Alexa, play the sound of bagpipes.
Oh yes, we are in Scotland now. We left Manchester this morning on the land’s finest coach bus for a less than 15 minute drive to the airport, which really, we could have walked to if we didn’t have to go around to the other side for departures. We wondered where this bus was during our last few transfers between cities.
Nonetheless, we arrived at the Manchester Airport for our short flight to Edinburgh, Scotland, which turned out to be around 40 minutes – less time than our horrific airport experience.
The security of this airport seemed more intense than the security I have seen at any other airport in the states and in Costa Rica which was my only other international flight. Multiple bags from our group were pulled, and poor Lexi seemed to be stuck with one of the security men for forever. As no pip is left behind, we waited for her before we went to the waiting area before the gates opened.
As expected, our plane was a lot smaller than our plane from Pittsburgh to London. We went from a 4x4x4 to a 2×2. I’m small, and I was squished.
I couldn’t complain once we landed in Edinburgh. The weather was warm and sunny, the opposite of what we were expecting, and I was very excited to mimic (and hopefully not offend) a new accent.
The Grassmarket Hotel is easily the cutest hotel we have stayed at, and it’s in a perfect central location. We have little smores cookies in our coffee cups, a magnetic map on the wall by our beds and a wall of Dandy comic books.
We dropped our bags off in our rooms and departed for Edinburgh Castle, and I know I’ve said the sights have been beautiful so far, but they just keep getting better.
After the castle tour, we went on a guided walking tour of The Royal Mile, but no, we did not walk the full mile, not even half I believe. We had a guide talk about the history of Edinburgh, the language of Scotland and of course, kilts, among other things. The thing that stuck out the most to me was how he expressed Scotland is accepting of everyone and anyone, all religions, races, ethnicities, genders, etc. and I can certainly respect a culture so accepting of others.
After the walking tour, we ate at an Italian restaurant just down the cobblestone road from our hotel. I ordered garlic bread for a starter, which was literally a round piece of bread with garlic sauce – a garlic pizza if you will. Diego, Craig, Julia and I made this same mishap in London at another Italian restaurant when we ordered something (not a pizza but I can’t think of it at the moment) thinking it would look like it did in America, and it also came out looking like a pizza.
For my main, I got something I definitely cannot pronounce, so I pointed to it when I ordered. In laymen’s terms, it was some type of noodle that I’ve never eaten before with a really good sauce and bits of ham.
Full of food, Julia, Emma, Diego and I decided to walk around the city a bit more before bed and found a few places to go to during the last few days of our trip, and I can’t wait to end this journey with a bang.