My first taste of Edinburgh was on Friday night walking to my hostel and crashing before starting my tour the next morning, and being able to see more of the city through my bus window. I didn’t get to experience the city again until Monday night, walking through most of the Royal Mile to get back to the Castle Rock Hostel. When I got back to the hostel, I had in my head that I would just head to bed to get some rest in order to start my day fresh. But, knowing myself, I should’ve known that’s not how my night was going to go. I stopped in the loung area just so I could attempt to get to know some new people and that led to me joining the group heading out to a pub quiz which then led to me going out dancing with them until around 2. We “dropped it like it’s hot” according to Pang and also had a very informative conversation with some random guys about their thoughts on getting flashed someone’s boobs. On Tuesday morning I went to breakfast with some hostel friends and I hate to admit it but we were def the most obnoxious people in the cafe but we shared a lot of laughs so I’d like to think it was all worth it. After bfast, we set off to the staring site of our walking tour. The walking tour was informative (as they all are) but we had a great time just goofing off with each other and giving our tour guide a hard time. He was a good sport though and even took a group picture with us at the end (sadly the pics don’t show how jacked he was lmao). When the tour finished, our group of 9 disbanded to do what we wanted with our day. I went to get thai food with two others and then we checked out a charity shop (I picked up two more book) and then set off to find a cookie place to satisfy our collective sweet tooth (they were v disappointing though). From there we broke off again, my two companions leaving to go back to the hostel while I made my way towards Stockbridge in search of thrift stores and second-hand book stores. I didn’t have much luck looking for clothes (probs for the best because I don’t have room in my luggage) but somehow ended up acquiring 7 more books for less than £20 (book grand total is now up to 12, the issue of not having luggage apparently is ignored when books are involved) and having a nice conversation with the shop attendant there. I then went on my merry way back to the hostel a little more broke, but very happy to have found new books. Tuesday evening, I got thai food again with the same lunch buddy before we all mad our way to the Last Drop (famous pub where peeps would go for a last drink before execution, their decor is a lot of noises which aren’t my fav) and then Frankenstein (where apparently Frankstein’s monster is supposed to come out of the wall at midnight but he was broken). Our night was filled with multiple games of cheers to the government (literally the best game ever) and a card game called slap that bitch (which I suck at). We decided to call it a night yay the bar in lieu of going back to the hostel to have VERY important conversations (like: how many 5 year olds do you think you could fight at one time?). We stayed up a bit too late before heading to bed so we could have our farewell breakfast for one of our buddies the next morning. Once we were finished, we split up between ourselves. I went to a free museum with two others (it was huge and more overwhelming than informative for me) where I saw my first ever t-rex fossil (!!!). We explored until our hunger got the best of us and then went off to find some food (opted for Indian….never disappoints) and then split up again to do some last minute exploring before our departures on Thursday. I went to the new city with a friend and we browsed around some (didn’t find many stores BUT I did avoid buying another book, accepting all the praise you would like to give) before meeting up with some others to find some baked goods (which were way better than the cookies on Monday). After that we decided a uphill trek would be in our best interest and made our way to Calton Hill. The summit provided up with immaculate views, no wind protection, and a test of our strength to climb on the National Monument of Scotland. We got to watch the start of the sunset from the top of the hill and then walk back to hostel while it was still setting before heading out to dinner at Maggie Dicksons (what a woman) and then a few of us went to experience a Ceilidh dance night. The bar was super crowded which made dancing a challenge but I had a blast. There was one dance that was just going down the line and alternating between spinning with your partner and the next person in line that was the most fun of the night. Afterward, that bar had a live band performance that was great but by the time it hit 1 am, we were all crashing so we headed back to the hostel to get some much needed rest before check out in the morning. Today (Thursday) I woke up, checked out, and then grabbed some breakfast with the last member of the original pub quiz group before making my way to the airport for my flight to Dublin. I’m a bit sad to be leaving Edinburgh but I’m excited to explore Ireland a bit. It helps that two people from my hostel here are also arriving in Dublin tonight and staying at the same hostel as me there!!! Small world!
Thanks for reading (if you made it this far)
Tash the Traveler 