Edinburgh - Our First Day
7:36 am GMT and our flight from Doha finally touches down. As we approached the airport, the city hid it’s delights from us under a thick cover of cloud. At the last minute, we broke through the cloud and landed smoothly. On this leg of the journey I was sat next to a Scottish fellow, Michael, who was an outdoor education instructor. He also taught UK Scouts and leaders how to navigate with a map and compass – a skill, he says, is getting rarer and rarer! He was on his way home after six weeks in Nepal with a group of students and teachers. They were attempting something called the World Challenge. From what I could understand, this was similar to the Gold Duke of Edinburgh or Queen Scout award except for the fact that most of it had to be completed in stages overseas.
I think I managed two hours sleep on this flight but I was glad to hear that most of our group heeded my warnings and slept four to six hours. Most, didn’t include one young Scout who thought sleep was overrated and tried for the 24 hour movie marathon award! After several trips to his seat, he eventually got the message and turned off his monitor.
Once off the plane, there was a huge line up to get through customs. Fortunately the line was bigger behind, than in front of us, but it still took 20 mins to get to the front. This gave us ample time to fill out our passenger arrival cards, which the customs official just put to the side and waved us through. The other half of our group landed 20 mins before us and we were happily united and started introducing ourselves to one another. We just needed to wait for Adrian who was arriving on a domestic flight from London. I went off to find our coach and driver. He was meant to be there 45 mins before but, despite circling the group of drivers holding up welcome signs, there was no sign of him. A quick call to the coach company and it turned out that he was sitting in the coach parking area waiting for us. I walked to 300 meters, found Gary and promptly walked back to get our group.
Again, despite the lack of sleep, the group was in good spirits and started the process of getting to know each other – which is the whole reason we have pre-tours on Jamboree trips. As we walked the whole distance of the airport again, to get to the coach parking bay, a huge Edinburgh sign caught our attention and proved a great photo opportunity. Once our luggage was loaded, we were off. This was meant to be a transfer to the hostel where we could drop our luggage but as we started driving, Gary our coach driver asked where we wanted to go. Due to a mix up with the travel agent, Our transfer was actually a half day coach hire for sight seeing. This was great but without knowing about it, I hadn’t actually planned any sight seeing that morning, nor had I booked anywhere to go. A quick consultation with the other leaders and some googling, and we had a plan. We would head up to Arthur’s Seat (the highest point in Edinburgh) and then off to Portobello Beach for some lunch.
The beach, despite it being more of a sandy bay, was a welcome sight after all that time on a plane. The fresh air and sea breezes were a welcome change from an air conditioned cabin. The group split up with some exploring the beach front, some the shops and some just playing on the sand. Some quick scouting for a lunch venue spotted a few alternatives. A place to get some sandwiches, salads and pies, a bagel shop (which came highly recommended by the hostel) or a fish and chip van on the beach. Again we split into three groups depending on people’s lunch choices and headed off. I took the fish and chips option with several others. I very quickly discovered something about Scotland that I’d long forgotten. The Scottish love their fried food! Everything is deep fried, from hamburger patties to pizza! The fish was quite nice though. After lunch, we met up with Gary our coach driver and headed back to the hostel to check in. This proved to be our next challenge. Despite previously spending time with the travel agent, sorting people into rooms, once we arrived at the hostel we found that the rooms had different numbers of beds and no names against them. We were also expected to allocate them on the fly! Several minutes later most people were happy with their newly allocated room mate and they were all sent up for showers and a fresh change of clothes.
An hour later we met again in the court yard and went out to explore the city in groups. Some of the Scouts wanted to walk up to the top of Arthur’s while others wanted to have a walk around the town. I joined the group wandering around, which proved to be a wise decision. John (another of our leaders) went with he group walking up the hill. This is an easy pleasant walk up a grassy slope. The Scouts seemed to have other ideas however. Instead of the pleasant walk, they chose to climb up the steep 60 deg incline, which was covered with thistle bushes and nettles. Of course they would, they are Scouts after all. Once a third of the way up, John had no option but to continue to the top. They all made it safely albeit a little dirtier than when they started. My walk through town was a lot more pleasant. Edinburgh is a beautiful old city filled with old buildings, cobble stone streets and a myriad of little laneways that lead to secret gardens and court yards. You could explore for days. One such entrance way led to the Edinburgh Museum. This was a narrow fronted building, which turned out to be huge inside. Despite the quick pace of the Scouts, we still spend 30 mins walking through all the various floors looking at Scottish History which dated back to before the British landed in Australia, as did some of the buildings we passed. The Scouts dressed up in some period costumes for a photo opportunity and then it was back for dinner.
