Edinburgh Bound (13th-17th August 2008)

Looking back at the summer of ‘08, a trip to Edinburgh with a couple of mates was just what I needed. Having previously been to Dublin, Madrid and Salamanca in the months leading up to the summer, this particular trip will always be remembered! We arrived in Edinburgh following a heavy night in Glasgow (and about 4 hours sleep) with a map, hand luggage, a load of tickets and really bad hangovers and after an hour of travelling in the wrong direction, we finally made it to our apartment which was conveniently located ten minutes away from a majority of the Fringe venues. After getting the accommodation sorted we had a couple of beers before setting out to our first comedy gig (one we were particularly looking forward to – Michael McIntyre), the show was great but after the previous nights antics and the lack of air conditioning, two of us found ourselves drifting off every five minutes only to be woken by my other mate who would give us an ‘elbow style’ wake up call! Later that night we saw how big the night life got in the bars and clubs (I don’t recall seeing any empty night spot the entire time we were up there), all I can remember is meeting so many people from around the world, good music and challenging a mate to a break dancing competition in the middle of a nightclub, and to this day still can’t remember who won!

The next day, we set out to discover the sights and sounds of Edinburgh as most of the shows we were attending didn’t start until the evening, during this time we managed to get lost (again!) and discover some free venues. One of which was a comedy joint in a pub basement held on a daily basis, we saw some great undiscovered comedians who were genuinely funny and had great banter with the crowd, but there were also some horrific performances, I remember a guy from London got up on stage and just from one look we knew the crowd would tear him to pieces! After many awkward silences and failed puns the crowd took it on themselves to mock the comedian after every punch line and have a laugh at his expense, especially his retro ‘curly-wurly perm’, and finally after an embarrassing and cringing performance he left the stage to an enormous cheer and a sarcastic round of applause! He was spotted at the bar for the rest of the afternoon.
Before going out for the evening, we spent most of the time chilling in our apartment, cooking unhealthy meals, listening to good music, playing cards and generally drinking whatever alcohol we had in the fridge. We had a giant window that looked down on the high street and after a few bevies we had our heads out there engaging in some banter with fellow festival goers living over the road and the unlucky ones walking below us.

Before entering a venue there are usually plenty of bars located outside, this is where we met people not only from the UK but from around the world, sometimes we got so caught up with the socialising and the partying that we didn’t make a show or two! Not only does Edinburgh hold a great festival, it also hosts a great social scene and sometimes proved difficult to juggle between the two.

Regrettably, we were only in Edinburgh for four days, but after all the laughs, the dares, the shows, the people and the parties it was an experience now deemed hard to beat.
Fortunately I will be in Edinburgh for two weeks this summer as a mate (from the previous trip) is holding his own show up there, and this time there is quite a crowd coming up with us for the Fringe experience. The only trouble is trying to beat our first experience of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival!