Day 11, 12 & 13- New Years Day (and the following days) Edinburgh, Scotland

Well this is really out of date now and really overdue but I've been sick and lazy. Yes, I'm sick again. I have never been sick as frequently as I have since I moved to England with my average of only 3 - 4 weeks where I'm actually healthy- can't wait to come back to decent weather and kids that aren't so diseased. So here is my last entry for our last school holidays (phew) and only two weeks till our mid-term break.

New Years Day- evil weather still persists and the dogsled racing I wanted to see was cancelled so we stay inside all day watching TV and on the Internet (party on).

Our last two days in Edinburgh (sob) we spent exploring the Old Town, The Royal Mile and Edinburgh Castle as well as taking a leisurely stroll up to Arthur's Seat. A lot of damage to be seen in Edinburgh with trees ripped to shreds and fences blown over- the aftermath of those crazy storms was very sobering.

Loved Edinburgh Castle and the Old Town but the highlight was a very impulsive and impromptu hike up to Arthur's Seat after being inspired by a poster on the wall in our B & B. Our first mistake was deciding we could scale the side of the grassy hill after seeing some kids doing it. It was alright to start but it got steeper and the hill got muddier, Mark ended up having a panic attack half way up to the Craigs(but didn't tell me until we reached the top when he had to sit down and felt like throwing up- poor thing). Getting up to the Craigs was the first part, the next stage was the walk/ climb/ mad scramble up to the actual seat which was dangerously windy and slippery. We watched the sun begin to set from the seat (which had no barrier around it- sooo safe) and enjoyed the stunning views before freaking out that we'd have to attempt the descent down in the dark. We were rock climbing like crazy people and found the path at the bottom of the seat before discovering a chained handrail on the opposite side, did we feel dopey then!

On our final day we were due to fly out to Luton to visit the relos but our flight was delayed by several hours and we calculated that we'd arrive in Luton close to midnight. We were absolutely torn as we wanted to visit the relos but did not want to be a problem or a worry for them. We ended up regretfully cancelling our visit and deciding to head back to Hastings. After many hours waiting at the airport we caught our flight which had about 10 people on board, so many people must have been lucky to have gotten earlier flights. To say that the flight was awful would be an understatment- the turbulence was the worst I've ever experienced and I was so scared. Mark sat there silent, pale faced and sweaty next to me while I made sporadic sobbing noises and I thought we were dead for sure. Somehow, we managed to land safely with the Airsickness finally kicking in for poor Mark just before we landed (The sheer terror pumping through my body meant I was alright). It was a pretty hopeless sight with me being unable to do anything but pat him on the back pathetically and try not to think about it, otherwise it would have started off a horrible chain reaction harking back to the days where my sisters and I all got sick with car travel. I feel so sorry for my parents just remembering those bad old days.

Arrived back in Hastings in the wee hours of the morning and I have never been so glad to be back- there's no place like home, there's no place like home.