Day 10 - heading to Scotland
So today was something completely outside of my comfort zone. Catching a train to another country. Everything about this had me nervous but probably the biggest thing was my worry over our luggage. A. Getting the luggage onto the train, B. making sure noone stole the luggage while on the train and C. getting the luggage off the train. Fortunately only one of these items was of any concern on the day.
So we were catching the train to Edinburgh at the Kings Cross Station, this station of course made famous from the Harry Potter movies as it's where Platform 9 3/4 is located that Harry and the kids use to jump through the wall and get on the Hogwarts Express. And of course lets not forget it's original fame - Monopoly!!!! I've bought and sold that place many times haha.
This station had recently undergone a renovation and was very nice. Lots of hustle and bustle and it took us a few minutes to get our bearings and work out where we needed to be. With a massive suitcase each and a cabin bag attached to the top, we were quite a luggage loving sight. There were massive boards with trains listed with times and platform numbers etc. This ended up becoming a very funny "people watching" experience. It took us a few train arrivals to work out what was going on. Lots of people were just standing there looking at the big screens, then a train's platform number would be announced and people would run, I'm not kidding, run through the gates and towards the platform. It was like being at a Boxing Day Sale at Myers Department Store. We eventually worked out it must be so you can fit your luggage in the very small and few and far between luggage storage spots available. And whilst we had allocated seating, perhaps not everyone did.
And so the competitive person in me realised, we were going to have to do the big run. But alas grandma isn't so quick with her suitcase in tow so a game plan had to be worked out haha. And add to that, our train was delayed, grrrrrr, so the crowds around us started growing bigger and bigger, everyone watching and waiting for the platform number. Eventually the game plan we worked on was DH and DS would go through the gates, along with Grandma so that they could be ahead of the crowds. I told them what carriage number we were seated on and DD and I were going to wait back and watch the screens. As soon as the platform number came up we were to signal DH and they were going to head off at a run haha. I wondered if some people would be trampled because since the train was delayed, everyone was kind of on edge, looking sideways at each other, snarling, stamping feet, getting ready to beat people back to get the good spots hehe.
And finally the platform number appears and we were off and running. The signal was given and mass hysteria ensued. I kind of wish I was joking, it wasn't a good example of human behaviour and I can't say our family handled themselves any better than others haha. I might have trampled an old lady if she got in my way, fortunately I didn't have to make such an important decision. As predicted Grandma was the slow poke of the group so I had to stay behind her, geeing her along with the occasional whack on the backside to keep her moving haha. I didn't really whack her backside but in my mind I was.
We finally found our carriage and got our luggage situated which was a big relief since our luggage pretty much took up most of the space. Whoops, sorry fellow travellers who were now going to have to sit on their cases (you should've run quicker, suckers).
So we go find our reserved seats and I got confused very quickly because the layout of the carriage didn't match the layout of the online seating plan and our seats weren't all together as had been booked. It took me a while to realise there were less seats in this carriage. The one I had booked for had 2 rows of 2 seats and this carriage had 1 row of 2 and 1 row of 1 and the numbers were all over the place. This made for some anxious moments, thinking perhaps we had gotten on the wrong carriage. You can imagine how well DH was coping with this possible development. I wasn't keen to try and move luggage since everyone else on the other carriages would have used other spots up so we decided to sit where we thought we were supposed to be and would discuss with the conductor. When he eventually came along he explained they had swapped a first class carriage with a regular one hence less seating. We said we were concerned about this because there were many more stops along the way to Edinburgh and we didn't want to be taking anyone elses seat but that we had children and it just wasn't an option for us to be split up. He took other peoples booking slips off the back of our chairs and said stay put, these are your seats now and send the new people to me.
What eventually ended up happening was kind of a debacle, for everyone new hopping on, not us fortunately. There had been other trains cancelled out of Kings Cross as well and the travellers had been told to just jump on our train (very efficient system, not). So by the time we landed at a few more stops tons of new travellers were hopping on with nowhere to sit. The aisles of the trains were packed with people, all glaring at us with our fancy first class seats with a table in between us lol. It was pretty disorganised but I am just thankful we got on so early. Eventually they bumped alot of the standing people further up carriages and the crowds dispersed but it left a bad taste in our mouths and ruined the fun of the train ride to Edinburgh a little.
Once we pulled into Edinburgh the real fun began. Because all of the luggage space had been taken up, familys had just dumped their prams in the foyer parts of the train where the doors are. Which is perfectly fine until someone wants to get off. And when that someone is a family of 5 with a bazzilion suitcases it gets a little tricky. I had been nervous about how we would get the heavy cases off anyway and this just added a level of complication I wasn't sure how to handle.
We were so lucky though. I jumped out of the train and DH passed me down a case but we were very conscious that we had to get everyone off quickly before the train took off again. Yikes!!!! This lovely man who was trying to get on the train but couldn't because our family were trying to get off ended up lifting all of the suitcases down for me and helping the kids and MIL off hahaha. He was like an angel sent from heaven I tell you. Not sure how that was all going to pan out without him. Whew.
We found the cab rank and ended up needing to take 2 taxis, even though the taxis were massive. Our taxi driver was awesome. I felt like he gave us a guided tour on the way to our B&B. His accent was delicious and he pointed out so many wonderful things along the way, gave us amazing tips and tricks - it really reminded me about how important taxi drivers at an airport or train station are. They really are the ambassadors of your city and this man certainly started off our Edinburgh experience so well. DH said his taxi driver was lovely also and I really commend Edinburgh on their taxi service.
Our B&B was truly the stuff B&B dreams are made of. Here is the link if you want to check it out:-
http://www.23mayfield.co.uk/.
The decor was just so rich and warm and "expensive". Ross the owner and his wife were so accommodating and I felt like I was staying with friends rather than paying to stay at an establishment. They sure know how to treat people. The only small downside was we had 2 rooms here, but they were situated quite a long way apart. You had to go up separate staircases to reach the rooms and so since our cases are packed with everyone's things mixed throughout the cases (to prevent issues if 1 case goes missing as has happened to us before), this meant i had to unpack everything, fill a case with what the kids were going to need to stay in the room with Grandma and then drag it down 2 staircases again and unpack it again. Once that was sorted though it was all very smooth and for the first time ever on a holiday DH and I had our own room. But ever the nervous nellies, we missed the kids once they were tucked into their room with grandma hehe.
The owner recommended some lovely places to eat nearby and so we headed off to find the first place he suggested. It was a fancy pub called the Salisbury Arms, see it here:-
http://www.thesalisburyarmsedinburgh.co.uk/.
It was about a 15 min walk from where we were staying and it was so great to wander through the suburban streets, looking at all of the beautiful houses as we wound our way to the pub. We had one of our favourite meals of the trip at the Salisbury Arms. The decor was lovely, the wait staff so super friendly and funny. It was absolutely the most fabulous evening and we all relaxed after what was a long twisty turny kind of day and just allowed ourselves to get excited about Edinburgh.
We strolled home later that night with very very full bellies and couldn't wait for the next day. Especially me because we were going on a bus tour and you all know how I love those haha.
Highs absolutely everything about Edinburgh so far and our B&B
Lows the train seating debacle of 2013
Temperature high 7, low -5