Edinburgh on a budget - accommodation

Traveling can be expensive, especially if the place you are traveling to is a very touristy place. And Edinburgh is certainly one of those places. I am not sure how many people actually come over here every year but especially in summer you see more tourists than locals on some streets. Of course the local and not so local businesses have discovered that a lot of tourists still want to see and do things even, if they cost a wee bit more.

But what about people who want to see this amazing city but are not able or willing to spend a lot of money? Here is the first part of a little guide for people with a small budget:  

Accommodation


1. Don't come in August, don't come for New Years!
Edinburgh hosts a ton of festivals in August, the Fringe, the International Festival, the book Festival, the Comedy Festival and maybe a few more I don't remember and each of them last for several weeks. Hostels and hotels charge up to three times as much during the entire month of August, long distance transport and even some pubs charge more than they usually would.
New Years, or Hogmany as they call it here, sees one of the biggest street parties in the world and again, from accommodation to booze everything is just crazy expensive and there ten thousands of exremly drunk people on the streets. I always try to get out of the city actually.

2. Make sure there are no other events.
There is always something going on, not only in August. In July there is the Blues and Jazz Festival, in January-March we host a couple of Rugby matches and in June there is the Edinburgh Marathon. And whenever there is a big event like these you can bet, that the prices for accommodation will go up by a lot and it will be next to impossible to find a last minute bed. You can check on here what's going on.

3. Affordable accommodation.

 most important rule in hostels!

I think the best time to come to Edinburgh is between March and June. The chances that the weather is decent are quite good (pack a rain coat anyways!), you have a lot of daylight and it's not too busy yet, which means prices are low. No matter, if you are looking for a private room or just a bed in a hostel, Edinburgh has it all. There are at least 15 different hostels and a ton of cheap hotels and even more B&Bs and holiday apartments. It makes sense to compare prices on websites like http://www.hostelworld.com/ or http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ but it is often cheaper to book through the properties own website.

Beds in hostels are available from £10, and the cheapest hotels sometimes only charge £30 for a double room when it's off season. If you are traveling with more people it might be worth looking into renting an apartment, some are as cheap as £50 and can fit more than just 2 people (all these prices are  per night).
Of course there is also always the option to use https://www.couchsurfing.org/. If you haven't heard about it yet:
it's a huge network of people from all over the globe, it basically works like a car share website but for accommodation. You can rate each other, so it's quite easy to avoid the weirdos. And these people have often lived in the place you are going to and can tell and show you things, you might not experience other wise. And the best thing it's FREE!

No matter what type of accommodation you book, be aware that some areas will get really noisy especially at night. Pretty much everywhere in the Old Town as well as Rose and George Street are full of pubs and night clubs and at 3am when they close the party often continues on the streets. On The other hand accommodation in these areas can be cheaper because of that...

yarn yarn yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarn

I think I briefly mentioned that crafts have always been a big deal in my family, like a huge deal.
My grandmother was a tailor and I think my mother would as a teenager use her mom's sawing machine even though she knew that it would get her in trouble. I am pretty sure that she also learned crochet and knitting from my gran as well as in school.
So I've had hand made stuff all my life. In fact when I was born my mother was a single parent with a limited income and it was possibly cheaper for her to make linen and other things herself. My whole life, I had jumpers, dresses, skirts, shirts and socks that she or my grandma made, I still do actually.

I think I've also mentioned that when it was my turn to learn any of these crafts, I wasn't very interested, even though I didn't suck at crochet or knitting. In the past 20 years I've made a scarf here and there, but that was all I ever did. Until about 2 years ago I think. And well, you know the story of how I started to crochet here at the hostel and how my mother send me huge box of yarn.

At the end of June, I went to Germany to see my fiends and family and hang out on the coast for a wee while and of course I paid my mother a visit. Since my mother retired a couple of years ago and since I have moved out she has turned the whole house into a crafts centre. Literally every room, every shelf every corner is stuffed with fabric, yarn, craft magazines and books. It's crazy, I am actually kicking myself for not taking any pictures, because it is hard to put into words. My old room of over 20sqm has barely space for the mattress I sleep on when I come over (yeah, my bed and any other piece of furniture I used to own is gone). What used to be the attic is now a studio and that has about 80sqm (which is bigger that my last flat) filled with.... well you've guessed it. The old dining room is full of.... yep yarn and fabric.

So since I've picked up crochet, when ever I come over my mom gets a big box out and goes through her yarn with me - well some of it, all would be impossible - to see if I have any use for it, because she can't possibly knit that much (she doesn't really crochet anymore).

And this time was no different. We started at one end of the studio made our way through the whole thing and boom, the first box was too full. On we went to the living room, where she keeps the yarn for socks (one entire dresser full) and I think it was the next day she remembered some yarn she didn't need in boxes in the former dining room. And that's when the second box turned out to be too small.

So while I continued my travels (taking some yarn with me, so I could crochet on the road) she found an even bigger box to fit all the yarn in and send it to me. A few days after I got home it finally arrived. And maaaaan, I didn't even realise how much stuff it was, because we simply kept adding to the pile. Now I have sooo much yarn. As I've said, I already started to crochet away, while I was still in Germany and since I've come home I haven't stopped. Unfortunately the box is so big, that there is no space in my room other than my bed, so I am sharing it now with said box. Here are a few pictures of the box and the results, although it really doesn't feel like I've done any damage to the mountain of yarn.