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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ooooh yay!! Another Scotland journey! I love your travel/adventure trips as birthday gifts. Brilliant!
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Tanya
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I have a friend who went to the Tattoo years ago and RAVED about it. (She did NOT have tipping down rain)
I agree about trips being great gifts - we've been doing that a lot more. Alaska was Ryan's graduation trip, and Hawaii will be Kelsey's high school, and Ryan's college, graduation trip. Having experiences, in my opinion, is so much better than accumulating more stuff.
I have a friend who went to the Tattoo years ago and RAVED about it. (She did NOT have tipping down rain)
Mark's mum said to us last night that she loved it - despite the tipping down rain, so I think that says something...
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I agree about trips being great gifts - we've been doing that a lot more. Alaska was Ryan's graduation trip, and Hawaii will be Kelsey's high school, and Ryan's college, graduation trip. Having experiences, in my opinion, is so much better than accumulating more stuff.
Sounds like an amazing event and experience for the two of you! I saw this in your countdown several days ago and looked it up and sounds like something I would enjoy so much! I love the Scottish music and when there is bagpipes I'm sold.
At my younger brother's wedding several years ago being the best man I remember coming out of the church and having a surprise. One of the bridesmaids brothers plays bagpipes and he was just outside of the church playing this as we exited. I didn't know this beforehand and as I was exiting the church with the guests and wedding party it pretty much brought me to tears! It was quite an emotional day and especially being best man (we had two as my older brother was the other. The groom couldn't pick just one! ) Being up at the altar I almost lost it a few times. A great day and so happy for the two of them and a great couple to this day! The bagpipes just did me in. It was in NY state around Middletown area. When you hear Scotland The Brave and Amazing Grace on the pipes, it's a wow moment! Even though the standard pipe songs.
Plans look great and I didn't know you'd do a TR on this but always welcome! Looking forward to your experience at this event. Although, an indoor event it would be more amazing at a Roman amphitheatre with the amazing acoustics you get there. Would be perfect for this!
Perhaps, a good idea that Mark can't take his whiskey home and he'll behave for once!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Last edited by SuperDave; 08-22-2017 at 10:40 PM..
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Sounds like an amazing event and experience for the two of you! I saw this in your countdown several days ago and looked it up and sounds like something I would enjoy so much! I love the Scottish music and when there is bagpipes I'm sold.
I think you would love it then....
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At my younger brother's wedding several years ago being the best man I remember coming out of the church and having a surprise. One of the bridesmaids brothers plays bagpipes and he was just outside of the church playing this as we exited. I didn't know this beforehand and as I was exiting the church with the guests and wedding party it pretty much brought me to tears! It was quite an emotional day and especially being best man (we had two as my older brother was the other. The groom couldn't pick just one! ) Being up at the altar I almost lost it a few times. A great day and so happy for the two of them and a great couple to this day! The bagpipes just did me in. It was in NY state around Middletown area. When you hear Scotland The Brave and Amazing Grace on the pipes, it's a wow moment! Even though the standard pipe songs.
Oh wow, it sounds like a wonderful day.
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Plans look great and I didn't know you'd do a TR on this but always welcome!
I wasn't sure if I would either, it was a fairly last minute decision....
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Looking forward to your experience at this event. Although, an indoor event it would be more amazing at a Roman amphitheatre with the amazing acoustics you get there. Would be perfect for this!
Perhaps, a good idea that Mark can't take his whiskey home and he'll behave for once!
Pre-trip report – part two: how am I going to tell him?
So now with the tickets booked to the Tattoo, our hotel booked for the night, and our flights booked, we were set, and this was all by early December 2016.
Now the slight problem I had was that this was a birthday and Christmas 2017 present for Mark, and Mark’s birthday is in early September. I think you can work out that the trip was actually due to take place before either his birthday or Christmas, so at some point, I’d have to tell him what was planned… hmmm….
