Edinburgh: What We Did
And yes, I did change the name of this newsletter
Yes, I know, I’ve changed the name of this newsletter twice, but since the only thing that truly astonishes me these days is the darkness of the timeline, I wanted to switch it up. I changed my Instagram handle as well — it doesn’t feel wise to have my full name on every form of media these days. Anyway, hi, hello!
Hello! I’ve been gone from this space because I was frolicking around Edinburgh with my wife (also named Amy, if you’re new here — I’m not talking about myself in the third person when you see “Other Amy” mentioned!) over my Spring Break from teaching. We were there for a week and had a fantastic time. Edinburgh looks like a fairy tale — think old, beautiful buildings, cobblestone streets, and lots of flowers everywhere. The daffodils and cherry blossoms were blooming, which looked gorgeous against the grey skies.
Several friends asked how I’d decided that I wanted to visit Edinburgh, and the truth is that Instagram relentlessly put photos of bookstores, coffee shops, and Highland cows in my feed until I became obsessed and convinced Other Amy that we had to go. Thankfully, the internet did not lead us astray.
Here are the details of our trip.
Itinerary
I use a Google Doc to organize our itinerary. It’s nothing terribly fancy — I downloaded it from a free template library a few years ago when I was planning our London/Paris trip and have repurposed it for all of our trips since.
I keep important information on the front page with our agenda: flight numbers, confirmation numbers, phone numbers, etc. I also make a less intense version to share with family and our dog sitter should anyone need to track us down.
Personally, I find trip planning to be DELIGHTFUL and always take charge of doing it. We have what we like to call a “strengths-based marriage” (something I frequently think about writing a post about, lol) which means that Other Amy and I each do what we are good at. For travel, that means I plan and book everything, and Amy navigates public transportation, walking routes, and any other map-adjacent activities. Other Amy teases me because I like to have what I call “relaxing projects” — things to work on while I relax (I am an Enneagram 3 and a Virgo rising, thank you) and I obsessively collect recommendations for cities I’m hoping to visit and when flights are booked, I ramp it up. Once I have a list, I share it with Other Amy and we decide what to prioritize. While we both enjoy many of the same sorts of things, I like to get Other Amy’s top choices of what to do and make sure we do those things, too.
My first rule when traveling is to plan no more than two “things” to do per day. I know that some people love an intense agenda that is packed to the gills with things to do; however, I like to keep some structure while allowing for the magic of the trip to unfold. I don’t enjoy being rushed through experiences and one of my favorite things to do while traveling is to linger over meals or take little detours or get coffee. I also try to be very realistic about Amy and I’s tolerance for weather, level of exhaustion, and desire to use arduous forms of transportation.
My second rule with traveling is, “we’re here, let’s enjoy it!” There will always be delays or closures or snafus. Trips are always more expensive than initially planned. I do my best to plan for everything possible, and then surrender to what actually happens (and attempt to budget for it as well).
How We Got There & Where We Stayed
We flew Aer Lingus out of SFO. Flying directly out of Sacramento limits options, and it’s frequently $500 less to fly out of San Francisco. We park in Fly SFO long-term parking and take the Air Train to the terminal. That said, this trip made me reconsider flying out of SFO because it took us nearly three hours to get home (SFO is normally a 90 minute drive, tops). I was so tired and absolutely desperate to see the dogs so it was torturous enough that I may consider shelling out in the future. Aer Lingus was a decent experience. I paid a little bit more so that the two of us were alone in a two-seat row on all of our flights, which is always my favorite flight situation.
We stayed at the Edinburgh Marriott Hotel Holyrood. I didn’t dither much over our accommodations: I am a Marriott Bonvoy cardholder and Marriott properties tend to be consistent in cleanliness and amenities. In my dream life where I make far more money, I pay for very expensive, fancy accommodations; however, I mostly want a clean bathroom and a comfortable bed. We were upgraded to a larger and nicer room because of my cardholder status, which was a great surprise. The hotel was a short walk from The Royal Mile, but not close enough to be swarmed with tourists or terribly loud. The staff was lovely and helpful, they have 24 hour room service and serve a decent breakfast on site. Recommend.
What To Do
Outdoorsy Adventures
I am married to an environmental scientist, which means that I frequently have the chance to explore places I wouldn’t go on my own. Edinburgh has many bogs (I had to look it up, too) and we visited The Red Moss of Balerno, just outside the city. There is a massive bog made of red moss and is part of a larger nature preserve that has delightful walking trails.
We walked from the nature preserve into a small town, and from there, we took a bus to Swanston Farm. They have a lovely brasserie for lunch (book reservations — I did not and they had a sign saying that they were full; however, they took pity on us and seated us for tea and scones (best scones and clotted cream of the trip for me!). The biggest draw, however, is THE HIGHLAND COWS! They have a few of them close to the brasserie and a larger herd that wanders a hillside. Yes, they are as cute as they seem on the internet.
We took a train to Glasgow for one day, and while the city was sort of meh, we did visit Pollok County Park, which was absolutely gorgeous. It’s a massive green space and we ended up walking quite a bit of it, and seeing even more Highland Cows. It was gorgeous.
Pollok County Park The Royal Botanic Garden was incredible. They have such diverse flowers and trees (a lot of rhodedendron!) with beautiful paths. It was a delightful (and free!) way to spend an afternoon.
Other Things To Do
We went to Edinburgh Castle, and it was…fine? I had expected a palace situation, not a military stronghold focused on defense and prisons, but that’s on me. I was unaware of most of Scotland’s history of war and struggle until we visited, but if I’m being honest, it’s not my thing.
