It's a Wild World: Scotland Itinerary

So, one reason I wanted to resume blogging was to showcase some of the super fun itineraries I've created for travel in Europe. We are beyond thrilled at how easy it is to travel here. And it is relatively inexpensive compared to Beijing. By that, I mean that food and hotels is EXPENSIVE. But, the travel costs are low. Especially if we can drive. And attractions are often free or low-priced as well. There are family passes available and many museums here are free for children or students. My Scotland itinerary was developed with the help of some friends who had already been there, done that. I really appreciated their advice and feedback. It made the trip much more cohesive and interesting. I'm breaking this post into 2 installments: Edinburgh and then the Highlands.

Day 1 - Ferry from Amsterdam to Newcastle. Boarding time is 2:30-4:30, ferry leaves at 5:00. So, I didn't know many people that had done this, but thought that it would be great if we could take the overnight ferry so that we didn't have to drive all the way through England to get to Scotland. Newcastle is only a few hours from Edinburgh so this gives us a big head start. It turned out to be a wonderful idea. The boat was clean, they had family rooms for 5 and the food was good albeit very expensive. They even had a play area for children with a ball pit where Violet made friends. We all slept very soundly and arrived the next morning ready to go.

Chris' reminder in the car so we could remember where we should look.

Tight fit, but yes, 5 people will fit here. There is another bed above mine where Chris slept.

Sunset at sea

Day 2 - arrive Newcastle 9:30 a.m., drive to Edinburgh (3 hours and 14 minutes), Stop at Melrose Abby (covered by explorer), arrive and check in to
The Knight Residence By Mansley Serviced Apartment.

This day is pretty self-explanatory. We bought an explorer pass for the family, which covered admission to many of Scotland's sights including Edinburgh castle. This was well worth it. You also get to skip the lines and just walk right up with your pass. Melrose Abbey was beautiful and isolated and a really nice respite from the drive. Once we got checked into our hotel - which was amazing and one that I highly recommend - we headed right down the street to Mary's Milk Bar for hot chocolate floats. Those were every bit as delicious as you might think. We did a bit of grocery shopping that evening and looked around Old Town. Chris and I debated heading out after we got the kids settled for a whisky flight, but were just too exhausted!

Day 3 - We woke up early to tackle Edinburgh Castle. We even stayed to hear them fire the "One O'Clock Gun" across the city. We walked along the Royal Mile, ate at a place called Frankenstein's (kid-friendly but unremarkable) and then headed to Arthur's Seat for a hike. Now, one thing I hadn't fully accounted for is the fact that it would start getting dark every day by 3:30. We were at Arthur's Seat around 2:30. There appeared to be a lengthy path up, but we were concerned we might not make it before sunset. Alex, with my support, then decided that we could take the path less traveled. You know, the one that went straight up the side of the mountain. This was a fast, terrifying, extremely difficult way to get up the mountain. But, I'm happy to say that we all made it. Whether or not this was an appropriate way to get up the hill is the subject of some debate. After seeing sunrise, we headed home and stumbled across Violet's favorite park anywhere. It had a zip line and she could have spent hours there in the dark and cold. The rest of us were not so inclined. We grabbed fish and chips and headed home where we collapsed.

We were all sweaty and red and asked a hapless passer-by to snap a pic

This was really much worse than it looks here. By the end we were on our hands and knees grabbing for grass.

Day 4 - We spent the morning at the (free) National Museum of Scotland which did a good job giving us a bit of background into the place. It also had a dress-up room and lots of nature stuff for kids. We had lunch near the Elephant Bar - this was where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter - because the actual Bar was too crowded to seat us. We then wandered about Greyfriar Kirk to attempt to find the Tom Riddle grave.That evening we did a Mercat Ghost Tour of an underground vault where people in Edinburgh once lived and worked. When the city build bridges, these vaults were covered up and unused for centuries. It was interesting, but not our favorite thing. I think we would have preferred a straight up history tour without the ghost stuff.