Edinburgh - Jan 26

So after returning from +30 degrees in the Maldives, what better than to go to other extreme- a quick hop for a couple of days to Edinburgh.
Sunday mid morning flight from LHR sees the Usual M25 slow traffic pleasingly missing and 45 mins we arrived to park in Pod parking T5 , a little bit more to park but so much more convenient - 5 minutes and you are in the terminal.








Through fast track, and straight into the BA Lounge as the flight is going from gate A1.

 I can't remember the last time we used the lounge at this end, It's packed and in my opinion not as nice as the other lounges, seating is quite stark, although the views over the runway are nice.


 
After the obligatory breakfast  ( not a particular fan of the BA sausages lately - they've obviously changed brand - they are bigger but not as tasty) 


After awhile we make our way to gate A1 and are swiftly boarded, although the auto gates don't seem to want to recognise the wife's face - it's usually me with the face recognition.

We take off to EDI and after a 50 minute flight we arrive disembarking via steps and a short outside walk into the terminal as only hand baggage for our short two night break.






You've got a few options to get the city Centre, taxi, airport bus or tram, we choose the tram as it goes every 7- 10 minutes has plenty of stops (one is Waverley station where a short walk would see us at out hotel ) you can buy a multitude of tickets from the ticket machine located just by the tram ( about 50 metres from the terminal) or tap on/tap off dependent on what you are doing, we choose an open airport return for £9.50

Half an hour later we are at St Andrew's square and 20 minutes after that a short walk we arrive at the the Edinburgh Doghouse Hotel where we we are staying, a reasonable price for a city centre hotel - (we used our Tesco Clubcard vouchers for this one) .





We are a bit early to check in, so head out into the city, the hotel is well placed at the bottom of the royal mile, its time for something to eat and drink and we settle on nice little place just off the mile the arcade bar- some nice things on the menu , but it's got to be Haggis right ?


After filling up ( generous portion sizing ! ) we wander around the city, to walk it off, taking in the atmosphere.





We return to the Doghouse, check in, get our two free beers and retire to our room, which strangely is exactly the same room as when we were here some 3 years previous !

We've been on the go for a while, and as I relax on he comfy bed I drift off into a bit of a snooze (lovely)

I wake up some time later ( it's got dark outside ) we both decide that we don't want another big meal so we opt for a short walk to little place that does jacket potatoes - it's packed and obviously very popular, 
the prices are good £7 - 10 for a big tattie and lots of choice of fillings  - we take it away and eat in our room washed down with the free beers that are in the room.




Time for bed, we have a nice lie in as nothing special to get up for, then downstairs for breakfast Brewdog do do a good breakfast selection, I opt for a full Scottish and the Mrs goes for eggs benedict

  
We then head out into the city to wander around, we wander down princess street and the Gyle shopping centre ( quite high end and nothing you couldn't get elsewhere to be honest)

We find our selves at the Innis and Gunn taproom and have a beer - I'm sure at night this place comes alive but during the day it's a bit drab with not much character, but the beer is nice !


Getting a bit peckish we walk toward the Grassmarket area ( just below the castle ) and decide to visit a restaurant we went to many moons ago - Mammas American pizza

If you like Pizza this place is a gem, its a local business that's been there years , the food is great, and we chat to the owner who describes that the road works that have been going on in the area have really hit their business -  if you get the chance to go - you won't be disappointed !





After filling up, we wander around some more, before heading back to hotel to meet some friends who had arrived at the hotel too.






The morning comes around quickly, and we head back on the tram to the airport for our 10 o'clock flight, we'd get breakfast in the BA lounge ( the lounges are a great bonus of silver club status as it doesn't matter which class you are flying you get lounge access as long as its BA or their one world partners)

The BA lounge at Edinburgh is conveniently located by gate 5, is spacious, feels quite new furnishings and fittings with lots of available seating ( unlike the lounge at Heathrow on the way out ) it has no runway outlook but does look out over the carpark, through big glass windows. Lots of spaces to work if you need to ( there are lots of people beavering away on laptops) and I'm guessing there's not many international flights, so lots of business passengers . All the usual BA lounge food and beverage options.







The gate is called and we are swiftly boarded as group 2, to our exit row seats ( extra leg room) on board the full flight to LHR

We land 50 minutes later, nicely onto a short walk out of terminal 5 as we are domestic , up in the lift to the pod transport and we're shortly on our way back home on the surprisingly clear M25.

Edinburgh DONE ( again ) ...where next ?



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

LHR to MLE ( Maldives ) Jan26

Image
 Our Journey starts mid afternoon on a cold January Sunday, leaving home and arriving after around 45minute journey on the M25 , we had booked Pod Parking as it so much easier and had a good deal , we would have arrived in the 5 minute journey, if it wasn't for me leaving my phone in the car, so back to pod parking and return after retrieving my phone !! Today we're flying business class LHR (19.20hrs) to Male and onto our destination island in the Maldives, with a short stop in Doha. We checked in at the first class check in area, as I hate doing the self serve bag drop, the check in lady was as ever really friendly and efficient as you would expect, then through fast track security which is undergoing a bit of a change at LHR but still really fast and efficient. The gate is not shown yet, so we go to the north club lounge - it's busy, but the food and drink is still on lunch/ tea menu so we fill up, as the meal on board would be another 4 hrs proba...
Read more

Maldives stay - 9 nights in January

Image
 So you'll have maybe read my other Blogs on getting to our Maldives holiday which was from 12th January, so here's an honest opinion of the hotel, staff food and amenities. We were staying at Riu Atoll, which we booked through BA holidays.  Riu Atoll The hotel (s) as there's two sides to the Atoll , guests at the smaller Palace side can go to either side, but guests at the Atoll side can only stay in their side - the Palace side is a lot more expensive but in my view doesn't give you that much extra, apart from private pools and a couple more restaurants, but as the food was a good quality anyway, not sure it 's worth the extra (opinion). The clientele was mostly older and couples, with the occasional young family, but there appeared to be a lot of angst with the families of young children as the activities were very limited for them ( there is a kids club area but it was very stark from what I saw) and basically the pool is the main feature for kids and you are st...
Read more