Scotland - The land of bagpipes and haggis

Day one:

I said farewell to my aunt and cousin today thrn headed up to Edinburgh. It was quick and we arrived in just over four hours. Stepping off the train and getting out of the station was breathtaking. The gardens and monuments were amazing. I ended up walking to my hostel as it was only 10 mins down the road.

Let’s just say this is the best hostel so far on my trip. Modeled like Japanese pods you get you bunk which has a curtain you can close for privacy. It does not feel claustrophobic and there is more than enough space for myself and all of the things I need during the night. I had slept for most of my train ride up and was still exhausted so dragged myself out for food before having an early night.

Day two:

I started the day on a hop on, hop off bus as I had bought a 48 hour pass on three different routes. I went to visit the Castle first as I had booked a ticket online. You can see why this castle would never be breached as it sits upon a volcanic rock. It was interesting to walk around and see everything and the views of the city. I was a bit disappointed at the Crown Jewels as there was only a sword and crown.

I then took the tour with a live guide around the city. It truly is a beautiful place and the architecture is amazing.

Day three:

I have decided to slow my European holiday down a bit and had a sleep in. I then went on another bus tour around the other part of the city, it was nice to see where the gardens were and all the huge houses in the area.

I then took another bus so I could go and see a Georgian House that had been refurbished. Unfortunately I missed my stop and ended up walking back. That turned into a good thing as I was able to get a better view of the castle on the rock.

I passed the monument to Prince Albert in a private park (hence the crap picture as I could not get any closer). This was commissioned after his death and upon the unveiling the Queen knighted the sculptor who went onto create more around the town.

I then went into the house which started off with a mini story of the first family that lived there. Unfortunately the family were living beyond their means so had to sell off land to keep up their lifestyle. The house had been owned by a range of different people throughout its history but has been resorted as to when it was first lived in.

As per a lot of these houses there a guides who explain to you different things in the room. Unfortunately the first woman was quite rude. She wanted to know where everyone was from and made a comment about how we could all speak English. She then asked us where were all from and tried to explain about things that happened in Australia and NZ during the time period. I did explain to her how all of my family are from the UK and don’t know much about NZ history. She then asked me for my last name and made a bit of a face when I said it. I decided to leave at that stage (along with some other people who were not impressed). Just for the record my late grandmother conducted genealogy research for around 30 years on my grandads side. She traced us Williams's back to the 1500s and we had rather wealthy well to do people in our family. Unfortunately going back to great great grandad he then lost a lot of the money to his extravagant parties in London (apparently the Prince of Wales was known to dine with him!).

Anyway everyone else was nice and it was amazing to look through the house. I also found it interesting that now in these houses there is always a part about the servants which would not have been discussed even ten years ago. I then got into a discussion with the lady in the gift shop about the upcoming wedding on Saturday between Harry and Meghan.

I then decided to buy a few souvenirs so headed back to the main centre. As you can probably guess I walked in the wrong way for around 10 minutes but managed to buy a gift for someone which I’m sure she will really like!

Day four:

Today was my birthday and it has to be one of the best I’ve had for years. Usually I become depressed thinking about what I’ve not achieved with my life etc. However, as I’ve been so busy with my trip I’ve been too focused on other things to worry, plus I never know what day of the week it is now so it’s almost like it didn’t happen.

Anyway I went on a trip of the Scottish Highlands with a boat ride on Loch Ness. I started the day by getting on the wrong bus, however, I luckily managed to find the right one before heading out. As it is such a long way to the loch we didn’t have many stops along the way. Our first was to a village for a bathroom break and a walk around the village. The village was not too exciting but the pie I had was really good. I had been apprehensive to try haggis but the tour guide said to try this out if you were a bit nervous but I’m so glad I did - it was really good.

The driver and the tour guide were amazing and told us about the area and history. For such a long drive I was amazed they managed to have so much to tell us.

We then stopped at these beautiful mountains to take some pictures - it was truly breathtaking and the highlight of the trip.

We finally made it to Loch Ness and took a short ride down and then back. It was a bit of a rush but still a nice place to visit. Apparently national geographic have a reward of $5M if you can take an actual pic of Nessie - unfortunately I saw no sign of her.

We then headed back where I fell asleep for a few hours before getting back into Edinburgh around 7.30pm.