Me, these two, and a heelan coo: Scotland June 2018

"Those who do not travel with young children deprive themselves of the pleasure of traveling with well-traveled older children."

Oh my goodness, I love that you/the blogger put this into words! We've been traveling with our DD (now 9) since she was born and we just returned from a cold, rainy OYO trip to Yellowstone/Grand Teton and she was awesome and fun. Looking forward to reading the rest of your trip report!
 
We were told throughout the trip that DS is an exceptionally good traveler for a 5-year-old. I have no basis for comparison, but assuming it is true that DS is an above-average traveler for a 5-year-old, the credit for that goes to DS. He is someone who genuinely enjoys traveling and is naturally curious and engaged. If DH and I can take credit for anything, it is that we have always taken DS on our travels. On one of the many family travel blogs I follow, the blogger said, "Those who do not travel with young children deprive themselves of the pleasure of traveling with well-traveled older children." With five years of vacation tantrums (mostly by DS, though I do get hangry) under our belt, we found on this trip that DS was a pleasure to travel with 98% of the time.

I agree 100%. We haven't done an ABD with our youngest kids (ages 5 and 8), but do travel with them on our own. Just go back from Portugal last Christmas where they did awesome. I'm hoping they do well in an ABD. We're putting it to the test in Japan next year. We're working on Japanese food now.
 
Pre-Day 2: Edinburgh

When we left off, we had just met our driver at the Edinburgh Airport. Once our bags were loaded and we were buckled in, it was about a 25 minute ride to the Caledonian. Our driver handed us off to the concierge and front desk staff at the hotel to check-in. Unfortunately, our room was not ready. The front desk offered to change our room category from a 2 bed room with castle views to a king bed room with no view and *maybe* a roll-away for my son. I told the front desk that there was no way 3 people would be sharing one bed. "But it's a king bed," she replied. Spoken like someone who hasn't been kicked in the face by a 5-year-old all night long. I declined the room change in what I hoped was a polite manner.

Since we weren't able to head to our room, we decided to stow most of our bags with the concierge and head to the pool for a swim and shower. Fortunately, we always pack our swimsuits, toiletries and a change of clothing for each of us in a small carry-on in case any luggage goes missing. That meant that everything we needed to freshen up was in one place. To use the pool at the Caledonian, you check in at the spa and then they show you to the changing rooms. You will recognize the men's changing room by the strong sewage smell. I quickly handed DS and DH their swimsuits in front of the men's changing room and then, mercifully, headed to the sewage-smell free women's changing room. As I was changing, another woman came into the changing room and told me that she needed a key for the spa.

Me: "I'm sorry. I don't have a key."
Her: "Maybe you don't understand me. The door is locked and I don't have my key."
Me: "I'm sorry. We haven't checked in yet. I don't have any keys for the hotel. Maybe ask the spa staff."
Her: "Oh. You're American."

Glad that we had gotten that sorted out, I headed up to the pool area to meet my family. The Caledonian's pool is perfect for families. There is a heated lap pool, with a small wading pool attached. Next to that is a hot tub. We swam for about an hour and then decided to get showered and find some lunch. Once we were dressed and ready to go, we made a second attempt to check-in, but our room was still not ready. No matter. We stashed our last bag with the concierge and hopped in a cab headed for Duddingston. Duddingston is a section of Edinburgh near Holyrood Park that apparently used to be a separate village. Our plans were to grab lunch at the Sheep Heid, the oldest pub in Edinburgh, and then have a walk around the area in the hopes that being outdoors would keep us awake.

The cab fare to the Sheep Heid (which is apparently pronounced "sheep heed," though I am not sure if the sheep were heeding us or we were heeding them) was a reasonable 10 pounds. We tipped an extra pound thinking that we would compensate the driver for taking us to the far reaches of the city where he was unlikely to find a return fare. He accepted the tip, but seemed a bit put-off by it. Then we headed into the pub for lunch. It was as twee as I had hoped.

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As a bonus, it offered a separate vegan menu with plenty of choices for a plant-eater such as myself. (DS and I are vegetarian, while DH is a pescatarian). I had a lovely vegetable tart, DS -- who is terribly picky -- had the cheese board from the dessert menu, and DH ordered light because he was not feeling well. He had just a salad and 3 beers -- the perfect thing to settle one's stomach, apparently. In fact, DH was feeling so hale and hearty after his meal that we all shared a cheesecake and a cookie sundae.

