Bob and Stacey were looking for a weeklong getaway somewhere different, but not too out of the box and we had the perfect answer – London & Edinburgh! Here are their thoughts and lessons from their trip:
So this is a blow by blow of our observations for the trip. The trip overall was excellent, and we would do it again!
Arriving in London
Landed at the airport and the driver was a little late. Nice enough guy, but we landed a little late and when we first tried to call the company we got no answer. Eventually got someone on the phone once we were ready to go and waited about another 20 minutes. Then a long ride into the hotel- we were so early, there was no rush, but that was early Saturday morning – traffic in London is bad! I might have considered a train into the city if need be (again though, this was no problem as we had nowhere to go).
Rubens at the Palace – This place was amazing. The staff – I felt like there were about 6 key players between the desk and door and restaurant that we saw every day and they were all amazing! They not only changed over the room (which they do too sparingly in the US these days) but sometimes a couple of times a day. Never a need for fresh towels.
London Tours
Food Tour – I was skeptical about this but I will tell you – the guide was great and the Tour is SO well worth it! Some great history, and good food.
Tower of London – Also a good tour. We probably could have stayed and skipped the boat to the changing of the horse guards as there was ot a TON of time to see much outside of the grounds and Crown Jewels. Really good and fun Tour Guide.
Changing of Horse Guards/Whitehall – This was good to see. Stacey thought we were seeing them at Buckingham Palace. Good guide and well done; not our showcase of the trip, but that is us.
Free Time in London
We made use of our downtime pretty well. She loved going to Harrods (it is an experience) and still talks about the chocolate cake we had in the coffee shop (their chocolate prep is amazing and not quite as sugary as ours but sweet just enough!).
We used the Underground (Stacey was a little more intimidated but I love that mode of transportation and it and the city were SO clean.)
London Dining
We went to Rules. Great dinner and experience.
We noticed that there was a pub outside of Kensington Palace that had a name on the unique sign that was similar to the Pub by our hotel. This is where I learned about chain pubs and cask beer (I got the explanation later in our trip). The beer had sort of a plastic or chemical taste…a real bummer since we only get cask over there. Cask is not fully refrigerated so once it is ready it needs to be drunk. If not, the yeast, which continues to be active as it is not refrigerated, starts to “over do it” and creates that flavor. They don’t stand out like chains here, but next time I would make the effort to weed out chain pubs.
Afternoon Tea at the Rubens – was very fun. I don’t like anything with mayo or sour cream and sometimes cream cheese- they accommodated that in my little sandwiches.
Trains Out of London
London – getting to the train – as you know this was awful. We left the hotel late (say 9:15 for a 10 am train) and Google said 20 minutes by car- should be ok? 45 minutes later!!! Not so much. Rebooked on 10:30 am train at added cost which was frustrating. Again the City of London is trying to squeeze cars off of the road and they aren’t thinking it through. I have a college friend who had issues getting to a flight leaving London for business because of the ridiculous traffic.
Train Experience – we LOVED the first-class train. The rail in Europe is so much better than ours (although Acela is not far off from our first-class experience.)
Edinburgh
Kimpton in Edinburgh – good location and a really nice boutiquey hotel. What we know of Kimpton in the US is not cheap; sometimes a beautiful rehab, with good service, and rooms – check check check. Our room was right over Rose Street too which has many pubs – so there was some bar noise for us old folks…
We did the Beer Tour, Old Town Tour, and Edinburgh Castle – They were all fabulously done and while there was some minor history overlap, they were not anywhere near redundant. All three guides were amazing. FYI Little Fish Tours which was 2 of the 3 was outstanding! But the Beer Tour was not Little Fish and was also so great.
We loved them all and couldn’t say who did the best job! I have no problem passing along that I would do these 3 tours all over again. There is some walking but it’s incredibly entertaining and you feel really immersed in the city and history.
EDI Airport
Leaving EDI – The EDI airport is small and not crowded – not like we are used to for sure. Some impact because of strikes in London and Paris, and we were late getting out. The connection in Paris was a little scary, never having done it before. There was a seasoned traveler on our flight to Boston who said she tried to avoid it. We ended up fine and I am glad our flight in Paris was pushed back so we weren’t panicking on the transfer… so just a heads up for folks. And I travel A LOT, lol, (but not internationally)
Conclusion
Ann, once again you do such a great job with these trips. I can’t thank you enough. I don’t know if anyone has taken the bait but I sing your praises every time someone (anywhere in the US) talks to me about traveling. Thank you!
Bob (and Stacey)