Going to Real Mary King’s Close was fascinating. It is a tour of underground Edinburgh and focuses specifically on the time of the Black Plague. It’s a little corny — think Disney Jungle Cruise with more pus and blistering and death — but fun and definitely haunted. Book ahead — they sell out quickly!
We wandered by St. Giles Cathedral, which was beautiful (though we didn’t go in), and stopped in to Tron Kirk Market, which is a gorgeous modern art market in a very old building. We saw Scott Monument, which was gorgeous.
I followed the advice from this post and we spent Sunday morning strolling through Dean Village and Stockbridge, and it was truly perfect.
Dean Village We went to several bookstores that were all fabulous! My personal favorite was Rare Birds Book Shop in Stockbridge, whose mission is to “stock great books by great women” and “to get you to read for fun.” Loved it. We also went to Waterstones, which was a great book shop that has a lovely cafe with a view of the castle. Because we were there in Spring, there were cherry blossoms everywhere and it was extra dreamy. We went to the classic Armchair Books as well, and stopped at Topping and Company Booksellers, which was great but had most of the store shut down for some sort of film shoot.
We had tickets to go to on a vaults and graveyard tour; however, I booked it for an evening that was particularly rainy and windy after a day of walking that started out beautifully but ended up being exceptionally stormy so we didn’t go. We also had tickets to go to Jupiter Artland, an outdoor art exhibition outside of the city, but (you guessed it!) the weather was atrocious and transportation was more difficult than I’d anticipated so we bailed. I know that some of you would rather die than skip something you’ve booked; as for me and my house, sometimes we just wanna eat noodles or sleep in or watch Murder She Wrote and/or Vera instead of being cranky, soggy, and freezing cold. It’s freeing.
Places To Eat
I can’t start with anything other than Dishoom. DISHOOM! If you’ve been to the UK, no doubt someone has told you to go to Dishoom. Please listen to them. I’ve thought about this meal every day since. We went for dinner and had the Chilli Broccoli Salad (my favorite dish, SO GOOD!), Ruby Chicken, Black Daal (incredible), House Chaat, cheese naan, and mint tea (I think Other Amy also had the Makhmali Paneer?). The vibe is LOVELY and everyone who works there is objectively attractive and very cool. A top five meal of my life.
One of my favorite things to do in the UK is to have afternoon tea. We went to The Witchery (one of the coolest places I’ve been to!) and to Colonnades at the Signet Library. Both were delicious, elegant, and lovely. Highly recommend.
On our first night, we had dinner at Tolbooth Tavern, which was a perfect spot. Delicious food and good vibes.
I went to Kuna Cafe to write for a bit after going to Topping and Company Books, and the coffee was great, but the PASTRIES were incredible. I had a Custard Hot Crossed Bun and it was incredible.
In Glasgow, we had an incredible Italian lunch at La Lanterna. Really great minestrone and pasta. Other Amy also had mussels (I have a shellfish allergy and don’t care for the texture of any sort of bi-valve mollusk) but she reports that they were delicious.
For breakfast, we went back to Dishoom (our charming server gave us coupons for breakfast naan that were delicious!) and had a reservation at Loudon’s one morning, and I recommend both.
Other Things Of Note
Edinburgh takes disability access seriously — nearly every outdoor space has boardwalks or paved walkways for wheelchair users and nearly everywhere we visited had accessible restrooms — and the website for every attraction clearly states what they have available. It was refreshing to see in such an old city.
Due to my shellfish allergy (which every single restaurant inquired about when I was making reservations), I was presented a separate menu and/or iPad everywhere we ate and given lots of warnings and information about possible contamination. If you have any kind of food allergy, Edinburgh’s vigilance about avoiding you getting sick should be comforting.
Edinburgh is a small-ish city, and is very walkable. That said, be prepared for HILLS and STAIRS. There are many of both BUT there are also ramps and paths for wheelchair users or folks with limited mobility. While we were there, my step count was typically 16,500-ish and one day, it was well over 21,000. Because Other Amy and I enjoy walking, it worked out well for us, but I can’t say that I was fully prepared for how many sets of stairs we would climb.
I don’t know that anyone needs a full week in Edinburgh. Unlike some of the larger European cities, it’s fairly easy to cover in a few days. For us, this was an ideal situation because quite frankly, we were tired. It’s been a rough year and we wanted it to feel like an actual break. It was also cold, windy, and rainy for much of our visit, which we expected, but also made for a great reason to nap or stop for coffee or go to bed early.
I didn’t eat haggis or black or blood pudding; however, Other Amy reports that haggis is delicious. I will take her word for it.
Overall, I would recommend Edinburgh highly — next time we go to the UK, I think we will do the countryside and go to the Highlands in Scotland, Cornwall and the Cotswolds in England, and maybe explore Ireland. I’d love your thoughts if you’ve done one or several of those trips!
In terms of other cities and adventures on our list, Mexico City, Berlin (and Germany in general), Spain, Italy, Denmark, Norway, and Holland are all on our list. If you feel strongly about any of them, please leave me suggestions so I can start hoarding ideas now.
There are more photos on my Instagram page if you’re curious! Next, I’ll share everything I packed and what I actually wore, plus my controversial travel hot take.
I still think about Dishoom from when I was in London last October. The best.
I’m obligated to tell anyone who will listen that I still dream about the Ruby Chicken. I bought the dishoom cookbook but I’m afraid of ruining its mystique if I attempt to make it myself