After lunch, we took a walk over to Duddingston Kirk, a parish church built in the 12th Century. There, DS enjoyed "standing on dead people" and we all enjoyed the ambiance and lovely views of Arthur's Seat. By this point, though, we were fading fast and decided to head back to the Sheep Heid to call a cab. Our timing turned out to be impeccable because it started to rain as soon as we arrived back at the pub. 36325333_10155710688227877_4233938391999184896_o.jpg
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Our cab took about 15 minutes to arrive and then it was back to the hotel where we were finally able to check in. It turned out to be worth the wait because we were treated to this view when we opened our curtains. 36259854_10155710688067877_3435131834231422976_o.jpg

After a quick nap, we went down to the hotel's Peacock Alley Bar where they were hosting a Hilton Honors reception. DH and I each had a free glass of prosecco, DS had an apple juice and we played a few rounds of cards. It was now 6:30 and we needed to find dinner. The trouble was that we were too exhausted to bear the thought of leaving the hotel. Instead, we headed back to our room where we ordered pizza and soup from room service. (The hotel pizza was surprisingly decent). Then we changed into our jammies and all passed out cold. It had been a great first day in Edinburgh and we hoped to wake up rested and ready to go for day 2.
 
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Me: "I'm sorry. I don't have a key."
Her: "Maybe you don't understand me. The door is locked and I don't have my key."
Me: "I'm sorry. We haven't checked in yet. I don't have any keys for the hotel. Maybe ask the spa staff."
Her: "Oh. You're American."

Glad that we had gotten that sorted out,

:rotfl2:

He had just a salad and 3 beers -- the perfect thing to settle one's stomach, apparently. In fact, DH was feeling so hale and hearty after his meal that we all shared a cheesecake and cookie sundae.

:rotfl2:

It turned out to be worth the wait because we were treated to this view when we opened our curtains.

Lovely! I stay down the street at the Sheraton Grand Hotel and Spa in Edinburgh so it's very interesting to see a different but still castle view!

So smart to pack your swimsuits in your carry on. I feel like I include the kitchen sink in mine, but have never packed a swimsuit. Adding it to the list!

This is making me so "homesick" for Scotland...I might have to start planning another trip there :)
 
I can understand why you would want to go back again and again. There was so much I wanted to do in Edinburgh that I didn't get to do.

The view from the Caledonian was great. From our other window, we could see past the castle all the way to the water.
 
I am following. This trip report is entertaining and informative! Love the story of the lady looking for the spa key. These kind of encounters make travel fun!

The view from your room was definitely worth waiting for!
 


Thanks to everyone for the positive feedback. We had a family emergency pop up, so it may take me a while to finish the report. But I will eventually.

Now, without further ado, on to:

Pre-Day 3: Edinburgh

Perhaps you're aware that the sun sets late in Scotland in the summer due to its northerly location. Perhaps you are also aware that it comes up again very early the next morning. I am certainly aware of both of those things now having left the curtains open when I passed out after our first day in Edinburgh. I was awoken at approximately 4 am the following morning by bright sunlight shining right in my eyes. I got up to admire the view/close the curtains. Then I was able to fall back asleep for another hour or so. At around 5:30, I accepted the fact that I was awake and made myself a cup of coffee using the in-room espresso machine. Unfortunately, the espresso machine turned out to be broken. It filled my mug to the top and kept right on brewing. In a panic, I grabbed mug after mug and stuck it under the machine. I later learned from the hotel employee who came to repair the machine that I could have just hit the off button. That solution did not occur to my sleep addled brain. Fortunately, the Caledonian had generously provided us with 4 mugs, so my less-than-optimal solution prevented an early morning catastrophe. When there was no water left in the espresso machine, one of my watery cups of coffee and I retired to an arm chair to read 44 Scotland Street until the rest of the family was up.

