Scotland 2014: Our Arrival in the UK and first day in Edinburgh

TRAVEL DAY - JUNE 12TH AND 13TH

We arrived in Edinburgh on the afternoon of June 13th, 2014. Our flight from Los Angeles had been remarkably smooth and the flight from London to Edinburgh was also without incident. We left LA at 4:00 pm, California time and arrived in Edinburgh at about 1:00 pm local time (which correlates to 5 am our time). I slept maybe 3 hours on the flight, which is actually good for me as I typically don't sleep at all on flights. Trey and Bryce didn't sleep at all. Susan slept maybe 3 hours and Austin about the same.

From the Edinburgh airport we took the tram to St. Andrews and then a taxi to the B&B where we're staying, which is called "23 Mayfield," which corresponds to its address. It's a quaint little B&B and we are on the third floor -- all of us in ONE room . . . yikes! We are in the southern part of the city.

Upon arrival, we, of course, felt like zombies! But it worked out well because we had some time to change and then head out for dinner. We went to a local pub called 'The Salisbury Arms.' The food was decent and the beer was even better. The drinking age here in Scotland is 18, so, of course, Austin was interested in taking advantage! We all collapsed after dinner at about 7 pm. Since it's light out so late this time of year, I woke up briefly at 9:30 pm and thought it was morning . . . but no, we had 11 more hours to sleep!

OUR FIRST DAY IN EDINBURGH

Susan had arranged a two hour walking tour with John Stewart-Young, a local. We covered a lot of ground in two hours. Being the cripple that I am these days with a bad left hip, I was especially pleased with my new REI hiking poles! They made a HUGE difference. We started out hiking up Calton Hill, where we got to see the Nelson Memorial and many other interesting sites. Lots of great views of the city from the top of this hill.

With Austin, Trey and Bryce being 19, 17 and 12, we are finally at a stage where nobody complains about these kinds of tours and everybody can keep up. John was full of all kinds of interesting stories about Scotland's history. One of my favorite anecdotes was the fact that, throughout history, Scotland often allied with France against England. John said that even to this day when he travels to France, he gets a warmer welcome as a Scot than he would as a Brit.

The challenges with England continue today and we learned that there is a referendum on Scotland's independence this coming September. Our tour guide had a Scottish father and an English mother and called himself a 'Unionist,' meaning that he prefers to be connected to England.

We learned that Adam Smith lived in Edinburgh and is buried here. Being fans of Free Market Economics, we had to take a photo with Adam!

We ended the tour in the heart of the city near the Royal Mile. We learned that JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book here in Edinburgh in her brother's pub, The Elephant Cafe, and she received much of her inspiration for the story from various landmarks throughout the city.

Lunch at a traditional Scottish pub was a must: