Ah it feels like the start of Summer. For those of you with holidays coming or that simply have the time to get away and leave the rat race for a while. Remember, it’s not a race.
Leave VoxBox at 21 St Stephen Street taking a right.
Take a right and walk downhill to the bus stop.
A 29 bus will take you up the hill and heads east along Princes Street. £1.80 for a single. It’s a 5 minute journey and you could walk uphill in 10 mins… but it is quite a steep hill.
Get off at Princes Street. Cross the road and keep going east toward Waverley train station.
You aren’t actually going to the train station. The airport bus, the Lothian Airlink 100, leaves every 10 mins from Waverley Bridge next to the train station. The bus takes 30 mins to get to the airport. An open return is £7.50.
However for the FUN of it, take the Tram to the airport. The TRAM! They’re every 8-10 minutes and leave from stops in the middle of Princes Street. This will be £8 for a return and takes 35mins. Buy a ticket before hopping on or it’ll be £10. Race the bus. For that extra 50p it bloody well IS a race! Zooooooom!!
Phew! After all that excitement, you’re at Edinburgh Airport and have enjoyed a thrilling shiny Tram ride. Get in line and queue. Whistle. Queue. Let your mind wander a bit. Check In. Queue. Go through security. Gosh it’s warm and the juice machine is a bit dear and they’ve taken my own bottle of home made diluting juice away from me. Queue while thirsty. Finally crack and buy two bottles of juice. One for now, one for the plane. And we’re off!
Board an aeroplane to Heathrow (Virgin Atlantic). -Requires booking in advance.
Change at Heathrow for a new aeroplane to Los Angeles, LAX. (Virgin Atlantic) That’s about 15hrs From Edinburgh to LA.
Layover -Twiddle thumbs/meditate/snooze for about 2hrs 10mins.
Board a plane to Norman Y. Mineta Airport. This flight will take 1hr 18mins.
All in all, these three flights will come in at about £800 return.
You are now there. If you believe in zen, maybe not. ‘A good traveller has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.’ ~Lao Tzu .
In case you were wondering and for future reference… This, dear reader, is the way to San Jose.*
There are a reasonable number of record shops in San Jose.
But if you keep going…
From the airport, board a bus to Santa Carla Caltrain Station. About 5mins.
Board a Caltrain to San Francisco Caltrain Station -1hr 28mins.
Take the San Francisco Municipal Transport KT line. About 30 mins.
Disembark at junction of Carl St and Stanyan St.
Walk north on Stanyan Street -4 blocks. About 6mins.
Take a right on Haight Street.
You’re here…
Amoeba Music in San Francisco is one of the largest record shops in the world with a staggering amount of music. There is an even larger one in Los Angeles too. But if you just wanted to pop in there, you’d miss the frivolous and imaginary, longwinded trip to San Jose which seems to be what this blog post is all about…
…or is it?**
*This appears to be the most economical way at short notice. However, if you’d like to save a lot of time and can book in advance, there are direct flights from Edinburgh.
** It is