It was our last day in Scotland on this trip, but unfortunately there weren't any great plans. Whilst it had been great not living out a backpack for the last 9 days, it was time to pack them again in preparation for our flight to Finland tomorrow. It wasn't going to be as simple as just repacking what we arrived with though. We had left a reasonably large box of stuff at David's parent's house whilst we were away in Central and South America during the last...

We walked down to the village to have look around shops in Melrose, looking once again for Christmas gifts. There were even fewer shops in Melrose and what there were seemed to focus their business on the rich English expats who now live in the area. Prices seemed to be ridiculously expensive for what they were selling. Our next port of call was the post office to enquire about sending some of our stuff to New Zealand. We bought a couple of boxes that could sen...

We had a lazy morning, and got a lift into Galashiels after lunch to try our luck again with the Christmas shopping. David knew it was a long shot hoping to find something there. Shops are thin on the ground, a huge amount of locals work in Edinburgh and have access to shops there while those working locally have very little money. There are a couple of supermarkets selling 'everything' and a few 'poundsaver' shops so we were kind of stuck again. We had planned...

Breakfast was served early at the Edinburgh Central Guesthouse, but we needed to be up early anyway, we still had a lot of things we wanted to do today. It was a continental breakfast and very good, we had freshly made coffee to order to go with our cereal, fresh fruit and berries, a variety of cheese, olives, bread and croissants. Considering we only paid £58 for the two of us, in a very central location, a breakfast this good was a total surprise especiall...

Monday morning and the sun was out, not like in a summer's day but in a Scottish winter's day - a bright, clear sky with the odd cloud and cold. We decided to venture out today after our lazy weekend, Maria hadn't seen much of Scotland and there were some places David hadn't been to either. David's dad drove us to Falkirk, a small town just to the west of Edinburgh, which has something unique in the world. As a millennium project, British Waterways embarked on ...