Move over Dublin, we have a new favorite all-time-favorite city. And we almost didn’t go! The story to how we ended up in Scotland goes like this: Kenzie and I had originally decided on going to Salzburg, Austria and were going to take a few day trips around there. It was going to be gorgeous and we had planned it all out. But something about the trip just wasn’t getting us excited. We were homesick, tired and unmotivated to travel.  We basically decided that we were cancelling our trip and going to stay in Prague for one final weekend. A friend of Kenzie’s, who is also studying abroad, had been posting pictures in Scotland while we were in Dublin; and at the time, we had been so jealous! Scotland looked beautiful (and cold, which is a plus). After careful research (aka stalking her instagram feed) we decided to revise our plans and go to Edinburgh! Best. Decision. I. Have. Ever. Made. EVER!

Now the road to getting there was a little strange. We had some of the weirdest things happen, almost as if the universe did not want us to go to Scotland. This all started in airport security. I will start by saying that we have been traveling to every location using Osprey backpacks; we used the same backpacks for our class. And since our class was 3 hours long, I would bring a snack (usually a jar of nutella and some rice cakes). Anyways, my bag was taken to be searched. And lets be honest, I was annoyed. I had no liquids or electronics in there, literally only clothes. After 10 minutes of going through my bag, he asked if I had a knife. I, of course, said no. Well it turned out I did have a butter knife in the bottom of my bag! I had left it in there from school that week. Whoops.

We got to Edinburgh at 11 pm, and tip numero uno concerning this city: everything closes early (pubs not included), so eat at the airport! Our hotel was located right on Victoria Street, which is said to be J.K Rowling’s inspiration for Diagon Alley (am I the only Harry Potter geek here? I hope not). And it is easy to see why she loved it! I was adorable complete with a curved, cobblestone street, an old bookstore and a joke shop! I immediately fell in love with this city.

Bright and early the next morning, we had our day trip to the Scottish Highlands and Loch Ness! Something interesting about me: I am a complete book nerd (you might’ve guessed from my Harry Potter reference) and the book I am currently reading is based in the Scottish Highlands, so I was more than a little excited for this trip. And I was not disappointed! Pictures don’t even do it justice. We drove around the Highlands for two hours visiting little towns and villages. One town in particular, Pitlochry, was where our second mishap took place. At the airport in Prague, I had exchanged my Czech currency for Euro, which is what we used in Ireland. I felt like such an adult, even texting my mom that she should be proud of me for doing this. Well, guess what? Scotland doesn’t use the Euro; they use Pound Sterling. I found this out while trying to purchase hot chocolate from an adorable mom and pop café. They felt so bad that Kenzie and I didn’t know the currency that they gave it to us for free! Needless to say, I exchanged my Euro for Pounds.

Coincidentally, our next mistake also took place in this small village, which leads me to the next piece of advice: IT IS COLD IN SCOTLAND. Like really cold. And the two Texas girls were not prepared for this. Kenzie actually wore a jean shirt and thin summer shirt to Edinburgh the first night; we quickly found out that this is not appropriate. It was pouring down rain in Pitlochry, so armed with our hotel umbrellas, we sprinted to the nearest gift store buying two of the warmest sweaters they had (and then wore them the entire weekend). The rest of the trip went off without a hitch. We stopped in Loch Ness and took a boat tour around the lake (loch is actually just Scottish for lake). We made a stop at Glencoe, which was absolutely gorgeous! But my favorite stop was visiting the Highland cows! I fed the baby cow a carrot and got to touch its nose. My trip was made right then and there. Oh, also, our guide wore a kilt, which was pretty awesome.

The next morning, we were woken up to the sound of our hotels fire alarm. Sweet. It was 7am. While we waiting outside of the hotel, Kenzie and I were surprised to see that we were the only ones dressed in our pajamas (we both sleep in shorts and it was 50 degrees out. Talk about a wake up call). After sleeping for a few more hours, we were off to explore our new city. Like I said before, our hotel was located right by Victoria street, which is right next to the Royal Mile, which happens to be my new favorite mile. The Royal Mile is in Old Town Edinburgh and has Edinburgh Castle on one end and HolyroodHouse on the other (we didn’t actually get to go inside Holyroodhouse because the Queen of Scotland and the Duke of Edinburgh were staying there. Casual). We decided to start our tour around Edinburgh with a walk to Dean’s Village, which is a cute neighborhood outside of Old Town. I definitely recommend checking it out (I will tell y’all about my favorite neighbor in a minute). We also had the Scotch Whisky Experience that afternoon, which consisted of a small ride that teaches you the history and process of making whisky and a tasting of some whisky from the region of your choice. Although I am not a fan of whisky, it was definitely something I am glad I did. You get a free whisky glass at the end as a gift, which is a great souvenir! That night we hit up a pub in the Grassmarket area. My favorite thing about Scotland (and Ireland, for that matter) is the pubs! It is a great place to grab dinner and some cider, while listening to live music. Go. You won’t regret it!

The next day I set out on my own to explore the city! The fun thing about Edinburgh is that it is all connected by these tiny alleyways, which cuts down walk time by a considerable amount. The unfun thing about Edinburgh is that it is very hilly. That day I decided to go out to a park (Prince Street Gardens), roll out my newly purchased tartan blanket and read my book. I will never forget walking around the streets listening to my ipod. I had a great chat with an elderly Scottish man about the weather in Scotland compared to America then went off to do my new obsession: Afternoon tea! If you are ever in Edinburgh I 10/10 recommend Eteaket Tea Room! I went nearly everyday and tried a different pot of tea every time! Also get the plain scone; it comes with butter and jam and tastes like heaven. Kenzie and I basically just wandered the streets after that, talking about which apartments we were going to buy in the city. We had read about people climbing Arthur’s Seat (a small mountain by Holyroodhouse) and getting amazing views of the city, so we obviously had to do it. Here comes another piece of advice: Take the path to the left. We took the one to the right. I am tired just thinking about that climb. Eventually we made it to Holyroodhouse park and Arthur’s Seat, and just like everyone said, the views were amazing. Kenzie and I sat up there for an hour just laying in the grass.

We ate at an amazing Thai place that night (of course. The only place we couldn’t find Thai was Italy), and it rivaled the famous Amsterdam Thai!

We had come to the end of our trip (cry face) but still had the whole morning to finish up our exploring. We had breakfast at a place called Brunch, and I grabbed a tea (and photo of the bathroom) from the Elephant House, which is a famously known location where J.K Rowling worked on her first Harry Potter novel. We went up to Edinburgh castle but didn’t want to pay for a ticket, and since we had done Arthur’s Seat the day before, already got our gorgeous view of the city. Instead, we decided to walk down George Street. We came up to a bridge that we hadn’t seen before and went down into a new neighborhood. Sorry, let me rephrase that. We went down into my future neighborhood. Stockbridge was such an unexpected surprise. We walked right up into a farmers market and, I swear, I could picture myself living there. We ate at a place called Hamilton’s and nearly started crying in the middle of the restaurant with how badly we did not want to leave. The rest of our time was spent exploring this quiet, charming neighborhood, apartment hunting and scoping out the cutest boutiques.

Our last trip that almost didn’t happen turned out to be the hardest to say goodbye to. I left a little piece of my heart back in Scotland. If you can only go to one place outside of the United States, it has to be Scotland. It was indescribable.

To Do:

– Isle of Skye

– Bed and Breakfasts in the Highlands

– Glasgow

– Steal a Highland Cow

– Explore the entire country

– Move to Edinburgh