At around 6:30, DS woke up. By that time, my stomach was loudly demanding breakfast, so DS and I went down to the hotel restaurant without DH. I had the eggs florentine and some coffee that actually tasted like coffee. DS ordered the pastry basket and some juice. He drank the juice, but refused to eat the pastry basket -- which turned out to be a box full of about a dozen mini croissants with various fillings. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that kids get free breakfast at the Caledonian restaurant on Saturdays and Sundays, so the uneaten pastries were ours for no charge.

After breakfast, DS, the pastries and I went back up to the room to find DH was up and in the shower. We puttered around the room until about 9:30, when it was time to leave for our pre-booked tour of Real Mary King's Close. By this point, the sun that had woken me up a few hours before was no where to be seen. Though I should have known better, I nonetheless decided to wear a pair of canvas shoes thinking that we were just in for a bit of drizzle. The walk from he Caledonian to Real Mary King's Close was a pleasant one, taking us past the castle and down a section of the Royal Mile. We arrived around 10:15 (.7 miles is a long walk for a 5-year-old with short legs) and had time to store our wet jackets in a locker and visit the restroom before our 10:30 tour.

Real Mary King's close is a close (i.e. alley) that was preserved in time when a government building was constructed on top of it in the 1800s. Because it is under a government building, it is only accessible on a guided tour and no photos are allowed. (I assume that is to prevent anyone from diagramming the various tunnels and alleys for nefarious purposes). The guides wear period costumes and take you through a series of rooms that have been set up to look as they did during important historic events -- for example, when the plague killed a large number of close residents. One of the first rooms we entered was an example of the type of home that a poor family would have shared in the middle ages. Our guide selected my son to demonstrate the important task of emptying the toilet bucket into the close, a job that was usually done by the youngest child in a family. The guide directed my son to walk to the door, lean out and yell, "Gardy loo."

DS: "I can't say that."
Guide: "Why?"
DS: "Because I don't know what it means."
Guide: "I was just getting to that. Yell it first and then I will explain what it means."
DS: "But I can't say something if I don't know what it means."
Guide: "I promise I will tell you what it means after you yell it.:
DS: "Okay. Fine. I'll say it." *screeching at the top of his lungs*"GAR-OOOOOOOOOOOOO"

DS then stood waiting in the hallway until I went outside, collected him and brought him back.

Gardy loo is apparently what they used to yell before dumping their bathroom buckets in the street. Edinburgh in the middle ages was a decidedly less charming place than it is now, it seems.

After we learned about medieval plumbing, the tour continued for about an hour. It was quite enjoyable if you like history served with a hearty helping of cheese. My son was a good sport throughout, though he did start to get scared towards the end after hearing a mooing sound in the stables. (I foolishly told him it was ghost cows, instead of pointing out the speakers that were piping in the noise).

After Real Mary King's Close, we headed to the National Museum. Fortunately, it was a short walk because it was now raining steadily and my canvas shoes were starting to squish and squelch. We began with lunch in the cafe. DH and I had the vegetable club. This seems to be a standard vegetarian item in Scotland. It is a veggie and cheese sandwich. I have no idea what makes it a "club" because it has none of the elements I associate with that sandwich. DS had the kids cheese pizza. Once again, he did not eat.

After lunch, DS and I headed to the section of the museum housing animals, while DH headed to the section dealing with Scottish history. I have never been to a natural history museum that groups its exhibits in the same way as the National Museum. They were grouped thematically, so that a section on diet might have a saber tooth tiger skull displayed along side whale baleen and a taxidermy anteater.

