We woke early and had one last magnificent breakfast in Ireland. We decided to do some last minute souvenir shopping and went to the ‘Ireland Souvenirs’ store in the mall and grabbed a shirt for Ev and a few gifts for friends and family. Now it was off to the post office to post all this ‘crap’ back home. It wasn’t cheap but had to be done.
Back at the hotel we packed our gear, checked out and reluctantly drove to the airport. After dropping our car off at the returns area at Hertz we boarded the courtesy bus to the terminal and then walked to the departure lounge for our flight to Edinburgh. Once we found the gate Ev scanned for the bathroom and took a second glance. “Katie?” Ev’s cousin was at the airport in Dublin! Of all the places in the world!! Katie and Ev had spoken at her Hen’s night and discovered we might be travelling to Europe close to the same time but had no idea of each other’s itinerary. Yesterday, Ev had noticed on Katie’s facebook that she was leaving Dublin today so Ev left a message that we should catch up while in Edinburgh together. Weird thing was that Katie had just read Ev’s message only a minute before Ev noticed her. So strange, and we’re on the same flight together!! It looks as though we’ll be in Paris the same time for one day as well. Kate is travelling with her friend Tracey for a month and they’re going around the world stopping in many countries for only 1-2 nights. It sounded like she’s been having a really good time. They’re also going to Venice and Munich for Oktoberfest but we’ll be out by a few days.
We boarded together and were seated at opposite ends of the plane. The one hour flight was quick for Dan, but to Ev, it felt very long indeed. Our flight experienced a lot of turbulence most of the way with strong winds and the plane dipped at lot. That wasn’t a problem. The problem was that the lovely elderly gentleman sitting next to Ev ordered breakfast halfway through the flight. His coffee cup didn’t have a lid and with each bite of his sandwich, unknowingly his coffee brimmed the cup. Ev was sure she would end up wearing it, especially when the plane would jolt up and down. He was half way through breakfast then was told to fold his tray table up because we were landing. Oh shit!! He juggled his food and the napkin and tried to put the table up while the plane was bumping. Ev held his cup at one stage and saved his food from falling, and picked up his napkin numerous times. It was a miracle he had any liquid left in his cup by the end. He was very grateful for the assistance but they should not be serving hot drinks on short flights that have turbulence this bad. As we were taxing on the runway, he peacefully finished his drink and handed the cup to the hostess. ‘Hope you had a pleasant flight?’ Ev was exhausted.
We met back up with Katie and Tracey inside the terminal and started walking to the exit together. We were surprised to find there was no customs gate to check through. We didn’t get our passport stamped. Katie collected her two big suitcases and was shocked when we only had our small backpack each. She said she thought we’d have heaps of stuff with us travelling around the world. We’ve learnt from our ridiculous China experience that we don’t need 4 pairs of jeans for 10 days. We offered the girls a ride to the hotel as we were going to hire a car straight from the airport, but had no idea where rental cars were or where we were going. After we stuffed around a bit, the girls decided to just take the train into town. Good thing too because we waited almost half an hour to be served by the car rental receptionist. After we were finally served we made our way to the Hollyrood ApartHotel in the rain. Edinburgh was very easy to drive through and we instantly feel in love with the cottage-like city. We are certainly going to enjoy our day walks, but first we need to find the hotel. There it is; bright blue and red. Hmmm, not sure about this.
We parked in a private parking area and headed to reception. After checking in, the receptionist told us about the under covered parking space. We drove to the car park and thanked the Lord we had a small car. There were about 3 spare to choose from and about 10 overall. We took our bags from the under covered car park and headed up to our room. Key in door and turn handle. Home sweet ho... We have 4 doors to choose from!?! Most hotels have just the front door. Door 1 is the bedroom, nice. Door 2 is the bathroom complete with towel heating rack, very nice. Door 3 is lounge with TV & CD player, dining room and a fully functioning kitchen including stove top, fridge, oven, cutlery/crockery, dishwasher, and even pots and pans and a clothes wash/dryer. Alright!! Home cooking and clean clothes. So what’s behind Door 4? Another bed and ensuite. Cool we get a bathroom each all week! Time to relax and spread out!
With a bit of energy we went back to the car to go shopping. It took us a while to find a park but it allowed us to take in the sites of medieval Edinburgh. Eventually we found the Sainsbury’s shopping centre and found a park around the corner at St. Andrews Square. We paid our ticket and walked to the shops. It was packed. We bough real food to cook for dinner and our own breakfast and got some snacks and alcohol to help us unwind. Time snuck up on us and we knew we were going to be late from our parking ticket. The metre man was hawking the time at 2 minutes after we purchased our ticket. Our first International Parking Fine of 30 Pounds. We’re not proud of that, but cool. It was our fault because we forgot to actually retrieve the ticket from the machine and place it near the windscreen. We were very pissed off though. We drove around breathing in the beautiful city for another ten minutes just looking at the sights of the castles and houses.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dan-ev/collections/72157624677997272 
Back at the hotel we packed our gear, checked out and reluctantly drove to the airport. After dropping our car off at the returns area at Hertz we boarded the courtesy bus to the terminal and then walked to the departure lounge for our flight to Edinburgh. Once we found the gate Ev scanned for the bathroom and took a second glance. “Katie?” Ev’s cousin was at the airport in Dublin! Of all the places in the world!! Katie and Ev had spoken at her Hen’s night and discovered we might be travelling to Europe close to the same time but had no idea of each other’s itinerary. Yesterday, Ev had noticed on Katie’s facebook that she was leaving Dublin today so Ev left a message that we should catch up while in Edinburgh together. Weird thing was that Katie had just read Ev’s message only a minute before Ev noticed her. So strange, and we’re on the same flight together!! It looks as though we’ll be in Paris the same time for one day as well. Kate is travelling with her friend Tracey for a month and they’re going around the world stopping in many countries for only 1-2 nights. It sounded like she’s been having a really good time. They’re also going to Venice and Munich for Oktoberfest but we’ll be out by a few days.
