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Because of the 8 hour time difference between Pacific Time and the time in Edinburgh, we didn't arrive until Tuesday morning, 7:50 AM, which was the follow day from when we departed. From the clock time on our airline tickets we departed Orange County at 10:30 AM PT Monday, August 12, 2019, and arrived into Edinburgh at 7:50 AM on Tuesday, August 13, 2019. The total flight time was around 12 hours with about a 1 hour and 40 minute layover in Chicago.
Once we got to "Border Control" at the Edinburgh Airport I was both pleased and disappointed. On most of our previous flights to the United Kingdom we had arrived into Heathrow. The lines at "Border Control" were massive and took a long time to get through. They did not allow citizens of the United States to use the E-Passport lines even though we did have chip enabled E-Passports. Passengers from the European Union and citizens of the United Kingdom with E-Passports could just zip right through an express lane. Sort of like the United States Global Entry Program which we have.
On our last trip to the United Kingdom I found that we had made so many trips to the U.K. that we qualified for their "Registered Traveler" Program. Once enrolled, that would allow us to zip through Border Control whenever we came to the U.K. just like we do whenever we return to the U.S. We got our approval and had the paperwork with us. All we had to do was go through the old slow way one more time before we got our final approval to use the express lanes. But, as I looked up how to finalize our "Registered Traveler" approval, I found they are no longer giving Registered Traveler status to United States citizens. The reason for this is that they are finally allowing United States citizens with E-Passports to use the express lanes and thus there is no longer any need for them to have "Registered Traveler" status.
When we got to "Border Control" we just zipped right through with just our Passport and Our Face without ever seeing or talking to a Border Control agent! Thus we weren't even able to see anyone to show them our Registered Traveler approval paperwork to get it finalized. But evidently there is no point to it anyway since our E-Passport just zips us through Border Control anyway. I wonder if they will give us refunds on our application fees?
Once through Border Control we just picked up our luggage which came really fast and headed through the "Nothing To Claim" door. We found ourselves right at the airport exit with no further agents to look at our documents or ask us about the contents of our luggage.
There are many inexpensive buses that depart from the Edinburgh Airport to various locations. We found that there was one called "Airlink 100" that would take us right to Haymarket in Edinburgh where our hotel is located! It was less than 8 GBP ($9.64 USD) for a round-trip ticket per adult. The bus is double-decker but is designed with plenty of luggage space on the lower level. It was about a 30 minute ride to our stop at the Haymarket Railway Station. Right in front of where we were dropped off was the "Haymarket Hub Hotel". We went direct to the registration desk. Unfortunately, this was the wrong "Haymarket Hub Hotel". Our hotel was the "Premiere Inn Hub Hotel at Haymarket". It was only 250 feet away but we decided to take a taxi because of all our luggage. The fare only came to 2.60 GBP as I think that was the minimum fare for any trip. The taxi driver was great helping us with all our luggage. Because it was such a short trip and the driver was so friendly and helpful, I gave him a 5 pound note and told him to keep the change. I've had past experiences with taxi drivers that would get angry when my destination was only a half mile away but sometimes even such a short distance is just too far when you have a lot of heavy luggage in tow.
Unfortunately the hotel would not be able to register us and let us into our room until the 2 PM check-in time but they would store our luggage for free until then. Since "Fringe Festival 2019" was going on in Edinburgh for almost the entire month of August, most hotels were pretty full.
We decided that to kill sometime we would do the "Hop On Hop Off" bus tours of Edinburgh. We had done them at least once, maybe twice, before on our previous visits to Edinburgh. But, we figured this would be a good refresher about the sights and layout of the city.
Though we could have taken the tram that goes from pretty close to our hotel in Haymarket, down Prince Street, to the bottom of Waverley Bridge where the Tour Buses start, we decided instead to take Uber. We were pretty tired from our flight and weren't ready to start exploring how to use the local tram system. The Uber came right away and cost less than 6 GBP ($7 USD) for the ride.
For a 48 hour (2 day) pass to do all 3 routes for Senior Citizens the cost was 22 GBP each ($26.53 USD) or 44 GBP ($53.06 USD) for the two of us. The first one we did was the Green Route which had a live English speaking narrator. We enjoyed that route the best even though we had trouble understanding everything the narrator was saying with his heavy Scottish accent. But he did try to be humorous and had us laughing a number of times. Next we took the Red Route that concentrates on the highlights of the city center. Finally we took the Blue Route, the "Majestic Route", which goes way outside the city even down to the cruise terminal port.
I didn't take very many photos on these Hop On Hop Off rides since I had taken dozens of photos before from my prior rides on these tours. To see the photos that I took from these prior Hop On Hop Off bus tours of Edinburgh, please click on these links:
Click on each photo below for a larger image.
Above Left: Semi-enclosed upper deck of the Green Route Hop-On Hop-Off Bus with a live English speaking narrator. It was a bit cold that day. Barbara and I usually don't sit in an open upper deck on these double decker tour buses as we have each gotten colds from prior trips being exposed to the cold raw and rainy weather. The first front third of this bus had a roof so it wasn't so bad sitting under that roof. It did start getting a bit cold by the time we got near the end of the tour so we sat in the lower level for the next two Hop-On Hop-Off Bus route tours.
Above Right: A bagpipe player at the tour bus starting location. This photos was taken from the bus. A bagpipe player is there playing for most of the day everyday.
Above: Edinburgh Parliament Building. According to the tour bus narrator not many of the locals like the look of this modern design building.
"Greyfriars Bobby (May 4, 1855 - January 14, 1872) was a Skye Terrier who became known in 19th-century Edinburgh for spending 14 years guarding the grave of his owner until he died himself on 14 January 1872. The story continues to be well known in Scotland, through several books and films. A prominent commemorative statue and nearby graves are a tourist attraction." - Wikipedia. For more information about Greyfriars Bobby from Wikipedia, click here. The nose is so bright because so many tourists touch it. Our tour guide said they've had to replace the nose four times already. As you can see from the above photos, there is a bar named in honor of Greyfriars Bobby. For more information about the Greyfriars Bobby's Bar, click here.
The Fringe Festival 2019 goes on for almost the entire month of August every year. When we booked this trip we had no idea it would be going on while we are here. There are thousands of performances during the festival including music of every genre, theater, art, comedy, photography, etc. We are hoping to attend some of the jazz, classic rock and other live performances while we are in Edinburgh. They publish a guide to the events which is almost the size of a phone book! To learn more about the annual Fringe Festival, click here.
Click on each photo above for a larger image.
After the 3 Hop-On Hop-Off bus tours it was after 2 PM. We took an Uber back to our hotel. We were so tired from the flight, jet lag, and lack of sleep, that we slept right through to the next morning!
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