At the start of November, my boyfriend and I went on a ‘belated 21st birthday’ mini break away to Edinburgh. Although I had been to Edinburgh a couple of years ago, Dan had never ventured to the city before so I took this opportunity to show him around the beautiful city.  It was a wonderful 3 days away from my marketing placement, and, for Dan, the trip coincided with his reading week. So, having crammed as much as we could into the 3 days we were there, I thought I would share a few of my favourite photos and sights in a blog post.

We headed to Edinburgh by train, although many will choose to fly. Our train to Edinburgh Waverley was just over 3 hours long and got us right into the heart of the city. We had chosen to stay in the No11 Boutique Hotel. With only a short 15-minute walk to both the new and old town, the hotel, a beautiful Georgian House, was ideal for accessing the sites around Edinburgh. Although we didn’t eat dinner in the restaurant, the full-sottish breakfast that was provided had a lot of options to chose from on its menu and set us up for the day. The lack of roof in the en-suite bathroom, however, was a tad peculiar. Nevertheless, I'd definitely consider staying there again should we revisit the city in the future. 

Edinburgh offers plenty to see and do. Fortunately, a lot of the sights in Edinburgh can be seen/ done without parting with your hard earned cash.  There were, however, a couple of sites that we opted to pay for to get the full Edinburgh experience.

Old Town - Royal Mile

In Edinburgh's 'Old Town', the Royal Mile encompasses the walk from Holyrood Palace / Scottish Parliament, up to Edinburgh Castle. Between the two, you are treated to the beautiful buildings and traditional 'closes' up and down the entire 'mile'.  Although I’ve never seen so much cashmere in my life walking through the old town, you cannot run out of the beautiful scenery of this stretch of road.

New Town 

Edinburgh New Town is equally as elegant with its abundance of shops (your more traditional high street stores this time), beautifully kept parks and spacious streets, all with an outstanding view of the castle towering above. 

National Museum of Scotland (FREE/ Donation)

This museum is a beautifully planned out museum showing the different eras of Scottish history and my big-kid mentality particularly enjoyed the technology and transport sections that were host to interactive activities. I particularly enjoyed the cycle race situated alongside the taxidermy animals where you have to try and outrace (out-pedal) a cheetah. 

We spent 2 hours in the museum and were there until it closed as there is so much to see! The building itself is also worth a look, particularly the rooftop terrace on level 7 which overlooks the castle.


Scottish National Portrait Gallery (FREE/Donation)

On our last day in Edinburgh, we found ourselves with some spare time to kill before our train so decided to explore the portrait gallery. Housed in a beautiful building, the gallery offers different kinds of visual art, and traditional art and offers a great pit stop on a rainy day if galleries are of interest to you. 

Scottish Parliament Building

Not usually somebody to pay much interest in politics, I surprised myself with how much I enjoyed my visit to parliament. At the Scottish Parliament, you are free to look around (within reason) of your own accord or take part in a guided tour. We lead ourselves around the Parliament building but were also fortunate to have timed our visit to coincide with a live parliamentary session. This meant we were able to sit in while the politicians were debating which I found fascinating. 


Calton Hill

Calton Hill is situated at the end of Princes Street in the new town. The views of, and from, Calton Hill were probably the highlight of my second trip to Edinburgh. Calton Hill, more than just a 103m hill, is host to several iconic monuments and buildings, including the National Monument and Nelson Monument. I'd strongly encourage you to climb Calton Hill (it's not as scary as it sounds I promise) as the views are not to be missed.

-Becca Champagne Pop Highlighter

-Hourglass Luminous Flush Blusher 

-Ted Baker Makeup Books

-MAC Satin Taupe

 I’ve been fortunate to redeem a number of experience day vouchers recently, so to follow on from my last experience review (HERE), I wanted to talk about my London Lunch Cruise.  The voucher was bought through Red Letter Days as part of a combined voucher, complete with a View of the Shard (of which we visited earlier on in the year). This particular lunch cruise is hosted by Bateaux Cruises who run river cruises in both London and Windsor - I personally opted for the London Cruise.

I had a number of hiccups actually booking this cruise. Firstly the Red Letter Days website wouldn't let me use my online voucher code as I had already redeemed half of it back in March when visiting The Shard. Fortunately, the Red Letter Days customer service were incredibly helpful and they sent me another code.  I then opted to book the cruise over the phone so that I could discuss available dates, although there is also an option to book the cruise online. A word of warning if you are planning to phone Bateaux Cruises; expect to wait for ages to actually get through to speak to somebody. There were 3 occasions where I had to phone their customer service helpline and I spent a minimum of 35 minutes each time on hold to get no apology when they finally answered. Nevertheless, I was able to book the cruise just over a month in advance for the middle of August, half hoping the glorious summer weather would last. True to British weather, this was not the case but since the cruise operates in all weather conditions, the fact that the day was slightly breezy and overcast didn't spoil our experience too much. 

The lunch cruise from Red Letter Days is sold as a 90-minute lunch cruise, complete with a sightseeing commentary and a three-course meal. However, do not be fooled, you are paying for 2 courses (main and dessert) and for tea, coffee and tap water. Should you want a starter or an alternative drink, you will have to fork out the added expense which, for a small Gin & Tonic would be £7/8 and starters started at £3, which when you have already paid £36 each, is annoying. 

The food options change seasonally, however, our two courses consisted of Roasted Breast of English Chicken with Aged Parmesan risotto, wild mushrooms, watercress puree and pan jus, and our dessert was Pistachio and Apricot Torte with Apricot coulis, crème anglaise and mint poache. The main course was delicious, and the dessert was nice, however, I'd have much preferred a chocolate based dessert as the torte wasn't particularly up my street. The portion sizes were fairly small but neatly presented. Don't get me wrong,  the food was good, but not worth the price tag of £36 for two courses when I've had nicer meals elsewhere.

In terms of sightseeing, the cruise allowed us to see the Houses of Parliament, St. Paul's Cathedral, Big Ben, The Shard, Tower Bridge, Tate Modern, The London Eye and the Tower of London, to name just a few.  Not having a window seat meant most of the landmarks were missed as we couldn't see much out of the window from where we were sat, in the middle of the room and away from the window. The commentary over the sound system was at a tolerable volume, however, it was unclear to us as it appeared to be running 5 minutes ahead of the view. Nevertheless, the commentary was informative and interesting. If we'd some guidance given on timings for food, we'd have been able to spend more time on the rooftop space, however, we’d gone outside in a rush between courses knowing we were short on time, and, annoyingly, the audio wasn't played on the boat terrace so we had to observe the views on-deck without commentary. 

I do not want this post to come across as ungrateful as I thoroughly enjoyed the cruise, however, I wanted to offer constructive feedback, should you be intending to purchase this cruise for a friend or family member, or to treat yourselves.

Have you tried a London Lunch Cruise?

You can buy a voucher for a Bateaux London Thames Lunch Cruise HERE