Our glamorous year of travel began on one of the world’s leading airlines:
EasyJet. Okay, maybe “leading” among the low-cost carriers. They are the only airline to fly MUC-EDI nonstop so it made the most sense. Check in was relatively simple. I had pre-purchased extra weight online but ended up being 19 kg over that. Nothing was said. Also it was a light load so we all had free seats next to us!
It took some explaining to my family that
we didn’t have a lounge to use at MUC and that we’d have to sit in the general airport lounge with everyone else. Frowns. For the first two weeks, my son’s friend, Chris, also from Munich would be joining us. At the airport, we handed Corbin and Chris baggies full of our left over Euro coins for them to spend. With the World Cup fever in full force at that moment, they happily purchased as many trading cards that they could buy.
Europeans love to complain about Easyjet. I’ve only flown them a couple of times but both times I was very impressed. The flight crew were polite. The plane was spotless. We purchased a nice cocktail and snacks on board at reasonable prices. And we arrived 15 minutes early!
We, our luggage, Chris and his luggage headed into Edinburgh in one very full black cab. It was well past midnight as we pulled up to our
South Bridge apartment that my husband, Terry, had organized via the Internet for us for the month. All of our windows were “ocean view” facing the Edinburgh Bay and the ocean.
Edinburgh is a wonderful city. None of us had been there before so we thought we would start off with a walking tour. In Munich, I had become a fan of the
Sandemann’s New World FREE WALKING TOURS. The guide doesn’t get paid instead relies on the tips given at the end of the tour. I would highly recommend using their services in any city around Europe. Our guide in Edinburgh, Andra, was highly energetic and knowledgeable during our three hour tour. Sandemann’s has a great website that shows the tour details.
After a couple of days, my husband’s mom flew in from Sacramento to spend three weeks with us. This was wonderful because it meant she could babysit for us once in a while! That weekend a friend came up from London so we decided to do the Sandemann’s
Pub Crawl. We visited five different places en masse throughout the evening. The three of us felt a little OLD because most of the group was in their twenties. I knew there was a cultural divide when at one bar, they were offering Jaeger/Red Bull shots and what I really wanted was a Grey Goose martini. I’m not sure that any 45 year olds drink Red Bull. We also don’t Tweet.
One of the things we were most looking forward to was visiting the
Museum of Flight. We took a local train about twenty minutes from Waverly Station out to North Berwick around the other side of the bay. From there, we took a local bus directly to an old wartime airfield that is now the home of the Museum of Flight. I, the flying buff, and my two eleven year old companions spent the next 2.5 hours exploring over fifty different aircraft. The highlight was the Concorde. The boys thought this was VERY COOL. I got to share
details of my Concorde flight in March 2003 with them and they were dutifully impressed. We also watched a nice movie about the Concorde experience. Several different areas offered hands-on activities which helped the young-uns learn about flight and air travel. I would strongly recommend this place to anyone with kids or who simply likes airplanes. The whole public transport thing getting out there wasn’t too bad but the day would have been simpler if we had a car!
One of the goals of the year is to show our son how public transport works. He grew up in Los Angeles. The only bus he ever has taken was the rental car shuttle from the airport. While he can say that he has ridden some trains, I don’t think the tram at the
Hilton Waikoloa Village counts. Since most of the locals rely on public transport, it will be fun figuring it all out as part of his education.
Another highlight for the boys was
Our Dynamic Earth, a science center about the earth. The exhibits are interactive and entertaining. A global warming theme resonated strongly.
Throughout our month, we did several hikes around town. One of our favorites was above the
Holyrood Palace up to Arthur's Seat. It provided spectacular views of the entire area. And one day it provided a view of
the Queen! As we were walking back down, we noticed that a large garden party was being held at the Holyrood Palace. People had been cordoned off and something looked like it was going to happen. Next we wear a band playing “God Save the Queen” and out walks this vision of turquoise flanked by three men in suits. Hey Liz!
Our son had attended classes in Munich until June 29. So the first two weeks in Scotland were vacation days. Then on the 15th of July, our year of
home schooling began. We had three hours of formal classes each morning and then always did some kind of field trip outing in the afternoon. It was fun localizing his studies to include art, music, history and science. Edinburgh has a gruesome and murderous history that Corbin loved studying about. We even took a “Ghost Tour” we walked through cemeteries at night listening to tales of the darker past.
Instead of giving reports in front of the class, Corbin will be making
“iReports” a la CNN. Then we post these on YouTube where fifth graders around the world can watch and comment. Corbin recorded this first of these in Edinburgh. During one of our tours, he heard that JK Rolling used the Greyfriar’s Cemetery as inspiration for names to use in the Harry Potter books. Check out our website (
http://fifthgradearoundtheworld.com) to watch this great report.
Our goal with the trip is not necessarily be a tourist the entire month but instead learn how the people live. This is why we spent most of the month in Edinburgh instead of touring the highlands the whole time.
Of course, we did rent a car and did the obligatory
Highlands/West Coast tour for a couple of days. As everyone says, it is stunningly beautiful. We especially enjoyed the isles of the west coast. Our favorite was the Isle of Staffa where we saw these amazing hexagonal stone columns. We found a great castle for rent near Onich. It sleeps fourteen and would be a fun week-away destination for a group of our friends.
We loved being in a culture that embraces exotic flavors. Of course, the Indian food is outstanding. We had a tiny hole-in-the-wall right around the corner that was always jam packed with Indians. I took that as a good sign and picked up take-away one night. Outstanding. On my next visit there, I met a nice Indian guy from California who said he had read about it in the Rick Steve’s book. I simply went in because of the big crowd.
While we tried some local cuisine including
haggis, we ate mostly seafood or ethnic throughout the month. Our two favorites in Edinburgh were Dusit(Thai), Miro’s Cantina Mexicana (Mexican) and Saigon Saigon (Chinese). The Chinese restaurant offered great
Dim Sum all day. They also offer your typical Chinese buffet upstairs but the real treats are offered a-la-carte downstairs where all the Chinese locals. All three are must visit restaurants during a visit here.
We loved getting to know this city and becoming local. The Scots are fun loving people who enjoy both the outdoors in good weather and hanging with friends in the pub. The
World Cup happened during our month there which added to the fever of the city. ES-PAN-NA. ES-PA-NA. By the end, we had a good feeling for the place and would enjoying returning some day.
UP NEXT: A quick trip back to California and then on to Isanbul, Turkey