London to Edinburgh

Today we left London for Edinburgh. We needed to be on a 12pm train from St. Kings Cross so we got up at 9am to shower change and pack. We needed to unload some things into the boxes we had at Trish and Michaels. We didn’t need to take them with us but we didn’t want to throw them out either. After the sorting we headed down the street to buy rolls and things for lunch. Food on trains is always on the expensive side so we decided to take some lunch instead. While down the street we also decided to pick up a few things like bread and milk for the house because they had been away and wouldn’t have things like that but will want them want when land. After making the rolls we jumped into a cab. Trish had given us the number to the local mini cab company. It worked out to be about the same price but quicker than undergrounding it.

The cab arrive on time and took is to the station. Once at the station we passed the Harry Potter area that was all about platform 9 ¾. Once inside we had to find a ticket machine to pick up and print out our tickets.  That wasn’t too hard, the hard part come when we wanted to find a seat to wait for our train. The station was full of people getting on train, getting off trains and waiting for people. It was a battle just to walk threw them. We eventually found a seat and waited. Our wait wasn’t long before our platform became available and we could get on.

On the platform there was a lady taking luggage and putting it in the hold and was going to unload it at Edinburgh. She said the train was full and it would be a good idea not to have the luggage with us. After giving up our bags we had to find our seats. Kyle had the tickets and said we were on coach A, so off we went to coach A to find our seats. After fighting with people and bags we found our seats only to find that someone was sitting in them. We both looked at each other than the tickets. We had read the tickets wrong and we needed to be on Coach G, so off we hopped and headed for coach G. We managed to get on and find out seats just in time as before the train departed.

The train journey was uneventful and long. There was an old man sitting behind us who was not all together and kept asking the guy beside him if he was in the right seat, where his bag was, where he was going and where his ticket was. It was amusing the first time or 2 but after the first hour it as just annoying. I slept most of the way and Kyle fiddled on this computer. At Newcastle the train decided to start going the other way. Don’t know why but I was travelling forward then at new castle I was going backward. The whole journey took about 4.5hours.

At Edinburgh we found our bags and headed for the hostel. Luckily I had printed out directions from the station to the hostel. Without those directions we would have been wondering for a while. The hostel was about a 10min walk from the station. I didn’t realise how hilly Edinburgh was but if I had known I would have pushed to take a cab. We found the hostel fine and checked in. after checking in and finding our room we headed out to explore and maybe have some dinner. At the station we had seen what looked like a fair all lit up so we headed off to have a look. What we wound was Christmas markets, rides and mulled wine. We also found some people walking round in kilts. It was very cold and windy so I was surprised to see people walking round in dresses. We had a wonder for about an hour then decided it was time for dinner so we headed back towards the hostel to see what we could find. We ended up eating at a pizza place down on Grass Market. It wasn’t bad but wasn’t really very good either. After dinner headed back the hostel to shill out and go to bed. We met some interesting people in the hostel and ended up talking awhile with them. About midnight we headed to bed and sleep.

The Christmas markets near the station

a cool old building we found near the markets

Edinburgh Castle at night