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DS normally loves museums, especially those dealing with animals, but he had nothing but complaints about this museum. As we went from display to display, he became progressively more foul tempered. Finally, I told him that we would need to take a break until he could behave himself. We went to another one of the museum's cafes where I had a big bottle of water and DS had a piece of lemon cake and a juice. He wolfed the cake down like someone who had not eaten in ages. Perhaps that's because he was, in fact, someone who had not eaten in ages. He had snubbed both his breakfast and lunch and was running on nothing but fruit juice. With a belly full of cake, DS was returned to his cheery self and we went to the science section of the museum to learn about energy. It was there that DH caught up to us and reported that we had missed out on some amazing displays in the history section.
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Around 4, we decided to head back to the hotel so that there would be time for a swim before our dinner reservation that evening. It was still raining, so I endured a highly unpleasant walk up the Royal Mile in my poorly chosen footwear. Back at the Caledonian, we had a quick swim, cleaned up and changed just in time to run back out the door for dinner. Given the weather, we hailed a cab for the short ride to the Witchery by the Castle. If you read reviews on the Witchery, the consensus is that you go there for the atmosphere, not the food. The restaurant website says: "In the Witchery heraldic painted and gilded ceilings, based on those at the Palace of Holyrood house, reflect the close links of the Auld Alliance between France and Scotland. The tapestry-hung walls are panelled with seventeenth century oak rescued from a fire at St Giles Cathedral and panelling is from a Burgundian Chateau. Gilded leather screens, opulent red leather upholstery, tapestries, and antique church candlesticks complete the scene." All of these historic details made for a charming dining location that almost made up for the mediocrity of the food. DH and I both ordered from the 3 course menu. I started with a pleasant fresh garlic soup, moved on to a flavorful but overly sauced mushroom lasagna and then finished with a mille feuille with pastry layers so hard that they were almost inedible. (DH said that his dessert was much better). DS ate a cheese tray and then passed out from exhaustion, leaving DH and I to enjoy an almost-adult night out. (Snoozing DS was very popular with our server, who told us that he had a child about the same age).
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Because DS was passed out, we decided that we would forgo our planned after-dinner walk on the Royal Mile. Instead, we hailed a cab and went straight back to the Caledonian. DS woke up as we were pulling up to the hotel, so we offered to buy him dessert at the hotel restaurant. He demurred citing exhaustion. We then headed up to our room, put on our jammies and waited patiently for DS to fall asleep. In the end, both DH and I fell asleep before DS who was up until sometime after 11 pm. I know that because I was woken up by his crying at 11 and he told me that his fear of "ghost cows" was keeping him awake. When I went back to sleep, he was still awake, but not as panicked about bovine spirits.
 
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Enjoying reading your trip report! I am interested to see how different the trip is now compared to when we went. Scotland was our first ABD and we liked it so much that we have done 7 now!

I agree 100%. We haven't done an ABD with our youngest kids (ages 5 and 8), but do travel with them on our own. Just go back from Portugal last Christmas where they did awesome. I'm hoping they do well in an ABD. We're putting it to the test in Japan next year. We're working on Japanese food now.

I agree. Our kids were 9 and 10 when we did our first ABD, but already had quite a bit of travel under their belts, including India and South Africa, which we did somewhat on our own. I say somewhat because in India we did a luxury train tour, but it wasn't quite as much of an organized tour as ABD, and in Africa, we stayed in resorts that included guided game drives. We also introduced our kids to different types of cuisine when they were young, so they are pretty willing to try local options now.
 

ABD Day 1 - Edinburgh


The first official day of the Scotland ABD does not have any activities scheduled before the welcome dinner at 6. With a whole additional day to explore Edinburgh on our own, I had big plans. Our ABD guides -- Claire and Michael -- would be in the lobby at 9 a.m. to greet us and then I planned to take a stroll through the West End before heading to the zoo.

I was up at 6 because I am for some reason unable to sleep well on vacation these days, but no one else was. I passed the time enjoying a coffee from the newly functional coffee maker, eating day old pastries, and reading my book. At 9, DH and DS were still sounds asleep, so I went down to meet Claire and Michael on my own. I told them about DS's picky eating and they assured me he would be accommodated. They also gave me a form to select some of our upcoming meals and Claire went down to speak with the hotel concierge about how to facilitate our move from the room I booked to our ABD room. I was told we could leave our bags in our room and they would be waiting in our new room when we got back from our day's adventure.

When I got back up to the room, DS was up (and peeved that I had left), but DH was still asleep. DS agreed to come meet Claire and Michael (aka "the guys who travel with us") and then head out for breakfast. We went back downstairs where DS and Claire had a nice chat about Nessie and then we headed out in search of food. I was planning to look for a grocery store, but we wound up stopping into a Cafe Nerro where I got a coffee to go with the pastries in our room and DS got some juice and yogurt. When we got back to the hotel, DH was finally up and in the shower. But by the time he was dressed and we had packed, it was clear we needed to cut back on our plans for the day.

