Edinburgh Scotland // Maiitikaa's Life

Hi, people!!!!

So this is the video I promised, took my time to post it on the blog...if you have any question about it or about Scotland or just anything I'll be pleased to answer!!!

Enjoy the video, I'll make sure to do more videos from now on, so tell me what you like about it, what you dislike...anything really !! I had fun making the video, hope you'll like it as much as I do...

PLEINS DES BISOUS

HOW TO GO ON A WEEKEND ABROAD FOR 150€ !!!

Hi, guys!

I know I said I wouldn't stay so long without writing a post but with all the work and the travels I was kind of tired!
BUT I AM BACK and with plenty of travels planned and I hope you'll follow me in those adventures!

I made a bet with a friend of mine, to go on a weekend for only 150€ (including transports (plane tickets, bus, hotels, and food) any destination in the world (well Europe in this case being the closest and the cheapest!).
In this post, I want to share with you how I did it and I can only hope that it will help you!

LET'S BEGIN!!!

HOW TO FIND THE CHEAPEST FLIGHT?

KAYAK?

Well the first thing we did was to go to Google and find out where we wanted to go for cheap...that was before I remembered that KAYAK as a great "EVERYWHERE" button that is amazing!! when you just have the dates of your journey and the price, you only have to go on KAYAK and it will do all the job for you!
We just had to look for the best destination!
It took us a moment but finally, we found a return flight for Edinburgh - Scotland for 70€ each.

If you want other tricks to find cheap flights, you have SKYSCANNER which is also amazing or well google but that demands more effort and some more time since you can't rush yourself and book the first flight only because it's written low cost on the front page!

AFTER THE FLIGHT YOU NEED A HOSTEL!

I have to admit that since I've been to Edinburgh before I already knew the perfect youth hostel to go to!
St Christopher's Inn...perfectly situated by the Waverly Bridge...meaning in the City center, so we could do everything on foot.
We went directly to the hostel's website and booked a dormitory of 12 for 25€ for 2 nights per person!

TOTAL: 100€ per person leaving us with 50€ for food and extras. 


What I find amazing in a youth hostel is the people, you always find people you can connect with and become friend with, sharing your experiences of the world and enjoy your stay, away from your home and people you usually hang out with...During my, stay I had the chance to speak with a Canadian guy named Francis (or Frank), who was really cool and I discovered a lot about Quebec that I did not know and even though we both speak French...make no mistakes... it's NOT the same FRENCH...mostly I understood what he meant but sometimes it was almost easier just to speak in English!
I also met an amazing Australian named Jason ( I don't have to mentioned that the only fact that he was Australian made him my friend even if he didn't want to...he had no other choice! haha) but really he was great and funny, I was curious on how he felt to travel so far alone but it seems to be the most natural thing in the world to him...that's what I like, to hear about people's story and their passions! 
Well just to say what great people you can meet when you go out in the Big Wild World!

About the hostel...we tried the PUB CRAWL it was 7£ for 7bars if I remember correctly (people will tell me if I'm wrong later haha) hum I wasn't really amazed by it, I liked 1 pub over 4, yes I didn't stay 'till the end because the majority of the pubs weren't my style, I was with my friends so it wasn't too bad but really it's not the best I did ...and frankly I think that Edinburgh hide better pubs than those we went into!

THEN QUITE IMPORTANT...THE FOOD!!

One place that is quite amazing nearby WAVERLY BRIDGE is the Waverly Mall!! combine with the train station of Edinburgh, the Waverly mall is covered and there are quite a few shops and fast food to go to, but if you want to eat for less that 10£ (yeah let's do this one in £ because we planned 50€ for two meal per day, including the fact that we had free breakfast in the hostel!) Well we paid exactly 4,05£ for a bottle of water, a good meal, and  fruits for desert...I think we did great!!! the shop we went to is SAINSBURY'S! 
There is also a nice place near the mall just before the bridge where you can eat with a nice view over the City!

PLACES TO VISIT!!

My mantra is "GET LOST, it's the best way to visit!" and usually I'm right...I said usually because you can't really get lost everywhere...I've already been to Edinburgh once and coming back was strange...but in an amazing way...it was like I never left or more like this feeling you have when you know a place by heart and you finally return after a long time away...I felt that way, I knew where to go and I could find my way without stopping every minute to look at a map...and yet it was still awesome to discover this city again, to find spots I didn't the first time and experience that peaceful and resting feeling again!

STILL GIVING YOU SOME MUST DO:

• CALTON HILL
• ARTHUR'S SEAT
• HOLYROOD PARK
• EDINBURGH CASTLE
• THE ROYAL MILE (VERY NICE)
• NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SCOTLAND
• THE GRASSMARKET AND VICTORIA STREET

You can find out the rest by going there yourself, I promise it's worth the flight (which you can see isn't that expensive!)

