E7ce716ada6230950d7ecdb9756ce12d

Edinburgh Travel Guide powered by advice from Real Travelers

 Get Real Deal alerts »
Editors Pick

Sample of a more expensive life

From It's just too easy - the search for a challenge in Edinburgh, United Kingdom on Sep 15 '06

Hallilw has visited 1 place in Edinburgh
show more map
Edinburgh Castle on fire
Edinburgh Castle on fire
see all photos »

We did end up finding a better park, we spent a good portion of the day sitting in the sun watching rugby matches, it's a hard-core game, just to note. We made our way back to city center to do some juggling and gather our bike shop options. Like you do when you're putting on a show we attracted some people, one of which was Talan who was from outside Iran and moved to Edinburgh just two weeks previous to go to school. We later learned he was funding his trip through a gambling win and it was quickly burning a hole in his pocket. Talan insisted on showing us around the city. We were not easy to travel with since one of us always had to stay with the bikes. Talan quickly noticed our handicap and insisted that we store our bikes at the hostel he was calling home. With a lot of grunting and groaning Talan carried Tyger up the steps on his own, since non-guests were not allowed into the dorm area. The attendants allowed Tony to carry my bike up after witnessing the trouble Talan had, Tony flew up the steps with ease and I half heartedly tried to explain that Tony's bike was much heavier than mine.

View of Edinburgh
View of Edinburgh
see all photos »

Talan proceeded to taking us to some of Edinburgh's hot spots. We were not dressed for the occasion and Tony was turned out of a few bars due to the fact that he was wearing shorts. We ended up getting into a dance club called Masa's where we drank some free beer and watched the place gradually fill up. Apparently it was a pretty popular club and it filled up by about 11 which was about the time that Talan decided he wanted to go home, since our bikes were under his watch we left the American hip-hop behind and walked back to the hostel. We made our way to our camp spot and slept well. We spent the first half of the next day looking for bike shops. Instead of finding a tire, we uncovered the reason for our low rate of success. The tire was a larger width than other road bikes, specific to Dutch cruisers; we were not going to find the tire we were looking for in Edinburgh. We weighed our options and decided to test our luck in Glasgow.

Catering to tourists
Catering to tourists
see all photos »

Talan got a hold of us later in the afternoon and we ended up tagging along for the evening. We paid five pounds to get a taxi to take us 1/2 a block because Talan didn't want to walk to the bus station in the rain. Then we all got on a double decker bus to meet a guy about a thing and rode back into town sitting in the big front window - crazy view for someone whose used to riding a bike. We returned to the madness and Talan ended up treating us to a night at a hostel - free shower, warm bed, I slept well to say the least. The next morning we took it upon ourselves to see more of Edinburgh, we hiked up a hill on the edge of town and got a pretty good view until it started raining. We lay low for the rest of the day with aspirations of heading towards Glasgow at the next sight of sun.


Would you like to comment or ask a question?

Sign up for a free account, or sign in (if you're already a member).

Where have you been lately?

Share your travels with friends & family

Free travel blog
Sign up for a free travel blog