I thought about it for a while, and I eventually decided that the most sensible way to do it was while we were in Edinburgh at the end of our two week road trip around Scotland with Mari and Raleigh. I planned that it would be over our last dinner with them, and I did fill Mari in on my plans earlier on in the day, so that she at least had a clue what I was up to.
Now here’s a sneak peek ahead in the Scotland road trip report, if you’re following that (and if not, heck, why not? You’ve already missed so much – trust me! ), and here’s how it all went:
We put our orders in, and then I finally told Mark what this year’s birthday and Christmas present is. I was tempted to do it earlier in the trip, as when we’d stayed at Mallaig, he’d started to talk about always wanting to go to see the Edinburgh Military Tattoo that takes place each year, and guess what we’re doing? I booked the tickets at the end of last year, and flights. We fly up on a Saturday morning, and back the following night, seeing the 10:30pm show. It’s the last of the season, and comes with extended fireworks. It’s also a Bank Holiday weekend, which means that we have the Monday off, so that all worked out perfectly, and I think it’s fair to say he was very pleased with that! Mari did ask if I’d got four tickets, so they could come back… sadly not.
When we got home from that trip, this was the next trip we had, apart from the excitement of some days out in London for the World Athletics Championships at the London Olympic Stadium so it was time to start planning. I quickly realised that, although we had the Saturday night taken care of, we still had quite a chunk of time to fill up there. I already knew that we’d already seen a lot of the city as well, so some of the more obvious visitor attractions were out.
In June 2012, we flew up to Scotland for a day trip with my friend Wendy, and that was the first time I’d ever actually been in Scotland, I am ashamed to say. We went for the major sights, spending the morning in Edinburgh Castle, then we walked all the way down the Royal Mile, and trust me, it feels like a mile when you do that and then we visited the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
Our next visit there was in January 2015, when we were staying with our friends Hazel (thomhazel on the boards) and her family, on a road trip that also took in a visit to my parents, Glasgow and Stirliing Castle over a week. We came into Edinburgh for the day with Hazel and her husband Graeme to visit the Royal Yacht Britannia, which is berthed on the waterfront outside the city. We all absolutely loved it, and I think it’s fair to say that we spent a lot longer than we were expecting to.
A year later, we were back there with Hazel and Graeme, when we flew up for two days on 1 January. We headed into Edinburgh for the day and visited the National Museum of Scotland, which was an amazing find. I honestly couldn’t believe how much there was in there. It was so big, like Disney, you just couldn’t see it all in one day. At first, we were kind of taking it all in, but then it just became overwhelming, especially when we discovered there was one whole other building. We ended up coming away saying we’d definitely have to come back here, so I’m sure you can see where this is going…
We also did afternoon tea at the Balmoral hotel, which was superb and one of the best afternoon teas we’ve ever had, but it wasn’t cheap.
Our final visit to Edinburgh was in June of this year, although we didn’t see a lot of the city itself. We were on our two week road trip with Mari and Raleigh, and we ended up spending one night in a bed and breakfast, before we had to say goodbye to them. We got into Edinburgh in the afternoon and drove around Arthur’s Seat, as we’ve never walked up it, and I thought we’d get some good views of the city skyline. We did get some nice views, but let’s just say walking up to the top of Arthur’s Seat is going to be the only way to get the really stunning views. I doubt we’ll do it, as for once it’s not me who’s the problem, but Mark. He’s still got problems with his ankle, which he managed to twist on Easter Sunday when we were at the Giant’s Causeway.
The next day we then did a sailing out on the Firth of Forth, which was very neat, as we got to sail under the famous Forth road and rail bridges, and the new bridge that’s almost ready to open. We also got to see… oh sorry I haven’t got that far in the trip report yet, have I? I must be careful, spoilers… Cunning Doctor Who reference in there for any fans of that programme. Anyway, it was a very enjoyable cruise.
I deliberately decided to do it, as I knew we could easily drive out there for this, and we wouldn’t have a car for this trip. After all, why would we? We’re flying in one morning, and out the next evening. We’d only have to find somewhere to park it. If we were going outside of Edinburgh, then maybe it would be useful, but we’re not.