We decided to hail a taxi and head straight to the zoo. Edinburgh Zoo sits on a hill on the outskirts of town and possesses amazing views, a top-notch endangered species breeding program and a daily penguin parade. We arrive at the zoo around 11:30 and waited in a short line to buy our tickets. Then it was on to see the animals. My son was primarily interested in monkeys, but we stopped to look at the animals we passed along the way to the monkey house. Chief among those were the pandas. As we approached the panda house, we heard lots of oohs and aahs. We rushed, assuming that the panda was doing something adorable. Finally, we located the crowd, squeezed in front of the window into the enclosure and saw that the panda was ... pooping. Yes. The panda was doing his business and each time he successfully produced a turd, the crowd would go wild. Perplexed, we moved on to the first of many wonderful monkey exhibits.

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After the magical monkey forest, we had a quick lunch at the zoo cafe where I had my first disappointing taste of Scottish baked beans. Boston baked beans are far superior. It's the sugar; it imparts something called flavor. Then it was time for the 2 pm penguin parade. That's where they open the penguin enclosure and let out any penguin who fancies a stroll. Any penguin except Kevin that is. His crimes were not described, but they apparently merit a lifetime parade ban.

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(None of these penguins is Kevin.)

After the parade, we visited the chimps before heading back to the magic monkey forest to squeal over marmosets. Then it was hippos,lions, tigers, bears, etc. Around 4 we dragged DS out of the zoo and were lucky enough to catch a bus heading right past our hotel. And it did, indeed, go right past our hotel before I realized I needed to signal for our stop.


We arrived back at the Caledonian and checked into our new room - a standard view king room with a roll-away bed. There was nothing wrong with our new room, but compared to our gorgeous castle-view room, it was a little disappointing. We had some time before the welcome dinner, so DH headed to one of the hotel bars to watch a World Cup game. DS and I stayed in the room where we managed to create a Father's Day Card using only hotel stationary, and pen and two dry erase markers.

At 6, we joined our travel group in the lobby and were led upstairs by a bagpiper. Bagpipes definitely should not be played indoors, but the performance was mercifully short. Then we had some time to make name tags and grab drinks before the piper fired up his instrument again and then invited us to dinner in the "famous hotel conference room." This line was delivered with the perfect amount of sarcasm.

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The conference room was just that. It was a fairly nondescript room. Since the room was on a lower floor in the hotel, the promised city views were views of the bus route that ran past the hotel. DS and I discovered that if you knelt on the floor and looked up, you could sort of see the castle.

Dinner began with introductions and then Michael and Claire came around with a Father's Day gift for all the dads.

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After that, the chef was brought out to describe the items on the buffet. When it came to the vegetarian item, she said, "I hope there aren't too many vegetarians." Then she held up three full-sized pans of vegetable lasagna. I guess in Scotland, a pan of lasagna only serves one person? Before we could grab food from the buffet, one table had to win the right to go first by playing a game where we had to name a Disney character for each letter of the alphabet. My husband appointed me scribe for the table and I began jotting down characters while my table shouted out ideas. In round one, we got through H for "Happy," which put us in a tie for first place. Michael gave the top 2 teams 20 more seconds, but no one on our team could think of a character that began with "I." Fortunately, the other team had the same problem. By this time, DS was very hungry and he showed his displeasure in my failure by delivering a sharp blow to my arm. His grumpy behavior reminded me of another grumpy individual, Iago from Aladdin. So when Michael gave both teams 20 more seconds to break the tie, we had our I and soon came up with a J. The other team, not suitably motivated by physical violence, did not come up with an I, so our table was awarded the right to hit the buffet first. The food at the Caledonian was good and I ate way too much of it, but still managed to cram down 2 desserts.

All-in-all, it was a nice dinner. We wrapped up around 9 and went back to the room to sleep. Unfortunately, it turned out to be another fitful night of sleep for me. Our new room was near the elevator and I kept being woken up by a group of noisy convention-goers walking past our room.
 
