it in like, 20 minutes flat.
Even though
exhausted, we still somehow found a way to push ourselves to explore Edinburgh
by night. We stopped by a weird Australian pub, and then found ourselves
somewhere that we still can’t decide if it was a gay bar or not… Hate to say
it, but we all agreed the Scots were not as friendly or welcoming as the Brit
and Irish.
The next morning we set off for the coolest part of our trip: climbing Arthur’s Seat. Basically, we hiked up this big ol’ hill and got the most amazing view of Edinburgh and everything around it. It was very cool, but very, very, scarily windy. I warned Jackie that I would not be happy to have to tell her mom she flew over the edge in the wind, and honestly thought it would come to that at some points.
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| "Why do people do this?!" asked Roshni |
Always on the lookout for cute British
babies, Jackie and I found the cutest child IN THE WORLD. Wow look, it’s
accidentally photobombing Jackie, how crazy, totally not Jackie posing with the
baby on purpose…
On our way down, Roshni and I took some time to practice our modeling in
the wind.
And then, for only the second time ever, I saw Jackie fall down. What
started as a simple race down the hill with Kunal turned into a slip-in-slide
worthy danger area for Jackie. Getting up, she said “good luck getting that
again, I NEVER fall.” Seconds later, she was on the ground once again, hanging her head in shame. It was like
Christmas.
After another long
day, we finally found the night life of Edinburgh we were looking for in a cozy
little pub near our hotel. There I was serenaded by a very drunk Scotsman who
was very disappointed that I didn’t know some Scottish musician from the 70’s.
What’re ya gonna do. We also met these two guys who were also very drunk, but
very into giving us a history lesson on Scotland. See parents? Going out
drinking can be educational!
Having to get up
around 4am the next morning, we sadly said goodbye to our new history teachers
and prepared for the long ride home the next day. Riding back in regular bus
seats rather than a little bed wasn't so fun, but Roshni and I did learn that
no one wants to sit next to you if you just pretend to be in a dead sleep.
Study abroad tip #2…
