My Tip To Edinburgh

Hello everyone!

So yesterday I got back from trip to Edinburgh where I had what can only be described as some of the best few days of my life. Not only did I finally get go to the absolutely beautiful city in Scotland but I also ticket off two bucket list items, one of which had been on the list for years.

For those of you who don't know, for my birthday this year my parents paid for me to go to Scotland to fulfil a dream that I've had for as long as I can remember... to see a Giant Panda up close! On Wednesday me and my mum travelled from Southampton Airport to Edinburgh on a plane that was basically as close to a paper plane with propellers as you can get! After the first 10 minutes I realised I'm now a very anxious flyer, although that could just be because of the fact the strong winds made it feel like we would fall out of the sky at any minute!

On our first day we didn't do all that much, we even made it back to the hotel room in time for my mum to get her daily soap opera fix! But after a good nights sleep we woke up on Thursday morning with a hell of a day ahead of us. The first stop was Edinburgh zoo which was about a 20 minute bus journey from our hotel. We got there just as the zoo was opening and started our day of walking ridiculous amounts with a bang due to the whole attraction being situated on a rather steep hill. Despite the fact the Giant Pandas were located at the bottom of this hill, we walked ourselves all the way to the top to see what other animals were about first. We saw tigers, penguins, meercats, many breeds of monkey, deer, zebra, sun bears and more. The zoo itself was incredibly designed and maintained to ensure happiness and protection of the animals it kept. Our last stop was the Giant Pandas, save the best till last and all that. I can honestly say that I was not prepared for the immense feeling of joy I felt when saw them both.

The first thing that struck me was how small they actually were! You see Giant pandas in videos on the internet all the time and they look quite large, not only that but their name is a pretty solid indicator that they're, well, giant! I was a little shocked when I saw them and realised that I've probably seen bigger teddy bears up for grabs at my local fairground that turns up a few times a year. I then spent what must have been at least a full 10 minutes just looking through the glass at them in silence, just complete and utter awe at these beautiful creatures. Tian Tian (which means 'Sweetie'), the female panda spent the majority of our visit asleep on her bed, moving only to get herself into a more comfortable position. She looked so peaceful and content. On the other side, the male named Yang Guang (which means 'Sunshine') was happily munching away on his bamboo breakfast. It was incredible to see both pandas in such different states, to be able to obverse what they're like when they're both active and inactive. It was truly a treat and a memory that will stay with me forever.

After the zoo we took the bus back to the city centre and walked our way up to Edinburgh Castle which was absolutely stunning. The castle is situated right at the top of the Royal Mile and to be honest, we couldn't believe just how close it was to the town centre. The views from the top down were incredible, you could see right to the edge of Scotland's borders and out to sea. The building stricture itself was huge, like it's own little village inside. We got to see the rooms where kings and other royals were born, learn about the Scottish royal army and heritage and even got to see the Scottish Crown Jewels.

Finally we made our way back down the Royal Mile to the starting point of our Harry Potter Walking Tour! That's right... another bucket list item done right there! Our tour guide James, not Jeff, walked us through the beautiful city, stopping at locations that had influenced J.K Rowling in her writing of what can only be described as one of the biggest franchises in the world. Despite already going to Edinburgh Castle that day, I wasn't the least bit shocked when we ended up back there on this tour. Between the castle and a local private school, we were shown how Rowling merged the architectural designs and house traditions into what we know as Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We were taken to the various cafes where Rowling wrote the book series, the street that so heavily influenced the infamous Diagon Alley and even to a graveyard where we saw the naming inspirations for some of the series main characters including the black family, Moody, McGonagall and the Riddles. We were also asked questions about the series at different points of the tour, which I am proud to say I kicked butt at! We were split into our preferred house teams at the beginning of the tour, but that didn't matter as I was the only one that got any answers correct! I walked away from that tour with all the chocolate galleons that were up for grabs for answering questions correctly and a round of applause from all the participants for being the top Potter nerd. It truly was magical!

After that we went for dinner and made our way back to the hotel to rest for the remainder of the night. In total that day we walked 20,285 steps... aka 14.17k... aka 8.8 miles! My feet, back and calves are still in pain today as I write this blog post! On Friday we left the hotel and wondered around a bit (slowly) before making out way back to Edinburgh airport, flying back to Southampton and driving ourselves back home, ending a truly magical few days. Thankfully I don't work weekends so I have a couple more days to recover before going back to normality. I have a full day of pyjamas planned today with a lot of Red Dead Redemption and cat cuddles. I have an Audi A8 on my drive way for my a drive for the weekend because I'm working a charity event for my job on Sunday. Things are pretty good.

I want to say a huge thank you to my parents for making my Giant Panda dreams come true! I want to say thank you to my mum in particular for coming with me, It was great to spend some quality time together and we'll have to make sure we do it more often. I am so incredibly lucky to be surrounded by loving and supportive family.

Pictures and all that fun stuff from my entire trip can be found on my gallery page, have a gander if you like! For now though, here's the super cute video of the pandas I took :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYUcqPghJdA

Until next time guys!

Rx