On a quiet, lonely evening I'm the type of person who looks through their gallery on their phone....which made me realise the perfect subject to write about on my return to this blog - my gorgeous birthday trip to Edinburgh with my boyfriend Ryan!
Edinburgh was a place I had always wanted to visit, with it's rich history, good food, great alcohol and vibrant spirit - a trip together to celebrate my 19th birthday in November was the perfect idea! I was even brave enough to leave the planning of the entire trip to Ryan to come up with, to all who know us both; this was a bold move on both parts....but he pulled it off amazingly!
As we had not long started new jobs when we booked the trip we set ourselves a strict budget to stick to for travel and acomodation; therefore travelling there by train was out of the window immediately as the cost of a single one-way ticket was almost double the price we managed to find a castle-view room at the Hilton for 3 nights for (!!!!)
Flying is not a strong point for me and the flight times we could find were rubbish....so we were left with a ROAD TRIP!
For me, this was a fun and exciting idea - spending 4-6 hours at the side of my best friend on our first real 'road trip' singing away and helping him by controlling the sat nav and map - this was going to be one of my favourite moments of the whole trip!!!! For Ryan it went more along the lines of *oh no, 4-6 hours stuck in a confined space with the most irritating person I know, I have to concentrate and drive the whole time whilst she talks and sings to me relentlessly, she is awful to travel with and to say she was going to take Geography if she had gone to uni; she can't read maps and can't work a satnav...*
The drive turned out to be indeed one of the most fun parts of the trip, if not a little stressful due to our satnav and phone batteries cutting out the second we crossed the Scottish border, car trouble (wheel brushes SUCK on Astras) and getting lost in the centre of Edinburgh...
We fought big time over directions, music, how many hashbrowns a person should have from McDonalds at 6am (is 5 really too much?), stopping to pee and other road users....but we also laughed big time and the views were INCREDIBLE
Once we had finally somehow arrived at the hotel in one piece, we parked up in long-stay (we didn't need the car at any time during our stay) and were right on time for check-in! As an employee of a popular hotel brand, my expectations for the hotel, room and customer service were very high, (I would have stayed in a hotel from my brand; however their Edinburgh site had not yet opened at this point so we stayed at the Hilton Double Tree) and we were not disappointed! Arriving to warm smiles, a warm lobby and warm cookies - we were made to feel like the most important people to arrive that week and shown to our room - again; warm and gorgeous!
We had a view of the castle and the quaint traditional town-houses of Bread street, the room felt like we were the first people to ever stay and was decorated to a standard that even Mr Perfect was impressed with (seriously!!!) - dark, moody and calm.
After 6 and a half hours of driving all we wanted to do was shower and nap, it was 2pm so we did just that. Once clean and refreshed we headed out to explore the city just as the sun set. Edinburgh is easily conquered on foot, apart from in new boots....as I found out the hard way - meaning a well earned stop for Pizza was more than necessary...
On our walk back to the hotel, we found a gem of a bar/restaurant/cafe aptly named 'Ryan's' which was lit up beautifully - visiting Edinburgh around Christmas is a MUST if you haven't already. You will fall in love with the whole city immediately....we certainly did...
We decided breakfast here the next morning would be a good idea - and we were right! The inside of the place is good enough reason to visit!
The next day I was woken up by an excited Ryan who told me our plans for the day consisted of more exploring, lots of food and lots of SHOPPING so I was up and ready like a shot! Edinburgh is brilliant for shopping, especially close to Christmas, everyone is busy and excited. It is packed everywhere you turn but you never feel panicked (for me - that's saying something!) And there is every type of shop you could need or want, from high street, to department and independant. One of my favourite things about Edinburgh is that the modern elements of the city have been developed to fit into the traditional and historical buildings rather than covering them. They take care of their history and restore older buildings (inside and out) - the result is really quite beautiful. A prime example of this is Scotland's oldest department store: Jenners..
Once we had shopped till we dropped (and drank our weight in hot chocolate) we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner....and we looked a little something like this:
(Dress is the Abbey Clancy range at Matalan - cheap and beaut, can't go wrong)
I was then surprised with dinner at the gormet steak restaurant; Kyloe.
Hands down best steak we have ever had. Restaurant itself was stunning too; candle lit and with views right across Edinbrurgh city centre and the beautiful castle.
Beef dripping chips go down a treat with fine wine (classy)
The next day was our last full day of the trip and luckily for us the Christmas market opened this day too!