Dinner was arranged by Samantha, another of our leaders, who arrived in Edinburgh two days before. Muma’s Kitchen. This was a quaint little café which boast traditional Scottish fare. Surprisingly several of the Scouts and leaders ordered the Haggis and most didn’t mind it at all, even after finding out what it was made from. After all, when in Scotland….
I’d have to say, traditional Scottish fare is pretty basic, well at least it was in Muma’s Kitchen. Sausages and mash, Haggis atop pumpkin and mash, sheppard’s pie (which had the mash on top!) and burgers and mash. Do you get the theme here? There was one dish that didn’t have mash, chicken pie. This came with a few small veggies and refried chips. These appeared to be potato chips, which were deep fried (of course), lightly coated in flour (presumably to hold some more oil) and than deep fried again. If you didn’t mind the high fat content, they weren’t too bad!
Dinner was followed by desert which was a choice of apple pie and ice cream, chocolate gateau and ice cream or strawberry gateau with, you guessed it, ice cream. Combined with a soft drink, it was a big meal and afterwards all were keen for only one thing – sleep. After all, tomorrow’s another big day! I hit the bed at about 7:15 but unfortunately woke up five hours later around midnight. At that point the local pub must have had happy hour till 2:30 am, as it was packed and loud. There was a brief lull in proceedings between 3 and 4 which was followed by the morning choir of birds which rose to greet the sunrise, shortly after 4am. It’s 5 am now and the birds are fully warmed up. The hostel does have sound prof windows, which I could have closed, but then I’d miss the full Scottish experience. From the little I’ve seen this time, it is a beautiful country and the people are warm an friendly.
I think I managed two hours sleep on this flight but I was glad to hear that most of our group heeded my warnings and slept four to six hours. Most, didn’t include one young Scout who thought sleep was overrated and tried for the 24 hour movie marathon award! After several trips to his seat, he eventually got the message and turned off his monitor.
Once off the plane, there was a huge line up to get through customs. Fortunately the line was bigger behind, than in front of us, but it still took 20 mins to get to the front. This gave us ample time to fill out our passenger arrival cards, which the customs official just put to the side and waved us through. The other half of our group landed 20 mins before us and we were happily united and started introducing ourselves to one another. We just needed to wait for Adrian who was arriving on a domestic flight from London. I went off to find our coach and driver. He was meant to be there 45 mins before but, despite circling the group of drivers holding up welcome signs, there was no sign of him. A quick call to the coach company and it turned out that he was sitting in the coach parking area waiting for us. I walked to 300 meters, found Gary and promptly walked back to get our group.
Again, despite the lack of sleep, the group was in good spirits and started the process of getting to know each other – which is the whole reason we have pre-tours on Jamboree trips. As we walked the whole distance of the airport again, to get to the coach parking bay, a huge Edinburgh sign caught our attention and proved a great photo opportunity. Once our luggage was loaded, we were off. This was meant to be a transfer to the hostel where we could drop our luggage but as we started driving, Gary our coach driver asked where we wanted to go. Due to a mix up with the travel agent, Our transfer was actually a half day coach hire for sight seeing. This was great but without knowing about it, I hadn’t actually planned any sight seeing that morning, nor had I booked anywhere to go. A quick consultation with the other leaders and some googling, and we had a plan. We would head up to Arthur’s Seat (the highest point in Edinburgh) and then off to Portobello Beach for some lunch.
