Dryburgh Abbey Hotel Melrose

... already know all the best spots!

We plan to visit Edinburgh before going onto London. As my husband is of Scottish heritage. I need MUCH advice on getting around Edinburg, Scotland without driving ourselve. We only have a few days before we head down to London so we would like to maximize our time there without being frantic

FINALLY, a real trip!

So randomly decided on Friday to accompany my friends on their Edinburgh day trip. Not for anything touristy, just to check out the place. Heard it was gorgeous, so why not?

After crawling out of bed at 5.30am, we got to the bus terminal for 7 and hopped onto the Megabus down to Edinburgh. Nice, quiet ride, nice little nap.. until they tell us that we have to change in Dundee. Ugh.

Out ...

Fun trip to Murrayfield for Scotland v Fiji.....lots of happy Scottish faces after the win, boys in fancydress, stag parties galore, chuc-chucs ferrying folks home in the rain, great cocktails in an Italian Jazz bar and running to catch last train back home on a busy busy Saturday night train heading South.

... so many others, lay in ruins. I do think that it was the most ornate ruined abbey I have seen though, so it was worthwhile to visit. It had a few little shops to visit, and Sara, Yana, J, and I went to a small pub for lunch. There was rugby 7s on the tele, so I thought that was really cool. Melrose is actually the reputed birthplace of rugby 7s, so it was only appropriate that they would show that on tv. Next, the tour bus rolled through more ...

... road ( cause where i was staying ended up not actually being part of the main hostel but in a room with 7 other random guys..) to fetch breakfast and headed off to the BUNAC office (the company that helps me find a job , sorts out tax and is my p.o box etc...) Anyways after orientation looked briefly at the jobs then caught a tube back to the hostel. So nothing to exiting for the next day where i searched for jobs and found one out in the lakes ...

... a drink! Hey, this is great! You know, my granddad worked in a whisky distillery [Emily's note: imagine that!]. I sure wish I could learn what that experience was like." No lie - the writing was serious genius. But wait, it gets better. The trusty barkeep told the man to say something incomprehensibly Gaelic, and he would have all his answers. The man said it (with a proper degree of skepticism, I might add - I'd've run screaming from the bar ...

... can ever get her on an airplane to Australia. As usual Dolly and Peter have it all organized for us to catch a taxi with them in the morning to go to the train station, (maybe they are just trying to make sure we leave) for our trip to Warrington. We think this will be our last trip to Elland before heading home to Australia in February, and since Anthony has to leave early in the morning for work, we have lots of cuddles and kisses before we go to bed.

... after 5 months. I love Edinburgh and I do still have some friends here at the hostel, and I probably just need to give it some time to meet the new people and make some new friends, even though I still only want the old ones back again. Travelling, living in hostels, it's all about accepting new situations, adapting, and accepting that this is how you've decided to live. It has it ups and downs, but I think the former totally outweighs the latter in the long run, and ...

... of gloating... the plan only had one minor drawback... Australia were playing like sh&te..... Back in Edinburgh, my throat hoarse from the previous evenings "banter" (Australia drew!), it was time to make final preparations and farwell Edinburgh in the best possible way.... get drunk as often as possible.... Mission accomplished... ! Big thanks to all the Edinburgans for rolling me home of an evening.... ! Next stop.... Morocco... !