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ABD Day 2 - Edinburgh

Day 2 of the ABD itinerary has the earliest meetup time of the trip: 7:45. I set an alarm just in case, but I was up at 6 again. Between the noise the night before and my allergy to the hotel soap, which was starting to really make me stuffy, I was feeling a bit grumpy. I decided to go down to the pool to use the sauna and steam room before getting ready for the day. (I decided to save luggage space by not packing my gym clothes, which proved to be a mistake since I was up early enough to use the gym every day of the trip). Still in my jammies, I took the elevator to the first floor, then walked down the long hallway to the special elevator that leads to the pool area. I hit the down button and ... nothing. The elevator was off even though the pool was supposed to be open at 6. I waited a few more minutes, hit the button again and ... still nothing. Eventually another woman joined me and I explained the situation. We waited for a bit and hit the button again. Nothing. The other woman (whom I later realized was part of my ABD group) went to the lobby to try and find help. I eventually gave up and went back to the room. There, DS and I got ready for the day. Then I called the front desk to set a wake up call for DH to make sure he would not miss our meetup time and DS and I went to breakfast.

Now that we were officially on our ABD, the buffet at the Caledonian was included in our room rate. After some confusion about where to sit, we were shown to a table and given coffee and juice. Then we selected from the many options on the buffet. They had a nice selection of pastries, fruits, yogurts and cereals, as well as some hot items including scrambled eggs, baked beans and potato scones (which are thin and floppy and not what you would think a scone is). I made myself a nice plate of eggs, pastry, potato scone and fruit and DS chose a gluten free muffin and some melon balls. His breakfast seemed awfully sad to me, but he seemed happy.

At 7:40, we went out to meet our group. Almost everyone else, including DH, was already assembled. I suggested that DH go grab something from the buffet. When he came back, he had no food in his hand. I inquired and learned that he had apparently been seated, drank a cup of coffee and eaten a plate of eggs all in 5 minutes time. He rejoined the group just as Claire was giving out whisper devices to everyone. Seeing the single earbud on each whisper device, DH and I immediately realized that we needed to get actual headphones for DS. I volunteered DH for the job of running upstairs to our room to grab them. While he was gone, our group started to head out the door. DS and I stopped in the front lobby to wait and Michael stopped to wait with us. He assured us that we were only headed around the corner and could easily catch up with the rest of the group.

We did just that less than half a block from the hotel. Then, we walked the short distance to New Town to meet our step-on guide, Jenny. Jenny gave us a short tour of the area while we waited for our bus. (And Michael pointed out local squirrels to DS, who was delighted to photograph them. Unfortunately, we did have some problems with his camera and many of his vacation photos did not save to the memory card, so we only wound up with one squirrel photo).

When our bus arrived, we piled on and headed to our first stop of the day, the Royal Yacht Britannia (and not Britannica, as I had been calling it in my head for the weeks leading up to the trip). The Royal Yacht is docked in the port of Leith, near the Firth of Forth and I had been excited for my first visit to the Firth of Forth ever since I learned its alliterative name. On the way to the Britannia, Jenny provided narration.

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When we arrived, we were led up a red carpet, stopped for family photos and then headed up the gangway. This is something that apparently only ABD gets to do. Other visitors must enter through the mall and walk through a tunnel that deposits them on one of the upper decks of the ship.

For those who don't know, the Royal Yacht Britannia was Queen Elizabeth's yacht for many years. Our tour began in a sitting room that had been set up for tea, complete with little plastic finger sandwiches. If there is one thing I can impart about this room, it is that you should not pretend to eat the finger sandwiches. This is apparently highly frowned upon. They need to be precisely arranged in a very specific manner that no mere tourist can achieve.

After my sandwich-related scolding, we set off on our tour. Now you may be thinking that there is no way to make the Queen's boat interesting to a 5 year old, and, if so, you are correct. Within minutes, my son was complaining that he wanted to return to the finger-sandwich room to sit next to a stuffed dog he had found there. I quite truthfully told him I had no idea how to get back to that room, so we pressed on. At some point, our tour guide, Kenny, asked us if we were enjoying the tour. Seeing our faces, I think he must have realized the truth, but he graciously said, "Oh, you must be tired." "Yes, very tired. Our room is right near the elevator and ... Phineas! Get back here. I don't know where the finger sandwich room is, but it's definitely not that way."

(I wish to acknowledge not only Kenny, but also one of the other guides who took it upon himself to walk with me as I was attempting to corral my son and describe some of the rooms as I breezed past them. Because of the private tour he provided just for me, I now know that the rooms we passed were bedrooms and that the Queen and Prince Phillip had separate bedrooms on the Yacht, each containing a twin bed).

