This is the tale of a group of American girls who opt to not get a hostel to save money, aka Europe on a budget. So a group of seven of us decided it would be a good idea to travel 8 hours north to Edinburgh, Scotland and not get a hostel, but instead take a night bus and an early morning bus. The first half of the trip was amazing, but by the end of the night, we would have given anything for a warm bed. Here's how it went:
Friday we ran some errands and chilled in the dorm as we got ready for our 40 hour trip to Edinburgh. We decided to take showers that night and to wear the same outfit the whole time we were there as we had to carry our belongings with us the entire day. After stuffing our bags with things like toothbrushes, make up, deodorant, and snacks, we headed out for our 11pm bus from London which would bring us to Edinburgh at around 8:30am. We finally found the right station and terminal and boarded the bus. I guess Europeans are smaller than the average American, or can at least deal with much less space, because there was definitely less leg room than with an average American bus. Anyway, we were off to Scotland and that was all that mattered. I fell asleep for about 45 minute intervals and tried to rest for as long as I could. Once the sun started rising, it was hard to resist watching as the beautiful British countryside went by in a haze of early morning fog and mesmerizing colors on the horizon.
We arrived an hour early and went to clean our sleepy selves up in the bus station bathroom. I guess free public bathrooms is a no-no in the U.K. so we had to pay 30 pence to get in. When we deemed ourselves presentable, we set off into the city. The buildings seemed much older than that of London and there were no skyscrapers tainting the skyline, so as we made our way into the city we couldn't help but stare at everything around us. Our bus arrived an hour early, so we went to get coffee to start our day and wait for our tour of the city at 11am. The tour was a free three hour tour put on by locals who simply love to share the history of the city, and it was great. Our wonderful tour guide, Michael, was an informative and fun Scot who showed us the beauty and history of many parts of Edinburgh. After the tour, we rested in a park under Edinburgh Castle and then went and bought some souvenirs.
Next, we went to the Salisbury Crags, which are cliffs rising out of Holyrood Park that overlook Edinburgh. We climbed to the top of the peninsula-looking cliffs where we got to see an amazing view of the entire city, which was well worth the steep climb to the top.
After our nature adventure, it was time to freshen up and go to the pub crawl put on by the same people who run the free tours. We were to visit five pubs, getting a series of drinks along the way, and end in a huge club. At the pub crawl we got to talk to a group of Irish guys who were very friendly and another couple of Australian guys. It was fun for a while, but our tiredness started kicking in, the drinks weren't doing their jobs, and we all needed to leave the crowded club and sit down. Since our bus wasn't leaving until 5am, we had three hours to kill. We got some fries at Burger King (thanks for that one globalization), and when that closed, decided to hang out at the bus station until our bus came. To stay awake, one of the girls taught us a guessing game, that we now refer to as "Scot," and which entertained us until we boarded.
I never thought a bus seat would bring me such joy, and we each got our own seat on the ridiculously early bus and set off back to London. I thought this would be the end of our adventure, but my stomach disagreed. About an hour into the trip, I woke up to the horrible feeling of motion sickness. After hours (I have no idea how many, it all happened in a haze of early morning darkness and delirium) and several trips to the bathroom, the roads finally smoothed out, my head started to clear a little and I finally got some sleep. Needless to say, when we got back to the dorm around 4 or 5 pm (at this point I lost track of any sense of time) I took the most needed shower of my life, ate some much appreciated food, and passed out at around 9pm. All in all, the trip to Edinburgh was a good one, but with a troubled ending. The city is beautiful and well worth the struggle, but next time I'm thinking we are going to opt for staying in a hostel, even if it costs a little extra.
Good lesson. Great experience.
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