So how are we going to get around? Well, I think I mentioned previously about the tram system in Edinburgh. Finally, the darned thing is built and running. I say that, as when we first visited the city in 2012, it was supposed to be in place, but it was running massively over budget, and behind time, so instead of taking a tram from the airport into the city centre, we had to take the bus. The whole city was still being dug up as they desperately tried to finish it up. It wasn’t pleasant, let’s just put it that way.
Since then, of course, on our return visits, we’ve seen the trams running, but we haven’t actually used them, as literally there is only one route that runs from the airport into the city, so that’s what we’ll do this time. It is a pretty impressive set-up, from what I can see from their website, as it even shows you where the trams are, so at least you know how long you’ll have to wait for one. As the tram stop is right outside our hotel, it couldn’t be more convenient if we tried.
During the rest of the weekend, we’ll be doing some walking, as you’d expect, but we’re also going to get tickets for the hop-on, hop-off bus services that run around the city. I’ve found one where you can buy tickets that entitle you to travel on three different routes. One takes you out to the Forth bridges, and allows you to take one of the same boat rides that we took in June, so that one isn’t one we’ll be using. Ironically, had I realised that the bus companies did such a route, I might not have done the boat trip back then, but then again, I’m pleased we did, as it was an amazing experience, and we got to see it with Mari and Raleigh.
There’s a route around Edinburgh itself, which we will be taking, and there’s also a route that takes you further afield, with one of the stops ironically being the Royal Yacht Britannia, so we’ll take that, as there’s at least one stop on that route with somewhere I want to see. More of that to come in the next part of this pre-trip report… I suspect we’ll get frustrated with the traffic along the way, if it’s anything like it was in June, as it was pretty horrendous, and there are reasons why it might be worse in August, but again there’s something else for the next instalment.
The other bonus of the hop-on, hop-off services is that they do discounts, some of which we will be able to take advantage of, and the fact that the website I found offers a 48-hour ticket for literally just £2 more than the 24-hour ticket. Very impressive!
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I remember many of those previous TR's too! Clearly Edinburgh has a lot to offer. Plans are looking good!
I'm sorry to hear Mark's ankle is still bothering him though. At the time of some of these silly injuries it seems like nothing, and then it bothers you for months! Or years..... I feel his pain.
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I remember many of those previous TR's too! Clearly Edinburgh has a lot to offer.
It does, like any good city, you need to go back time and time again to see and do everything.
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Plans are looking good!
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I'm sorry to hear Mark's ankle is still bothering him though. At the time of some of these silly injuries it seems like nothing, and then it bothers you for months! Or years..... I feel his pain.
So do I, as my ankle is starting to play up again, about seven or eight years after I had keyhole surgery on it - I pulled my Achilles. Oh my goodness, one of the worst things I've ever done.
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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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Waiting for our next adventure after enjoying our Alaska cruise. 
I booked the tickets at the end of last year, and flights. We fly up on a Saturday morning, and back the following night, seeing the 10:30pm show. It’s the last of the season, and comes with extended fireworks. It’s also a Bank Holiday weekend, which means that we have the Monday off, so that all worked out perfectly, and I think it’s fair to say he was very pleased with that! 
so it was time to start planning. I quickly realised that, although we had the Saturday night taken care of, we still had quite a chunk of time to fill up there. I already knew that we’d already seen a lot of the city as well, so some of the more obvious visitor attractions were out. 
At first, we were kind of taking it all in, but then it just became overwhelming, especially when we discovered there was one whole other building. 
We ended up coming away saying we’d definitely have to come back here, so I’m sure you can see where this is going… 
I say that, as when we first visited the city in 2012, it was supposed to be in place, but it was running massively over budget, and behind time, so instead of taking a tram from the airport into the city centre, we had to take the bus. The whole city was still being dug up as they desperately tried to finish it up. It wasn’t pleasant, let’s just put it that way. 
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