After our tour of the Yacht, we went up to the tea room for scones and tea. We were joined at our table by a grandfather who was travelling with his wife and 4 grandchildren. DS immediately decided that he had no interest in scones and let us know in no uncertain terms that he was ready to leave. I resolved to ignore him and try to enjoy the views. Fortunately, it was not long before Claire came by with a little stuffed Corgi, which immediately put my dog-loving child in a better mood.

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(Corg's first visit to the Firth of Forth)

After tea, it was on to Holyrood Palace, which sits at the bottom of the Royal Mile, not far from the Royal Yacht not Britannica. Jenny gave us a short tour of the palace and then there was time to explore on our own. Between the palace, the ruined abbey next to it and the family play area, there was lots to see here and not enough time to see it. I compounded the issue by mis-remembering our meetup time and depriving us of 30 minutes of touring time. Fortunately, that did give us a chance to pop out to see the Scottish Parliament building and then visit the gift shop to buy DS a larger Corgi, which he named Boris. As Jenny informed us, that is not an English name, and, as I informed DS, neither is it a girl's name. I was just starting to inform DS that someone named Boris could not be the small Corgi's mother, as DS claimed. Then I started to think I was being too close-minded about gender and that maybe Boris could be a girl's name. That led me to explain how some families have 2 mommies or 2 daddies, or just 1 parent or . . . "Two mommies? I wish I had two mommies," DS said, just as DH approached us. "Well that really makes me feel great," DH huffed.

According to the online itinerary, the tour of Holyrood Palace is supposed to be followed by a walking tour of the Royal Mile. For whatever reason (time, I expect), that was replaced with an unpleasantly bumpy bus ride up the Royal Mile with Jenny narrating things that you really need to be on foot to enjoy. Compounding matters, I was still not feeling 100% thanks to that cursed hotel soap and so I started to get car sick. After what seemed like an interminable amount of time, we were dropped near the statute of Greyfriars Bobby for a short tour of Greyfriars Cemetery. The highlight for DS was getting to deliver a stick to the famous Bobby (who, in his life, was a small dog).

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The cemetery was very neat, but our time there was much too short and focused solely on Harry Potter. Now, I really love Harry Potter, but it seems an odd choice to me to focus the tour on just that when it's not billed as such in the itinerary. That view was reinforced when Jenny showed us Tom Riddle's grave, paused dramatically, and said, "Of course, Tom Riddle is better known as . . . ." Birds tweeted, the wind blew, bees buzzed, the days shortened and the leaves slowly turned a golden color as summer faded into fall. Still no one in our group chimed in with the answer. And then at last Jenny said, "Lord Voldemort! Tom Riddle is Lord Voldemort. Of course, in the book, he had a middle name and you mixed the letters around and it somehow spelled Lord Voldemort. Anyway, moving on."

After the tour of Greyfriars, we were dropped in a central area of Old Town for lunch on our own. It was a beautiful day, so we dined al fresco at one of the pubs, which we selected because it had a vegetarian sausage sandwich on the menu. DS, DH and I split 2 sandwiches, some fries, onion rings and some tap water, which DS followed with a bowl of ice cream. I felt weird not getting a beer at a pub, but I knew I would regret drinking booze considering my already woozy state.

After an enjoyable lunch, I grabbed a coffee from a local cafe and we wandered around the area for while before meeting our group for what was supposed to be a walk up to the castle. I was dismayed when we were once again herded into the bus. This decision was made because of the high winds that day, but I would have much preferred being given the option to walk -- high winds and all.

ABD visits Edinburgh Castle at the end of the day with the idea that you will arrive as other groups are leaving. Other groups were leaving as we arrived, but there were also hordes of people entering the castle. In short, it was still packed. The time at the castle begins with a group tour and then you are given time on your own. DS quickly decided that he wanted nothing more to do with the whisper device and loudly declared that he was tired of being in a group and only wanted to be with Mommy and Daddy. We returned our whisper devices to Claire and obliged him. DH was a bit disappointed by this, but I did not mind one way or another. Truth-be-told, I did not find Jenny to be a particularly compelling tour guide.

