A Scottish right Royal time! TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 1/10 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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A Scottish right Royal time! TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 1/10
A Scottish right Royal time!
Pre-trip report – part one: “what am I going to buy this year?”
Dates: Saturday 26 – Sunday 27 August Adventurers: Me, Cheryl (44) and DH Mark (51) Destinations: Edinburgh Resorts: Royal Over-Seas League Hotel Meets: None Celebration: Mark’s birthday and Christmas present
I don’t know about you, but I get to the stage with birthday and Christmas presents where you end up thinking “what am I going to buy this year?” and I came to the conclusion a long time ago that perhaps it would be better to do things, rather than buy things. That way, we’d have experiences to remember, so that’s what I usually buy for Mark these days. After all, our house is only so big, and heck, as he’d be the first to say, it’s already full to the rafters with Eeyores, cows, and all sorts of other cuddly toy animals… I don’t know where those came from?
For this year, I decided that it was about time we did something Mark has talked about for years, as heck, life is too darned short, as we all know only too well. So what was it? Well, Mark’s talked about going to see the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo for about as long as I can remember. However, he’s never really sold it to me that much with his description of how his parents went to see it, and it tipped down with rain, and they got drenched. I don’t think it helped that they were on a coach tour, and they then had a lengthy drive back to wherever they were staying the night. The impression I got was that, no matter how spectacular the show was, it wasn’t a great evening because of those reasons.
For a couple of years, I’d kept an eye on the Tattoo website, and I knew that the tickets went on sale on 1 December, but each year, I kept finding other things that we could do as a present. However, I figured it was about time we got round to doing this, and of course the fact that we were going to be doing a two week road trip around Scotland helped me to come to that decision as well!
For those who haven’t heard of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo before, it’s an annual event that features the British Armed Forces and military bands from around the Commonwealth and further afield. It’s held each August in Edinburgh Castle. Wikipedia tells me that the term “tattoo” was first used in Holland in the 17th century. A signal was played to tavern owners each night by the regiment’s Corps of Drum to signal them that they needed to turn the taps off of their ale kegs, so they could get the soldiers back to their barracks at a reasonable hour. Tattoo then went on to mean the last duty call of the day, as well as a ceremonial form of evening entertainment performed by military musicians.
The first public military tattoo that took place in Edinburgh was back in 1949 in one of the park bandstands and then the first official tattoo was held the next year, with just eight items in the programme. It drew 5,000 spectators, but since then, the capacity has been increased to more like 8,000 people. It sells out each year in advance, and there are performances every weekday evening, and twice on a Saturday night throughout August. Now here’s where the experience that Mark’s parents had comes into play. It’s never been cancelled due to the famous inclement weather, so if it rains, frankly you’re going to get wet…
The Tattoo is run for charitable causes, and over the years, it’s given more than £5 million to military and civilian charities and organisations.
Each year, there’s a “lead” service from the British Armed Forces, which alternates between the Navy, Royal Marines, Army and Royal Air Force, and this year it’s the turn of the Navy. The theme for this year is Splash of Tartan. Amongst those taking part this year is the Indian Naval Band, Hjaltibonhoga (and no, I have no clue about how to pronounce that either! ) from Shetland, the Tattoo Dance Company (a highland dance team), and the Japanese Ground Self Defence Force Central Band. Apparently there will be a piece from the Band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, which will tell the story of the Jacobites. Now that’s going to be particularly interesting for us now, given we got to visit the battle field of Culloden, where the Jacobites were massacred, during our Scotland road trip.
When I decided which performance to go to, I was swayed by the fact that the second performance on the Saturday night, which starts at 10:30pm (it’s going to be a late night! ) also includes a firework display. Well, I knew Mark was going to love that. It just so happened that the final performance of the whole month fell on Saturday 26 August, which is on a Bank Holiday weekend. That means that the Monday will be a Bank Holiday and a day off, so a three day weekend. At least then we could head up on the Saturday morning, come back on the Sunday night, and still have the Monday to relax at home.
So fast forward to 1 December when the tickets went on sale. I knew what date I wanted. I will confess here that I had cheated a bit, and I’d already got our hotel booked. The reason for that was the prices for the Saturday night were just insane. I saw some places listed for £400 (c.$500), and once was even £1,000 (c. $1,250) !
I wanted to get a place that had free cancellation, just in case it didn’t work out with getting the tickets for any reason, and of course I didn’t have flights booked as of yet either. I found a place that offered that, so although I had to pay up front, I at least knew I could cancel it without penalty up until 24 hours beforehand. It’s a place that had good reviews on TripAdvisor, and came with free Wi-Fi and free breakfast, and was a mere snip at just £225 ($282). Really, it’s still an appalling price, but I wanted somewhere near to the castle, so we could just walk back after the tattoo, rather than staying further out, and having to try and mess around with a bus, train or taxi back. I figured that would be a nightmare, with a few thousand other people looking to do the same thing, and of course there’s always the fear that you might miss the last train etc.
It’s called the Royal Over-Seas League Hotel and it looks like an interesting place, as the League itself is all about “championing international friendship and understanding through the Commonwealth and beyond”. It’s a non-profit private members’ club, and they have “clubhouses” in London and Edinburgh. It’s in a wonderful location, just about 10 minutes or so walk from Edinburgh Castle, and it’s literally right by a tram stop, which run directly to the airport. Some of the rooms even have views of the castle and Princes Garden, so who knows, we may luck out and get one of those…
When the tickets went on sale, I had no issue getting tickets. In fact, I was able to site there for some time and fathom out exactly which ones I wanted. If you wanted those that are undercover, you are looking at some serious money – and I mean serious! These are known as the Royal Gallery seats and they are £300 (c. $375) per person! Even the next price tier down, which is £125 (c. $156) isn’t under cover. I managed to snag tickets very near to both of these price tiers, so I figured the view had to be pretty good.
Once I had those purchased, then the next thing I needed to do was sort out the flights to get to and from Edinburgh. It’s a bit too far to drive, as it would take over seven hours each way. If we had a couple of days off from work, then perhaps it would have been do-able, but not when you’ve only got a weekend.
I ended up getting some good flight times that I was very happy with. We fly out early in the morning on the Saturday, arriving in Edinburgh at around 10:00am, if the flight’s on time, and we leave at 9:00pm the next day, so we really do have two full days in the city. We’re not taking any checked luggage with us, as we’re only going for one night, so it’s hand luggage only, which should be fine. We’ve done it before, it’s just a pain if you want to purchase any liquid as souvenirs… so I guess Mark won’t be getting any whisky while we’re there then.
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So what was it? Well, Mark’s talked about going to see the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo for about as long as I can remember. However, he’s never really sold it to me that much with his description of how his parents went to see it, and it tipped down with rain, and they got drenched. I don’t think it helped that they were on a coach tour, and they then had a lengthy drive back to wherever they were staying the night. The impression I got was that, no matter how spectacular the show was, it wasn’t a great evening because of those reasons. 
) from Shetland, the Tattoo Dance Company (a highland dance team), and the Japanese Ground Self Defence Force Central Band. Apparently there will be a piece from the Band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, which will tell the story of the Jacobites. Now that’s going to be particularly interesting for us now, given we got to visit the battle field of Culloden, where the Jacobites were massacred, during our Scotland road trip. 
) also includes a firework display. Well, I knew Mark was going to love that. It just so happened that the final performance of the whole month fell on Saturday 26 August, which is on a Bank Holiday weekend. That means that the Monday will be a Bank Holiday and a day off, so a three day weekend. At least then we could head up on the Saturday morning, come back on the Sunday night, and still have the Monday to relax at home. 
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