We spent a lazy morning watching rubbish on the tv in bed and then headed off to visit the castle, which, when it's mind-numbingly cold, feels like an absolute TREK.
Views aren't too shabby though...
After that it was a wander through the back streets that we hadn't yet searched, dinner at the cutest TGI Friday's ever (a tradition wherever we go as our first date was at a TGI's) and spotting a cheeky pub
And then it was Christmas Market time!
A huge hot chocolate and a nut cracker decroration purchased later, it began to fall darker and so we went skating together on the out door rink (no photos taken....for fear of falling)
Then Ryan was mean and dragged me on the big wheel...I'm petrified of heights so the smile you see took a little bit of force but you could see right across Edinburgh with it all lit up....turned out to be one of my most favourite parts of the trip...
Following this - we had planned on another meal out and even got all dressed up for the occasion...
However the weather took a turn for the worst and we decided completely against it...instead we stayed in (still dressed up to the nines) sat in bed watching movies and ordered a HUGE room service and a bottle of bubbly....it was the perfect end to the trip!
We had a view of the castle and the quaint traditional town-houses of Bread street, the room felt like we were the first people to ever stay and was decorated to a standard that even Mr Perfect was impressed with (seriously!!!) - dark, moody and calm.
After 6 and a half hours of driving all we wanted to do was shower and nap, it was 2pm so we did just that. Once clean and refreshed we headed out to explore the city just as the sun set. Edinburgh is easily conquered on foot, apart from in new boots....as I found out the hard way - meaning a well earned stop for Pizza was more than necessary...
On our walk back to the hotel, we found a gem of a bar/restaurant/cafe aptly named 'Ryan's' which was lit up beautifully - visiting Edinburgh around Christmas is a MUST if you haven't already. You will fall in love with the whole city immediately....we certainly did...
The next day I was woken up by an excited Ryan who told me our plans for the day consisted of more exploring, lots of food and lots of SHOPPING so I was up and ready like a shot! Edinburgh is brilliant for shopping, especially close to Christmas, everyone is busy and excited. It is packed everywhere you turn but you never feel panicked (for me - that's saying something!) And there is every type of shop you could need or want, from high street, to department and independant. One of my favourite things about Edinburgh is that the modern elements of the city have been developed to fit into the traditional and historical buildings rather than covering them. They take care of their history and restore older buildings (inside and out) - the result is really quite beautiful. A prime example of this is Scotland's oldest department store: Jenners..
Once we had shopped till we dropped (and drank our weight in hot chocolate) we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner....and we looked a little something like this:
I was then surprised with dinner at the gormet steak restaurant; Kyloe.
Hands down best steak we have ever had. Restaurant itself was stunning too; candle lit and with views right across Edinbrurgh city centre and the beautiful castle.
Beef dripping chips go down a treat with fine wine (classy)
The next day was our last full day of the trip and luckily for us the Christmas market opened this day too!
We spent a lazy morning watching rubbish on the tv in bed and then headed off to visit the castle, which, when it's mind-numbingly cold, feels like an absolute TREK.
Views aren't too shabby though...
After that it was a wander through the back streets that we hadn't yet searched, dinner at the cutest TGI Friday's ever (a tradition wherever we go as our first date was at a TGI's) and spotting a cheeky pub
And then it was Christmas Market time!
A huge hot chocolate and a nut cracker decroration purchased later, it began to fall darker and so we went skating together on the out door rink (no photos taken....for fear of falling)
Then Ryan was mean and dragged me on the big wheel...I'm petrified of heights so the smile you see took a little bit of force but you could see right across Edinburgh with it all lit up....turned out to be one of my most favourite parts of the trip...
Following this - we had planned on another meal out and even got all dressed up for the occasion...
However the weather took a turn for the worst and we decided completely against it...instead we stayed in (still dressed up to the nines) sat in bed watching movies and ordered a HUGE room service and a bottle of bubbly....it was the perfect end to the trip!
We fell in love with the place and we are desperate to go back again at some point! I would so recommend to go!!!!
Sorry for this blog being so long in length and for how long it took me to blog again too! 'Oh-My Emily-Rose' is certainly back in business now though - I have so much planned for this year that I want to share!
Watch this space as always - thankyou if you got all the way down to this part of the post without falling asleep!
Watch this space as always - thankyou if you got all the way down to this part of the post without falling asleep!
