Exploring Edinburgh - Day 1 - Travel and First Day Arrival

April 3 2026·1834 words·9 mins

It Begins
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After a taxi ride out to the Edmonton airport, getting my bags checked in, security, and the inevitable wait at the gate, I set out on the 11:15 a.m. flight to Toronto, where I’d have a 3.5-hour layover before the flight to Edinburgh.

We Flew Over My Old Stomping Grounds
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We Flew Over Central Saskatchewan - where I was born and raised

During the flight I could hardly miss the entertainment modules on the rear of the seats. These screens display movies, games, real-time maps showing the plane’s present position, and even camera views from outside the plane itself. This level of potential distraction during a plane flight was all new to me, since it’s been many, many years since I’ve flown.

One of the map views was a virtual “cockpit”, showing the plane’s speed, altitude, and a virtual display of what it would look like on the ground at the present location. I was tickled to see that we flew directly over the area in Saskatchewan where I was born and raised. Pretty cool.

Pearson Airport, Toronto
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We reached the airport in Toronto, where the weather was rainy and gloomy. After traipsing up and down the long restaurant and newsstand-lined corridors in the Toronto airport, time already started to seem like a meaningless concept.

Eventually I was able to board the Air Canada flight to Edinburgh. It then seemed like an age before we were in the air. We had a long delay and just sat there near the gate. We had to be de-iced, then we learned there was a problem with the in-flight entertainment system. It never was fixed because during the flight all the cool maps that show the plane’s position had us flying to Dublin, Ireland.

I double-checked my ticket. 😁

The Experience of the Trans-Atlantic Flight
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The experience of the flight was as good as could be expected, and I was right not to expect very much. That’s not a comment on the service; I don’t see how it could have been better. This is a comment on the sheer amount of room airlines pack ~~cattle~~ human beings into the big tube that is a plane’s fuselage.

About a month after returning from my trip to Scotland, I happened to watch an informative YouTube video that toured through the Tower of London" that describes a “Little Ease”, or sometimes called an “Oubliette”. These were medieval prison cells used throughout Europe, intentionally designed for interrogation and psychological torture. The cell was built so small that an inmate could not stand, sit, or lie down comfortably, forcing prisoners to crouch or contort their bodies for days at a time.

As a 6 ft, 1 inch human, I was immediately reminded of what I experienced as the slow torture sitting in an airline seat in economy during the flight over the Atlantic. It was hours at a time, not days, and the only “interrogation” was from the stewards and stewardesses asking if you wanted either pretzels or peanuts. But everything else in that description of the “Little Ease” seemed to match my experience. In short, it was an extended act of sheer endurance in what was a cramped prison during the entire flight.

Arriving in Edinburgh
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Sunrise from the plane window just before we descend through the cloud cover

At long last the entertainment console maps were telling us we were close to Edinburgh and about to land. This was a red-eye flight, so until now it was pitch black outside. But gradually a rising sun signalled a new day locally, and we descended through the thick cloud cover to land at Edinburgh airport.

The process of entering the country was very smooth. I had filled out and paid online for a “UK ETA” (Electronic Travel Authorisation) months before. At customs, half the room was set aside for Commonwealth nations as well as a few others— I noticed the Norwegian flag— and the other half of the room was for other countries. The “Commonwealth” side was completely empty and the “other” side was chock full of people snaking in lines waiting to talk to customs officials. At the end of the line on the “Commonwealth” side, there were only scanning machines. You simply placed your passport on the scanner, it matched the passport to the UK ETA, and in seconds the gate in front of you turned green, allowing you to officially enter Scotland.

I don’t world travel much, so I had no idea that process would be so smooth.

After fetching my luggage, I towed it out to the main corridor and found a cash machine in the hallway, just where a map of the airport I’d studied beforehand said it would be. I wasn’t sure at all how well Apple Pay on the phone or my debit or credit cards would act when I bought things, so I was determined to get some cash. That process was over in about 2 minutes - very smooth again. It turned out that was the only cash I needed my entire trip.

The impressive and unique Edinburgh sign at the airport

To Chill or Go Sightseeing?
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Then I had another decision to make. It was about 8 a.m. in the morning local time, but I’d completely lost track of what time was for me. With little to no actual sleep during the entire flight, I was running past 24 hours without sleep, I’m sure. (I have never bothered to do the actual time math, but I tell you 24 hours is what it felt like.) I couldn’t check into my accommodation until 3 p.m. that day, so I could either simply continue to chill and maybe slump over my luggage and cat nap a bit or take the tram downtown and do a moderate amount of sightseeing.

I decided I had enough energy to go sightseeing. I took the tram from the airport to the Princes Street stop, used a service to stow my luggage near there and I started off on my mini-tour.

Water of Leith Walkway
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Walking down the slope toward the Water of Leith

Before arriving, I’d planned a short route along a portion of the Water of Leith Walkway in case I had the energy on the first day. The vintage of the old stone buildings lining the streets in every direction was new and mesmerizing to me as I made my way down towards the river Leith. Pre-planned route and waypoints on the mapping app on my phone made it easy to navigate to a spot at the Dean’s Brae Bridge I’d seen often in pictures beforehand.

What I wasn’t quite ready for was all the other tourists at the spot who had exactly the same idea as I had. I had to wait for a number of them to clear before being able to take a shot of what really did seem like a fairy-tale scene in front of me. I took a number of pictures of the same general area as I circled up and around on the streets along the riverbank.

I continued across a local bridge and onto the actual “Walk of Leith” for a short stint. After reaching a walking bridge that took me to the south side of the river again, I made my way back to Princes Street as planned.

The Water of Leith Walkway
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(Click to see a larger version)

The view of the Water of Leith from the Deans Brae Bridge

A same building as seen from the The Deans Brae Bridge from the opposite angle - thats the bridge on the right

The Water of Leith from a little further down the walkway

Walking along the Water of Leith Walkway

Locals wouldnt look twice at this scene, but I loved the new buildings and the old divided by the fork in the road

Edinburgh Castle and Virtual Caches
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My planned route took me a couple of “virtual” caches in Princes Street Gardens, a large area nestled between the street and the prominent hill on which Edinburgh Castle stands. Virtual caches usually require you to answer questions about the specific spot and almost always require you to prove you were there by taking a picture.

First, I stopped at Ross Fountain, originally built in 1872. After that I walked over to another virtual cache, the unique “Wojtek the Soldier Bear Memorial,” commemorating a Polish bear who had actually been trained to carry artillery shell crates during WWII in Italy. After the war, he was housed in the Edinburgh zoo.

(Click to see a larger version)

The Ross Statue in Princes Street Gardens with Edinburgh Castle commanding the scene

A Selfie at the Wojtek the Soldier Bear Memorial

Now it was time to see if I could check into my accommodation early, which was in a kind of Airbnb-style setup in a flat in the Broomhouse area of the city near the Staughton tram stop. An email to the contact said I could check in early, and after arriving there, and not being able to get in, and another follow-up email, the owner drove over to let me in and give me the tour.

To be honest I was so exhausted that I felt like an extra in the Walking Dead at this point. And it was finally SO good to be near a bed I could lie down on, and even though it was the middle of the afternoon I fell into a blessed 2-hour nap almost instantly.

I was now in Scotland. I was dog-tired, but the adventure had truly begun.