Stay in a hostel
This is what hotels have over airbnb. People may know the city, but staff know the places to go and you get a wide range of information depending on who you speak to. They are cheap and cheerful. You will meet interesting people and anything can happen. Keep an open mind and bad experiences can be very funny in hindsight.
I stayed at the Hostel during my stay. Reviews for the place can be found on booking.com. It is located where there are good transport links around the city. It is very close to Haymarket train station and not too far from the Fringe, local stores and places to eat. I enjoyed my stay there. I met a few interesting people from different parts of the world. The staff were super helpful and friendly. They get to know you by face and name and on my first night one of the girls gave me a map of the city and the highlighted the area of the Fringe and other places and that I should definitely go and see. She highlighted areas on another map for another visit highlighting cultural places.
Get in touch with Art and Culture
Edinburgh has a lot of rich history and I did not realise that this is the city that inspired JK Rowling’s Harry Potter.
I went to the Writers museum, the National museum the National library. There were different exhibitions on display at the Library and the museum is home to many aspect of Scottish life from historical to modern day. Other places I did not get a chance to visit were the Scottish Parliament and a proper visit to The Surgery and Dentistry museum (Pay to enter but NHS staff count as a concession).
Be open to people giving you flyers. You never know, something interesting might catch your eye. Someone handed me a flyer for a contemporary dance called Trip the light. A collaboration between Junebug Company and Wave from Switzerland. Contemporary I appreciate, but sometimes can be too abstract for my taste. But I went to it. It was beautiful and a bit intense, but what made it more worth it was the final piece (there was three). It was improv and the process of creating a piece.
If you go, have a favourite movie in mind and a good song on your playlist.
Pack lunch or be prepared to buy food
I would scout out cheap places to eat for lunch and dinner. There is a lunchroom in the National gallery. Reason is when you go back to where you are staying, you don't wanna go back out, especially if it’s raining and it looks dark when it’s just 8pm summer time.
I write this because I went back to the hostel home. I missed some specific free fringe events that I wanted to see. There was spoken word that I was quite keen on seeing but it was only showing in the evenings.
By the time I had gone back to the hostel, to cook something, have a shower and a change of clothes, I felt too cold to leave. There are plenty of cafe’s, take away places, restaurants and pubs catering to different price range. I will definitely recommend this because It just adds to the experience
Bring wellies
This only applies if there is a forecast of rain. It rained throughout my second day in Edinburgh. This may apply to any British festival as a matter of fact if you hate cold feet. It limited my day because I kept looking for shelter, every time I was outside and dreaded going back out to find my next destination.
If wellies are too bulky, possibly a change of socks, if you are wearing walking shoes, or a small towel, if you wear rubber flip flops or sandals. However I wouldn’t recommend this. There is always something about cold feet that increases your risk of catching a cold.
Enjoy the free Fringe
I started my experience with the free fringe. I don’t mind comedy but I am not a fan of cringe comedy. It’s not because they are not funny. Rude things can be funny...but they shouldn’t be the foundation of jokes. I see it as cheating and morally ambiguous. It’s like making fun of the war without actively showing that something's wrong. It’s not informative, educational and doesn't leave you with a sense of there is something we need to think about. Some jokes were genuinely funny, but the audience didn’t help. I decided to add more tourist activities to my itinerary as I thought the free fringe might not be for me.
However I made the most of my raining evening in to study the free fringe guide and actually decide events to go to. My last day I planned more specifically and I found that I enjoyed the free fringe a lot more. I went to a theatre performance at the free sisters called the girl with the hurricane hands and other short tales of woe. I loved it. The were simple stories, but came alive in different exciting ways through each actor's personality. I thought it was brilliant for children and adult alike. I went to a spoken word event ‘The heart of the Country’. I was the only one there, no complaints. The last event was 101 clean jokes in 30min by Masai graham. It was actually alright. Audience involvement was beneficial in this case, not like my first night. Some people in the audience landed physics jokes. He has won a few awards. Here is a recent article on his work.
All in all it was a good experience. Would I recommend it yes. I was lucky I spent time in a hostel, especially as a first timer in Edinburgh. I got a lot of information regarding what to do and I felt like I hadn’t wasted my time. The fringe still continues till the end of August and I kept loose coins within reach, because there is a lot of concert worthy street performance that I absolutely enjoyed. Means you can give money without digging out your purse. If you ask will I go again...not definitely yes, but more than likely.
