Braveheart: International Toddler Travel - Edinburgh

WOW! Hi, friends! It's been nearly 4 years, one pandemic, and almost 2 whole babies since I last wrote a blog post. I'm not quite sure where I got the audacity to spend precious time on this when I have a newborn to prep for and a 2 year old to entertain, plus a husband and a full-time job, but here we are. 

A re-introduction may be in order? The Powell family is now a family of 3, officially, with number 4 on the way. Avonlea arrived in December 2021, and her brother, Truett, should make his appearance in early 2024. I wanted to blog this trip specifically for a few reasons. We were invited to a destination family wedding in Scotland this fall, which gave me all the best feels obviously! It's been almost 10 years since I went on my study abroad journey in Dundee so this was the perfect excuse to go back and visit one of the many homes of my heart. I'm really, really proud of my kid and how well she did on this adventure - she's always been our tiny traveler and this trip officially brought her traveling stats to 20 flights and 2 foreign countries before the age of 2! We purchased our plane tickets in April of this year so we factored in the toddler, but didn't factor in the pregnancy (shoutout Truett!) or the case of croup Avonlea would wake up with on departure day. 

We left out of OKC on Wednesday, October 25th on a late afternoon flight. We just made our connection in Dallas, with a feverish, coughing toddler in tow and gma (my mom). Even though she still qualified as a lap child, I wised up and purchased a seat for Avonlea so she could sit comfortably in her car seat. I don't think we could have survived the long-haul flights without this move! She did spend time sleeping on us, but overall was content in her carseat for most flights. We also brought along her tablet loaded with shows because there are no rules during travel days! I was really torn on the tablet decision when gma offered to purchase one as an early Christmas present, but we put it away immediately when we got home and she's forgotten all about it. We plan to only bring it out for trips in the future! 

We arrived in London for our next layover early Thursday morning (still with a feverish toddler, poor girl) and finally made it to Edinburgh by 1pm. Our luggage arrived with us (always a reason to celebrate!) and we made our way to the Grassmarket to our AirBnB. 

This AirBnB was small, but centrally located to a lot of the things we wanted to see and do in Edinburgh. We settled in, grabbed take-out for dinner, and prepared to battle jet lag. 

*THIS BLOG POST IS SPONSORED BY SLUMBERPOD* - just kidding, but hear me out on this for real! If you have a small child that you plan to travel often with, this thing pays for itself over and over again. My friend Samantha and I jointly purchased this when our babies were about 4 months old and we've both used it so. many. times. See photo for reference, but it's essentially a blackout tent made to fit over a pack-n-play or crib so room sharing is far easier! Avonlea is a really great sleeper, but she does best in a totally dark environment with her sound machine blasting, so the slumberpod is a lifesaver. 

I was hesitant to set up the slumberpod that first night since Avonlea was struggling with her cough and I wanted to keep a closer eye on her, but she popped up so many times with a "mama!" that I broke down sometime around 2am and put that girl in her tent. She slept the rest of the night. 

On Friday, our only full day in Edinburgh, we ventured out early for coffee and a date with the Edinburgh Castle! We grabbed breakfast at Pirlous across the street from our AirBnB and hit the cobblestones. Highly recommend a good stroller for international travel - we were lucky to borrow a gbpockit from my friend Denise. It folded up small enough to fit under the airplane seats in front of us and didn't do too bad on the cobblestones either. Avonlea is used to the roominess of her Mockingbird though, so it wasn't her favorite ride. Our castle foray was interrupted by the fire alarm (what!?) which quickly killed Avonlea's vibe - she was fever-free by now but still not feeling 100%. We headed back toward the AirBnB where gma chilled while Avonlea took a 2+ hour nap. 

Tanner and I explored a bit, bought a few souvenirs, and located more coffee! When Avonlea woke up later we played and headed to the Princes Street Gardens so she could get some energy out. She loved climbing up and down all of the stairs and often exclaimed "more stairs! more stairs!" at the sheer amount of them. I did too, but in a slightly different tone.. "more stairs!?! MORE stairs!?!?" as my 24 week pregnant bod tried to keep up with the family. 

In the midst of our afternoon, I logged onto the ScotRail app to check our train tickets to Dundee for Saturday. Due to the downpours in north Scotland, our train was cancelled. Just our luck! I found another one and quickly snapped up tickets. 

We had 5pm dinner reservations at the Mussel & Steak Bar (my favorite restaurant in Edinburgh if anyone is asking!!) and ate possibly our best meal of the trip. Tanner selected ribs, gma had fish, and I chose the Scottish steak. Avonlea happily dined on chicken nuggets, of course. 

We tried to keep Avonlea's bedtime as close to routine as possible, but one thing we couldn't duplicate overseas was her beloved bath. All of our accommodations offered showers only and Avonlea was NOT into it. She eventually became resigned to her only option, but it was not the calming activity that it is at home. On this particular night, we put her down a bit later than usual, but she was up by 11pm like it was time to wake up for the day. We gave her an hour to play and watch her tablet, before trying again to put her down at midnight. This time she fell asleep until morning! *insert praise hands*

On Saturday morning, we packed up and started our train journey north to Dundee!