Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all ten readers of Two Teacher Trek! This post is a bit late in coming, but January is the end of the Semester here at school and that means grading, exams, reports and all the things that make us want to retire early!

We had contemplated going back to the United States for Christmas, but we decided to take a trek to Scotland instead.  As stated in an earlier post, the decision was made easier with the fact that we were able to use Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book our flights.  Three round trip tickets from Saudi Arabia to Edinburgh with a stopover in Amsterdam for three days on the way home cost us only $343 dollars total.  Also, luckily for us, many of our family members were able to come and the holiday as well.

The Flight

We flew KLM and the flight was uneventful going to Edinburgh.

For any parent of a three-year-old, that is probably the most perfect sentence ever uttered! Simon and his electronic babysitter (AKA the iPad) did fine.

We did have a pretty short layover at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam, with a toddler that insisted on walking.  That led to a bit of stress but otherwise, everything went well.

Accommodation

Whenever we stay somewhere for a long period of time, we like to stay at an Airbnb.  The flat we chose was a nice 3-bedroom on Calton Road.  This allowed us rooms for everyone and a kitchen to cook a majority of our meals.  We like to do this because eating out can be both tedious (especially with a toddler) and expensive.

This flat had everything that we needed (and parking if we had a car).  It was also a short 5-minute walk to the Royal Mile and about a 10-minute walk to Waverly Train Station.

If you have never used Airbnb, click on the orange button below to get $40 off your first stay! (new customers only)

Two Teacher Trek Travel Tip!

For those looking to optimize your money when using Airbnb, here are a few tips.

Airbnb gift cards never expire.  There are two optimized options when buying Airbnb gift cards:

1. You can use a site like Raise to buy gift cards at a discount.  Currently, Airbnb cards are about 3.1% off. (Which means you can buy a $500 gift card for $484.32).  These aren’t massive savings, but if you were going to spend the money anyway, you might as well spend $15 less.  Also, there are times throughout the year where Raise may have promotions on certain company gift cards for extra savings.   Click here to get $5 for free!
2. If you fly United Airlines, you can use the United MileagePlus X app to get 2miles/$ spent on Airbnb gift cards.

This little hack depends on whether or not you are a United MileagePlus member.

When booking and Airbnb rentals, it is always worthwhile to use the following website:

https://www.deltaairbnb.com/

This will allow you to receive 1 Delta Skymile for every dollar spent on Airbnb (as long as you click through that link)

The great thing about the actionable tip is that it can be combined.  You can get both the Raise discount and Skymiles or get MileagePlus and Skymiles.  It’s a win/win!

Edinburgh

Our two weeks in Edinburgh were rather uneventful, in that we didn’t plan a lot.  We spent quite a bit of time walking around.  Edinburgh is full of hills so that gave us quite a bit of a workout.  Since the Royal Mile was right on our doorstep, we walked up and down that quite a bit.  There are quite a lot of events going on during Edinburgh at Christmastime.  Near the Scott Monument, there was a nice Christmas market.

One day we went to the Edinburgh Zoo with Grandma.  Simon particularly enjoyed the penguins and pandas (the only ones in UK)

We also went to Rosslyn Chapel with Grandma and Uncle Brian to get our Da Vinci Code on.

Simon enjoys all things vehicle-related.  That being said, he constantly wanted to ride the bus.  Since we really had no plans, we indulged him and took him on a number of different bus tours.

The Nielsen side of the family (minus Simon) took part in the torchlight procession down the Royal Mile. It was a pretty fun experience!

Our son is coming up on three and a half and he is starting to get a bit big for a stroller.  Normally, when we are out, we no longer bring one.  We had actually debated whether or not to bring a stroller.  With all of the walking and the hills, we are so glad that we did.  Simon could have survived without one. (His parents not so much) but it would have taken much more time and probably resulted in a few more family arguments.  Especially for traveling, we like the Baby Jogger City Tour.  It folds up into a backpack and can actually be stored in the overhead compartment on planes.  It is so much easier to not have to check the stroller when going through busy airports (or immigration lines!)

Christmas with family

The most important aspect of our trip was the ability to see some of our families for the Holiday.  We didn’t think that 3 weeks justified the 18-hour journey with a three-year-old.  The jet lag both ways would have made for a very crappy Christmas break!  So in September, we gave the open invite.  It can best be summarized as:

We are going to Scotland for Christmas does anyone want to come?

Thankfully, some of the family obliged!  It was really nice to have family around, and Simon surely enjoyed a break from us!

Paradigm Shift

As a family, we have never been that big into holidays.  Our idea of Thanksgiving was going to Boston Market!  We don’t really decorate and only occasionally had a Christmas Tree.

As Simon gets older, we still don’t like the rampant consumerism of Christmas, but we do understand the importance of doing things together and having family moments.  We did not buy Simon any presents (luckily he has grandparents for that).  We still aren’t quite sure how to broach the Santa Claus thing.

This Christmas, we did decide to decorate our Airbnb for the Holiday.  Before leaving to go to Scotland, we had made a paper Christmas tree in our house and decorated it with ornaments and stars.  Simon seemed really into it, and we thought it would be a good thing to do while we were there.  A few days before Christmas, I went out to Marks & Spencer and bought a tree, lights, and a few decorations.  Since it was so close to Christmas, Christmas decor was on sale and was able to get everything for about £50!

Central Highland Tour

Besides visiting some family in Fife, we spent most of the time in Edinburgh.  We did take one trip to the Central Highlands.

A few months before, I looked into some tour companies to help us plan a day trip.  We wanted something private and not too taxing (too much makes for a cranky toddler)

We settled on the Local Eyes Central Highland Tour.  Local Eyes was fantastic and we highly recommend them!  Our tour guide, Moira, was very knowledgable and accommodating.  It didn’t feel too rushed, and they even provided a car seat for the van.  Our favorite part was seeing Sterling Castle as well as parts that I hadn’t been to before.  It was also good that our guide knew so much of the history.

Recap

Scotland will always be a draw for us since my mom is from there and I still have family there.  We probably didn’t end up doing as much as we had hoped, but with a 3-year-old, it never seems that we do.  Also because Scotland in winter means sunrise at 9 and sunset at 4, we definitely need to come back and see more things.  However, since our primary goal was to spend time with family, we call that a holiday well spent!

Take a look at some pictures of our trip!