Michael Tyler

I am staying on St. Johns Hill, off Edinburgh’s Royal Mile.

Edinburgh for those that don’t know, is Scotlands’ capital city. If you didn’t, this will become apparent when you try to find accommodation.

After exhaustive research I plumped for this place EURO Hostel. £19 per night, my own room in unoccupied student campus.

The girl at check in made me a cup of coffee on check in and I settled in, had a look round and took a short walk to the pub.

The first thing you notice is that the beer is all the same, they are the same brands you would expect to find in any old UK boozer.

Saw 6 piece instrumental playing in this pub called the Tass advertised as a traditional Scottish pub.

Went to a place called the Globe. They also had a live band, with drunken backpacker Karaoke opportunities.

Get the impression Live music is a big feature of Edinburgh nightlife around old town and George street is the main place for clubs and bars.

This is the first time I have flown on the BMI baby.

It has that little logo which says people who read the Telegraph also like BMI baby.

These little cross-selling logo’s are pretty easy to come by and one shouldn’t usually pay too much attention to them, however, in this case the service lived up to the accolade.

The flight was better because

a) It was more organised

b) The staff were more interested

c) The seat had legroom

Plus with BMI baby, you pick your own seat, a simple but significant technology.

As part of the online booking, you must maneuver your baby through the rows and aisles and place him on an empty seat. If you don’t like him there, grab the little blighter and move him somewhere else.

Where the baby sits the baby stays.

On boarding just find the seat.

Hands together for BMI baby.

No wonder the load factor on their planes is higher than anyone else’s.

While I remember there are drawbacks with local communications to and from the East Midlands Airport.

If you are using public transport to get to the airport, you have the following options:

OPTION 1) Take a train to Long Eaton or Loughborough station, Long Eaton is closer.

Take a bus, local service, stopping at East Midlands Airport.

Buses run at hourly intervals, the connection is a local service subject to delays etc.

Links: Traveline (buses), Trainline (trains)

OPTION 2) Take a train to Nottingham.

Take the Skylink service to East Midlands Airport.

Buses depart half hourly, connection is direct.

Links: Skylink (buses), Trainline (trains)

OPTION 3) National Express coach direct.

Links: National Express Website

I opted for option one which resulted in incurring a £15 taxi charge (£5 less than the flight itself) in order to get to the airport on time.