There is lots to see at Edinburgh Castle, but -- by the time we got there -- we were too exhausted to truly enjoy it. After wandering around for a bit, we decided to head back to the hotel. I was expecting that we would walk, since we had told Claire we were done with the group for the day. But we happened to run into Michael on the way out and he told us that we could catch the bus if we ran. I think he must have then told Claire to hold the bus for us, because I cannot imagine how we made it otherwise seeing as we arrived nearly 10 minutes after the group meeting time. I felt a little guilty for making the group wait, but the ride was much appreciated.

Dinner that evening was on our own. We decided to grab takeout from Wagamama and eat in Princes Street Gardens. After eating pad thai and meatless chicken curry, we played on the playground for a few minutes until it started to sprinkle. Then it was back to our room for bed.

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I will be honest that I ended day 2 feeling that I had made a mistake booking a group tour. I think that ABD packs too much into this day and the trip suffers for it. My suggestion would be to cut the Yacht, start the day at the castle before it gets too crowded, provide the promised walking tour of the Royal Mile and end at Holyrood Palace. With the current schedule, you do not get enough time at each site to truly see it.

Would Day 3 of the tour change my mind? Stay tuned to find out.
 
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This itinerary is one I keep looking at and think ‘someday’ I’ll get around to it. I’m excited to be reading this, so thanks for sharing. Michael was one of our guides for Backstage Magic in December. He was great! Looking forward to the rest of your report.
 
This itinerary is one I keep looking at and think ‘someday’ I’ll get around to it. I’m excited to be reading this, so thanks for sharing. Michael was one of our guides for Backstage Magic in December. He was great! Looking forward to the rest of your report.

Both Michael and Claire were great. They both seemed to be such genuinely nice people. And I don't know how they have the energy to do everything they do.
 
Both Michael and Claire were great. They both seemed to be such genuinely nice people. And I don't know how they have the energy to do everything they do.

Right?? I constantly thought this on our trip. They would tell us how their nights went and what they did to prepare and I was in awe. And we were on an Adults Only trip to DL! I can only imagine how much extra energy goes into a European adventure!
 
Enjoying the trip report. Love ABD, but never considered this particular trip. Sounds interesting thus far.
 
Sorry to hear you felt like the Britannia was too much for this trip. It was one of our favorite parts of the new itinerary. Yes. Claire and Michael are really the best!
 
Sorry to hear you felt like the Britannia was too much for this trip. It was one of our favorite parts of the new itinerary. Yes. Claire and Michael are really the best!

I would be interested to know how other families with kids felt about the Britannia. I can't imagine how you would make it appeal to kids. But even if you kept the yacht and cut something else, I think the day would be improved. There was just too much packed into this day and not enough time to enjoy it.
 
I would be interested to know how other families with kids felt about the Britannia. I can't imagine how you would make it appeal to kids. But even if you kept the yacht and cut something else, I think the day would be improved. There was just too much packed into this day and not enough time to enjoy it.

DD and I did Edinburgh on our own when she was 13. This was the perfect age for the Britannia- for a girl. Not sure what it would take for a young boy to be fascinated with it.

We used another full day to tour the Castle, walk down the Royal Mile, and tour Holyrood. This was in January and we literally had both places to ourselves. We still felt there were things we missed! I agree you had a very full first day!
 
Sorry to hear you felt like the Britannia was too much for this trip. It was one of our favorite parts of the new itinerary. Yes. Claire and Michael are really the best!
I was sorry to hear this as well. I visited Scotland many (many!) times before I ventured off to see the Britannia a couple years ago--mostly because I was renting a flat for a couple weeks nearby. I'm not sure why it took me so long. I absolutely fell in love with it, and the next time my family was with me in Edinburgh I dragged them along. They loved it as well. DD was 17 at the time, and DS Special Needs was 20. He rarely likes things like that, but he loves the queen and he was fascinated. I definitely could see how it could be a long day, but I'd hate to see them remove it.
 
Really enjoying your trip report, thank you! My boys at that age probably wouldn't have enjoyed the Britannia either (they were EXHAUSTING as 5 year olds) but I'm certain they would enjoy it now at ages 10 and 13. We all actually like days that are fairly packed. You are really putting this trip back on the list for us.
 

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