Day 1: Edinburgh: A dramatic departure
Our JetBlue flight from JFK to Edinburgh kicked off with a little drama. After finally boarding—First Class, Mosaic, Platinum, Extra Comfort, Regular Comfort, and finally hoi polloi —I'd just settled in to watch Mary Queen of Scots when the cabin turned into a sauna. I'm talking dripping-sweat hot. "Ladies and gentlemen, please gather your belongings and quickly exit the plane. We have a fuel leak."
Looking out at the tarmac in NYC's 103-degree heat wave, we watched fuel gushing onto the pavement while ground crew frantically mopped. Meanwhile, the first-class passengers were leisurely gathering their things, adjusting cardigans, sending texts—while those of us sweating in the back were thinking, For the love of God, is this going to be like the Titanic? (Though admittedly, ten minutes probably isn't enough time for a star-crossed love story to develop.) Once we completed our "emergency deplaning," we were at the mercy of a ticket agent with an indecipherable accent for updates. Everyone politely nodded along until someone finally broke and asked, "What did he say?" And that broke the ice with fellow passengers.
The silver lining? When we reboarded, it was beautiful breakdown of airplane social hierarchy with free-for-all boarding. Plus, our later arrival actually worked in our favor since our Airbnb wasn't ready until 4 PM and we would arrive now at 10:00. Our AirBnB host had suggestred for us to drop our bags at Café Renroc, but after our cab departed, we discovered the café had closed permanently. Two Americans who had been awake for 24 hours with luggage and five hours to kill, staring at a boarded-up storefront was a pathetic sight. Enter Scottish hospitality. A few people emerged from the boarded up café and immediately saw our predicament. Kris, the contractor working in the building, offered to store our bags behind the bar while he worked in the basement. "Really no problem at all," he insisted, then directed us to Brunswick Book Shop Cafe for coffee. Sitting outside with cappuccinos and Scottish porridge topped with fruit compote was exactly what we needed. Our AirBnB was in Leith and for us, we loved it. We did stay at the end of Leith closer to New Town rather than the waterfront. We were able to walk (we like to walk) to Old Town and return to our nice block in the evening.
After Scottish porridge we still had several hours to kill. We planned to walk along the Water of Leith Walkway but Google Maps had other ideas. Our wander allowed us to discovered that Leith is a great neighborhood filled with thrift stores, coffee shops, bookstores, and restaurants. After browsing some second-hand shops and taking a detour through the housing projects, we finally found the actual Water of Leith closer to the Firth of Forth. The riverside walk was lovely, complete with swans, ducks, and cormorants. We grabbed another coffee, picked up some chocolate for our bag-watching rescuer and headed to Airbnb.
After a rest, we decided to walk to Portobello beach, as Kris, the contractor and bag watcher had recommended the boardwalk. Google Maps took us on another round about way—across a highway and through condo complexes—but we made it to both the beach and the restaurant (The Espy) he'd suggested. Nothing fancy but we weren't looking for fine dining. At 9 PM, with the sky still bright, we strolled the boardwalk watching dog walkers on the beach and teenagers around campfires. Then jet lag hit like a wall. We grabbed a taxi home.