A FEW TIPS:

• Do not change your money at Edinburgh Airport, it will cost you more than if you had to change your money before you go and if you're like me and you forget or you're just too lazy to do it before, change your money at the ATM of the airport next to the EXCHANGE COUNTER, it will still cost you more than at the exchange counter of your country but less than the airport one!
• When you're at the airport, there's a bus (CITYLINK) that will take you directly to the City center...the best thing to do is to take the return ticket, this way you already have your return and don't need to be careful about it in your spendings and you can use days after (for example I took the return ticket one Friday and use my return on Sunday)...only important...very important thing, make sure you don't lose it during your stay, put it in your passport or something that you won't forget or lose!  
• EASYJET, funny thing to know about EasyJet is that if you're only carrying a cabin luggage well it might (or not depends on God knows what) end up with the checked baggage in the cargo compartment of the aircraft, it quite a surprise I had when my Forclaz 50L was taken away from me at the airplane door for the only reason that...well I'm still not sure of the reasons since it was with me in the cabin during the first flight (but companies are different about so be careful) hiking kind of bags might end up there even if they fit to be in cabin's locker...do not be stressed they WON'T charge you an extra for it! It's a free service, it's just annoying to have to wait for your luggage in the end.

A NICE PLACE TO BRUNCH!

On our last day in Edinburgh, we still wanted to eat something else that the "to go" meal from SAINSBURY'S and as we stroll one last time in this beautiful city, we found, in a street offset...a nice café in screaming pink color and yummy cakes in the showcase!

one hesitation later we were inside ordering our brunch! the inside was warm and cozy, the staff was super nice and thoughtful considering my friend gluten free diet... GLUTEN FREE PEOPLE...THIS PLACE IS GREAT FOR YOU! I know how uneasy it is to eat outside when you have a certain diet like my friend so everytime I find a place like this one where it's easier, I want the world to know about it!
Oh, and I have to tell you they have one amazing CHEESE!!! it's called Halloumi And guys... that was just wow!! everything was awesomely good but that Cheese was a really good surprise! and we paid 8£ the meal.

(Couldn't help it with that one...I'm a Game Of Thrones fan after all!)

Hope you enjoyed this post, and you'll go to Scotland soon to appreciate how amazing this Country is!

What is the country that you think is the most resting in the world?

PLEINS DES BISOUS

OTHER POSTS YOU COULD LIKE:

• GUIDE TO SCOTLAND
• SCOTLAND - EDINBURGH
• SCOTLAND - INVERNESS
• SCOTLAND - GLASGOW

CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR!!

Hi everyone, I wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year...hope you had a great time, with your family, your friends, your beloved or even in the other end of this beautiful planet!!

I know it's been a while since my last post, but you know with Christmas and all, it's a pretty busy time, to me this time of year is important, it's about family, cooking together, wearing ugly sweater, decorating, eating, drinking (mostly champomy and Monbazillac, I'm not really a Champagne person...I know WHAT??? but I just don't like the taste) and enjoying every moment (singing Disney song, dancing Ally McBeal dance...dancing again and opening presents...) all those moments that are to cherish especially for us travelers!

Because being a traveler and living our dreams also means that we are away a lot and that isn't always easy, missing birthdays or celebration of any kind...it's even harder... family being everything to me...but it's also very important to purchase what you want for yourself and not restrain it because of that love, I usually go abroad for a short period of time, 2 months being the longest I've stayed away (wanna know the reason changing life explains it all), but I'll try it again one day I'm sure of it, to me it would be an accomplishment to go for a very long time and just try to handle my life without my family's help all the time!

WHAT ABOUT 2017?

In 2016 I traveled a lot, like really a lot compared to every other year, Canary Islands, Malta, Morocco, USA, London, Montpellier, Amsterdam... so I've decided that I really didn't want it to stop and continue my adventures...so...

For now, 2017 Looks like this...EDINBURGH, PRAGUE, BUDAPEST, ICELAND, ONE SURPRISE WEEKEND I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT and some others that are still being planned, so I'll wait for them to be ready and tell you then...what I can tell you now is that if they become real...it's gonna be a hell of a year!!

I still have so much to see and to do it's unbelievable how short a year is when you really are enjoying yourself...I mean a year goes fast normally but when you're finally on the right way, not confused about what you want if you should do it or not!
Things are a lot...I won"t say easier because you have to work quite hard to get what you want but..I would say things are just lighter, not like before when I felt like I had the weight of the world on my shoulders!

THIS FEELS GOOD!

What about you? what did you do for Christmas (we already know that I danced, sang, ate, drank, and had great gifts)? and most important what are your plans for 2017? 

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