Travelodge Dunfermline

... 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

312 miles - set off at some un-Godly hour to drive from Chesterfield to Fife, Scotland to watch football! Trish likes the journeys but thinks the idea is crazy. Anyway, we are here now! Prior to the match we walked around the town - NOT Scotland's biggest attraction. Anyway, 2:30pm and I arrive at the ground ready for the match. One stand is fairly ...

... is screaming for mercy. Found some very nice cookies though, yum!

Time for some wandering! We didn't hit the Royal Mile unfortunately, but we did get a good wander up and down Princes Street. Waiting around in Pizza Hut for some food, just having a general laugh.. who needs to be touristy when you get the full-on local effect?

And the best part was.. SNOW! Very random and very light, but it was there :)

Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom kilgiraffe

Today, I was planning to go to the youth hostel at the castle, but the Land Rover had other plans!!!

Oh dear, game over! I popped out to start the Land Rover this morning at around 9am and the engine was smoking like a trooper and sounding a lot worse than it normally does. I called the AA at around 10:00 and they turned up at at around 10:45 from a local garage. He told me that the engine is fairly terminal (piston problem ...

... dancing began. Some of the dances included: the Dundee stomp, the gay Gordons, strip the willow, and the Virginia reel. The musical group was led by a Rotary member who is a secondary school music teacher. He and his band did a wonderful job. We also attempted a whiskey tasting, but the dancing started up again while we were half-way through the bottles they had picked for us to sample. It was probably a good thing....

... I'm pretty sure I got a video of her at the castle on Monday (I wanted to post it here so you could watch for yourself, but it's taking WAY too long to upload). The real purpose for the backtrack was to go back to Ben Nevis, which is the tallest mountain in Scotland, standing at 4,406 feet. When we came through Sunday, the entire peak was covered in clouds, so we decided then to try to return if things looked better Monday. We took a ski tram up a sister peak ...

... watching its construction over the years. A complete waste of money and a very, very ugly building. We had fun though and then walked back up the Royal Mile to the hotel to check out and get back to the car. A quick stop at Murrayfield to check out the rugby store there and then we were on our way. After another great day together we headed back up the road to Aberdeen to get Spencer back from his holiday home and have much more time together!

... There's enough space for Teale's desk and our two comfy chairs that were provided to us. They are actually comfy and can be arranged just so to enjoy a movie on the old laptop. The bedroom is at the other end of the banana. It holds a double bed, two wardrobes, two dressers and my desk. The bathroom is also connected to that room. The shower is super small, imagine showering in a trailer. But the water is hot and the pressure is good so who cares? Not us! We love our little flat.

... packing list looked quite similar to mine. Though they said they sent their i-pod back home quite soon - but what did they do on all those long bus journeys? Maybe they don't suffer from travel sickness if they read on a bus. I hope I have struck a good balance between practicality and fashion in my packing - time will tell how successful I have been. Slightly sh*****ng myself about going now - oh well - too late to turn back now!!

Ok there we go i deleted my msg again. I have to be setting a record! Well, what i wrote was a bit long and boring and long winded anyway! Basically: got up, talked to mum on the phone, got the shuttle bus to the doctor, got antibiotics and then stopped at the shops in crewe to buy yoghurt, peas and multivitamins (a nice mix of items!) before catching the bus in. It is now 2pm. The shuttle bus back to the hostel didn't leave for another 3/4 of an hour, so i decided to ...