The beach, despite it being more of a sandy bay, was a welcome sight after all that time on a plane. The fresh air and sea breezes were a welcome change from an air conditioned cabin. The group split up with some exploring the beach front, some the shops and some just playing on the sand. Some quick scouting for a lunch venue spotted a few alternatives. A place to get some sandwiches, salads and pies, a bagel shop (which came highly recommended by the hostel) or a fish and chip van on the beach. Again we split into three groups depending on people’s lunch choices and headed off. I took the fish and chips option with several others. I very quickly discovered something about Scotland that I’d long forgotten. The Scottish love their fried food! Everything is deep fried, from hamburger patties to pizza! The fish was quite nice though. After lunch, we met up with Gary our coach driver and headed back to the hostel to check in. This proved to be our next challenge. Despite previously spending time with the travel agent, sorting people into rooms, once we arrived at the hostel we found that the rooms had different numbers of beds and no names against them. We were also expected to allocate them on the fly! Several minutes later most people were happy with their newly allocated room mate and they were all sent up for showers and a fresh change of clothes.
An hour later we met again in the court yard and went out to explore the city in groups. Some of the Scouts wanted to walk up to the top of Arthur’s while others wanted to have a walk around the town. I joined the group wandering around, which proved to be a wise decision. John (another of our leaders) went with he group walking up the hill. This is an easy pleasant walk up a grassy slope. The Scouts seemed to have other ideas however. Instead of the pleasant walk, they chose to climb up the steep 60 deg incline, which was covered with thistle bushes and nettles. Of course they would, they are Scouts after all. Once a third of the way up, John had no option but to continue to the top. They all made it safely albeit a little dirtier than when they started. My walk through town was a lot more pleasant. Edinburgh is a beautiful old city filled with old buildings, cobble stone streets and a myriad of little laneways that lead to secret gardens and court yards. You could explore for days. One such entrance way led to the Edinburgh Museum. This was a narrow fronted building, which turned out to be huge inside. Despite the quick pace of the Scouts, we still spend 30 mins walking through all the various floors looking at Scottish History which dated back to before the British landed in Australia, as did some of the buildings we passed. The Scouts dressed up in some period costumes for a photo opportunity and then it was back for dinner.
Dinner was arranged by Samantha, another of our leaders, who arrived in Edinburgh two days before. Muma’s Kitchen. This was a quaint little café which boast traditional Scottish fare. Surprisingly several of the Scouts and leaders ordered the Haggis and most didn’t mind it at all, even after finding out what it was made from. After all, when in Scotland….
I’d have to say, traditional Scottish fare is pretty basic, well at least it was in Muma’s Kitchen. Sausages and mash, Haggis atop pumpkin and mash, sheppard’s pie (which had the mash on top!) and burgers and mash. Do you get the theme here? There was one dish that didn’t have mash, chicken pie. This came with a few small veggies and refried chips. These appeared to be potato chips, which were deep fried (of course), lightly coated in flour (presumably to hold some more oil) and than deep fried again. If you didn’t mind the high fat content, they weren’t too bad!
Dinner was followed by desert which was a choice of apple pie and ice cream, chocolate gateau and ice cream or strawberry gateau with, you guessed it, ice cream. Combined with a soft drink, it was a big meal and afterwards all were keen for only one thing – sleep. After all, tomorrow’s another big day! I hit the bed at about 7:15 but unfortunately woke up five hours later around midnight. At that point the local pub must have had happy hour till 2:30 am, as it was packed and loud. There was a brief lull in proceedings between 3 and 4 which was followed by the morning choir of birds which rose to greet the sunrise, shortly after 4am. It’s 5 am now and the birds are fully warmed up. The hostel does have sound prof windows, which I could have closed, but then I’d miss the full Scottish experience. From the little I’ve seen this time, it is a beautiful country and the people are warm an friendly.
Make sure you also visit the authentic Scottish Restaurant at "Dùn Èideann" - I mean McDonalds https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/ShowUserReviews-g186525-d5423566-r551097465-Mcdonald_s_Restaurant-Edinburgh_Scotland.html - as it will get you into the spirit of the Augustish marching tattoo https://www.edintattoo.co.uk/ ;-)
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