Edinburgh

With the sudden dependance we all have on guidebooks and internet reviews, it has become very difficult for a place to defy expectations. We still find museums/bars/shops that we've not heard of and meet a whole lot of different folks, but with guidebooks and reviewers going as far as describing building layouts, local attitudes and even smells, we tend to know what to expect of a place. But even if you insist on reading every book and every blog you can possibly find, there's often one or two things about a place that will startle you. Argentina, for example, has the best icecream I've ever tasted. Strasbourg has a whole bunch of weirdly good theme bars and Siem Reap, surprisingly, is full of amazing vintage clothing shops.

Edinburgh, as it turns out, is full of Australians. The shops, the cafes, the streets, all had me spinning around trying to spot the sources of the Australian accents I kept hearing. I'd gone half way round the world just to find home, again. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing would of course be a matter of opinion, but it was certainly entertaining for a girl whose not encountered another Aussie in nearly three months. 

At present, Edinburgh sadly feels a lot like a giant construction zone, with some major works going on around the main station and the city centre. This does affect the atmosphere of the place when you first arrive, but move a few blocks away from the buzz of machinery and the city almost immediately regains its charms. Lunch at Viva Mexico (I have an inability to embrace local cuisines), a browse through Miss Katie Cupcake for custom jewellery and trinkets and coffee at a very Melbournian cafe; Black Medicine Coffee Co., made for a lovely, slightly un-Scottish afternoon. 

 

View from Edinburgh Castle



The Home Front

I am pants-peeing excited to be going to Melbourne this week for a little local tourism. I get to trip through unfamiliar streets and visit new bars, take photos and dork out, make comments about my 'adventurous spirit' and ask strangers for directions... but I only have to sit on a plane for an hour and a half to get there. Lovely.

Being a traveller in a semi-familiar environment is really loads more fun than any other kind of travel. The risk level drops substantially, you pretty much know beforehand whether something's worth getting to, and you almost never get lost. And if you're as disorganised and vague as I am: this makes a nice change.

With this in mind, I'm making the trip down for a few days to blend with my southern neighbours. Plus, I get to have the darling boyfriend on my arm for the first time in almost two months. Tis making me quite smug, show off that I am.

Joy.

La Trobe Street, Melbourne