We boarded together and were seated at opposite ends of the plane. The one hour flight was quick for Dan, but to Ev, it felt very long indeed. Our flight experienced a lot of turbulence most of the way with strong winds and the plane dipped at lot. That wasn’t a problem. The problem was that the lovely elderly gentleman sitting next to Ev ordered breakfast halfway through the flight. His coffee cup didn’t have a lid and with each bite of his sandwich, unknowingly his coffee brimmed the cup. Ev was sure she would end up wearing it, especially when the plane would jolt up and down. He was half way through breakfast then was told to fold his tray table up because we were landing. Oh shit!! He juggled his food and the napkin and tried to put the table up while the plane was bumping. Ev held his cup at one stage and saved his food from falling, and picked up his napkin numerous times. It was a miracle he had any liquid left in his cup by the end. He was very grateful for the assistance but they should not be serving hot drinks on short flights that have turbulence this bad. As we were taxing on the runway, he peacefully finished his drink and handed the cup to the hostess. ‘Hope you had a pleasant flight?’ Ev was exhausted.
We met back up with Katie and Tracey inside the terminal and started walking to the exit together. We were surprised to find there was no customs gate to check through. We didn’t get our passport stamped. Katie collected her two big suitcases and was shocked when we only had our small backpack each. She said she thought we’d have heaps of stuff with us travelling around the world. We’ve learnt from our ridiculous China experience that we don’t need 4 pairs of jeans for 10 days. We offered the girls a ride to the hotel as we were going to hire a car straight from the airport, but had no idea where rental cars were or where we were going. After we stuffed around a bit, the girls decided to just take the train into town. Good thing too because we waited almost half an hour to be served by the car rental receptionist. After we were finally served we made our way to the Hollyrood ApartHotel in the rain. Edinburgh was very easy to drive through and we instantly feel in love with the cottage-like city. We are certainly going to enjoy our day walks, but first we need to find the hotel. There it is; bright blue and red. Hmmm, not sure about this.
We parked in a private parking area and headed to reception. After checking in, the receptionist told us about the under covered parking space. We drove to the car park and thanked the Lord we had a small car. There were about 3 spare to choose from and about 10 overall. We took our bags from the under covered car park and headed up to our room. Key in door and turn handle. Home sweet ho... We have 4 doors to choose from!?! Most hotels have just the front door. Door 1 is the bedroom, nice. Door 2 is the bathroom complete with towel heating rack, very nice. Door 3 is lounge with TV & CD player, dining room and a fully functioning kitchen including stove top, fridge, oven, cutlery/crockery, dishwasher, and even pots and pans and a clothes wash/dryer. Alright!! Home cooking and clean clothes. So what’s behind Door 4? Another bed and ensuite. Cool we get a bathroom each all week! Time to relax and spread out!
With a bit of energy we went back to the car to go shopping. It took us a while to find a park but it allowed us to take in the sites of medieval Edinburgh. Eventually we found the Sainsbury’s shopping centre and found a park around the corner at St. Andrews Square. We paid our ticket and walked to the shops. It was packed. We bough real food to cook for dinner and our own breakfast and got some snacks and alcohol to help us unwind. Time snuck up on us and we knew we were going to be late from our parking ticket. The metre man was hawking the time at 2 minutes after we purchased our ticket. Our first International Parking Fine of 30 Pounds. We’re not proud of that, but cool. It was our fault because we forgot to actually retrieve the ticket from the machine and place it near the windscreen. We were very pissed off though. We drove around breathing in the beautiful city for another ten minutes just looking at the sights of the castles and houses.
When we got back, Ev made ravioli for dinner and we watched TV. Dan rented The Da Vinci Code’ from the hotel for a 1 euro donation to a local charity. This hotel is awesome. We’ll be seeing some of the scenes here at the Rosslyn Chapel and the Louvre in Paris. Each room has an individual heater and Ev turned the one in the bedroom on not realising how hot it was and went to bed pretty early. Oh and the complimentary shampoo, conditioner, body wash and moisturiser are very nice. They’re as good a normal shampoo which is very rare. When Dan came in to bed the room was too hot for him so he slept in the other room. We had a big bed each.
No comments:
Post a Comment