Touch down Edinburgh

Ok so there is a lot to talk about. Firstly I'm here and I'm safe and it's wonderful. I don't know where to start so I will start at the beginning and when I get to the end I will stop.

I left SeaTac, saying goodbye to Grandpa and Sophie, with little incident. The older couple I sat next to on the plane were really nice and gave me half a wrap. It was really tasty. I arrived at O'hare and went and bought some chap stick and realized I had planned to exchange some money here with my card. Unfortunately the little currency exchange dude only took cash and COMPLETELY ripped me off on the exchange rate. The actual rate was .69 USD and I ended up paying less than .50 for a total of $62 for only £30. That really pissed me off but I needed money for the taxi. Got on the plane and sat at the gate for about 40 minutes because they over booked the flight. They offered $800 vouchers and a hotel stay to rebook and I would have done it if I didn't have Rebecca and Bret(the couple I'm staying with) waiting for me and no way to contact them. Anyways they had to get the luggage of people who did take the vouchers off the plane which takes a while. The older couple I sat next to on the way to London were also very nice to me. There were a lot of cute boys on the flight and some people who just looked ridiculously British.

Now I have heard some terrible things about Heathrow, so going into it I expected a terrible experience. Didn't happen but it took a rough beginning. I took a wrong turn because they didn't print me a boarding pass for my flight to Edinburgh so I was under the impression that I had to collect my bags and re-check in. First I went through immigration... apparently someone at the LA consulate made a typo and my student visa expires in 2020. Yeah so the lovely lady who was helping me went and talked to her supervisor and they made a note of it so if I try and use it again they wont let me in. No big deal. She was super nice and I was fairly light hearted about the whole thing. Then I get to luggage claim... no bags. I start freaking out a little then it occurs to me that my bags may have been transferred. Yeah they were freak out over. The wrong turn was the little passage way that said flight transfers. woot go me. I get out of the terminal and find the transfer train platforms and spend about 10 minutes waiting for my transfer to terminal 5 when I turn and read that the terminal 5 train is on the other platform... WOOPS. Right so I get to terminal 5 and the stupid self-check in doodad wouldn't read my passport or my e-ticket number because I purchased the ticket through American Airlines and the flight was a British Airlines flight. I go and ask the passport check center what I should do and the dude literally told me to wait around, not helpful at all... so I go back to the self-check in doodad and I must have looked confused because this really nice woman asks me if I need help. She goes to the special employee machine and can't get in because she's been off for three weeks and forgot her password. The whole time making really cute and terribly British remarks about the situation. So she finds someone else. She's not a floor employee and hasn't a password but then goes and fetches someone else who eventually prints me a boarding pass. It only took three wonderfully British women to do it. I then go through security and set off the machine cause I kept my watch on. I was patted down a very nice woman who told me I get a free massage, I told her it was part of a the deluxe service. haha. If you fly through Heathrow try and fly through terminal 5. Excellent shopping! It was huge and all I bought was an overprice coffee.

The flight to Edinburgh was short and on a beat up little plane but they gave me tea and a biscuit so I was content. It was raining lightly when we landed. Once I got to the Edinburgh airport I kept thinking about how much I got ripped off with the exchange so I took the shuttle to the city center for £3.50. So glad I did! It was a double-decker bus and the driver had a sweet Scottish accent. I felt like I was on the Knight Bus with the type of buildings we were passing. Once I got to the city center I took a taxi to the address I had for Bret and Rebecca for £5.10. When I got out I was really confused because there was some scaffolding on the building so I walked down the street with all four of my bags and popped into a coffee shop to use there phone to call. I had been at the right place. I went back and Bret met me on the street and helped me up the stairs. I could not be staying with a nicer family. They are both so nice and I have my own little room and their daughter Havalah is the cutest baby ever. After dinner which was quite tasty, Bret took me for a walk around Calton Hill in the rain. I immediately realized after walking one block that I desperately needed a rain jacket. We walked around the hill and Bret explained some of the history and showed me a few of the views. VERY COOL!

I had every intention of waking up early this morning and ended up rolling out of bed at noon. Even with the late start I was determined to get done what I had planned to do which was find a Barclays cash point and get some money and to get me a cell phone. So around 1:30 PM I rolled out thinking the simple directions I had written down would guide me. WRONG. I got so lost and ended up three blocks and four streets farther than I had intended but I had remembered there was a cash point in the shopping center I ended up at so that worked out. After walking through the mall I took a different route to get back and ended up walking through Waverly Station which was really cool be cause I got to hear the ticket takers whistle off the all clear for the train to leave and the signals going up and down the platform. I knew I wasn't going to find the phone place so I decided to explore a little so I walked about a mile or more down Leith Walk and got to hear some excellent accents. I got one of the best mochas I've ever had a little cafe and found a charity shop (thrift store) where I got a rain jacket and a Gordon Ramsey cookbook (in metric!!) for only £11. WOOT. Just to tell you rain jackets are REALLY expensive just go on the North Face web site if you don't believe me.

When I got back to the flat I put my stuff down and then Rebecca, Havalah and I headed out to pick up some food at this awesome organic market like the food co-op in Isla Vista and to get my phone. I was a very successful day and tomorrow we are going to go to the zoo which I'm very excited for. I haven't taken many pictures yet cause I feel really awkward taking pictures when I'm out by myself. I feel like it really targets me as an outoftowner. Not that looking the wrong way on the street and my UCSB sweatshirt don't already do that enough. Really the street thing really freaked me out in the taxi. I thought he was trying to kill us.

Love you all and hope is all well. this was long thanks for reading!

Peace and Love
Liesbeth