Nomad Cruise June 7th

Europe

Scotland

Jonathan Riddell

Commonwealth Pool

Codebase

Code Coliving

Tribe Porty

Clockwork Leith

Esk Tower

Apartment Buildings

Café workplaces

What is the best café to work from in [CITY]?

There's no shortage of providers.  Alas since Brexit your EU SIM might be limited roaming here so make sure to check that.   GiffGaff are an easy and cheap option (using 02) with flexible tariffs and it has some amount of included roaming into the EU. 

Mobile data providers

What is the best mobile data provider in [CITY]?

The Commonwealth (Commy) pool is the large Olympic size pool in Edinburgh with lots of lanes for swimming in.

Swimming pools

What is the best swimming pool in [CITY]?

Hostels

What are the best hostels in [CITY]?

Repair Shops

Where to get my phone/laptop repaired in [CITY]?

Facebook groups

Social media groups

The tram will take you to the city centre but there are also buses which are cheaper and often faster.  Cheaper still you can walk to the nearby Hilton hotel and get the same buses at half the cost.

Airport

How to come from/go to the airport in [CITY]?

Neighborhoods

What is the best neighborhood to live in [CITY]?

Cost of living

What is the cost of living in [CITY]?

Colivings

What is the best coliving in [CITY]?

Deliveroo has a wide selection of restaurants. Uber Eats is also good. Just Eats is a website that's similar and can offer some different restaurants  

Food delivery

What is the best food delivery service in [CITY]?

Flat-sharing

Princes Street is the central shopping street, but a bit of a sorry sight since Brexit/Covid/Internet Shopping killed many department stores.  The new St James Centre next door has opened recently (you can spot it from the golden turd hotel above it) and has some of the shops previously in Princes Street.  For up market there is George Street.

Commercial shopping centres within easy bus reach include  Cameron Toll and Meadowbank.

More character filled shops in Bruntsfield/Morningside and Stockbridge.

Shopping malls

What are the shopping malls in [CITY]?

Markets

What is the best market in [CITY]?

"If you don't like the weather in Scotland.. wait five minutes." -- Billy Connolly

 - only the wrong clothes.” -- Billy Connolly

It doesn't rain as much everyone bangs on about, but it is quite grey for much of the winter. You can get long stretches of grey and overcast skies, but when you do get a bright day, it's lovely and brisk.

Not as wet as Glasgow at least although climate change means it is getting wetter.

British Isles are generally not freezing, snow and ice happens a few times of year in winter but the gulf stream generally keeps things above 0. 

Seasons

What is the weather like in [CITY]?

Bars

There's not many train services within Edinburgh.  

The main station is Waverley at Princes Street and the other central station is Haymarket a bit to the west.  

Trains in Great Britain are run by various different companies, services within Scotland by Scotrail and it's useful to install their app for e-tickets.  

There is also the Caledonian Sleeper which will take you to London.  

Trains in Great Britain are not known for being cheap, buy in advance for the cheaper tickets.

Trains

Lothian Buses is the publicly owned company which does most of the public transport in Edinburgh.  Buses cost £2 each using a debit card.  There is an app too but it's not much advantage.  Google Maps has decent routing information.  (Beware the new on-street signs in summer 2024 do not update with current timings but just show the timetabled times, so you are advised by the bus operator to use Google Maps.) 

How to take the bus in [CITY]?

Unfortunately the on-street bike hire shut down due to vandalism (somehow Glasgow manages fine). So you're stuck with some commercial providers or buying 2nd hand. 

http://www.cycling-edinburgh.org.uk/rent-bike-edinburgh.htm

"One final possibility would be to pick up a second-hand cycle at the 

 (250 Causewayside; 0131 668 1996; closed Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays). This is a community project which accepts donations of old bikes and refurbishes them for the benefit of the long-term unemployed and other disadvantaged groups. They also sell refurbished bikes to the general public as a means of raising funds."

Bicycles

Where to rent a bicyle in [CITY]?

Opening a bank account

How to open a bank account in [CITY]?

There's plenty of on-street black Hackney style taxis. Central Radio Taxis is the cooperative with the best reputation.

Ride-hailing

What is the best ride-hailing service in [CITY]?

Edinburgh Royal Infirmary is on the south of the city.  It's the largest hospital with an A&E (Emergency) and also has a children's hospital next door.

You will likely get seen faster at the Western General which is on the north of the city at their Minor Injuries Clinic who see most issues.

NHS Scotland don't usually charge for a first issue and it's free to UK residents.

Call NHS 24 on 111 in the first instance if unsure where to go (or 999 for an emergency).

Hospitals

What is the best hospital in [CITY]?

Internet speed

How is the internet speed in [CITY]?

Gyms

What is the best gym in [CITY]?

Traffic

How is the traffic in [CITY]?

Edinburgh's best coworking space is the tech incubator Codebase.

There's always space and walk ins are welcome.  Recently upgraded desks and chairs are comfortable.  

Hotdesking is £10 a day or £50 a month and there's permanant desks in the Coworking room for a bit more.  

Staff are friendly and there's always events being held.  Upstairs are long term tenants doing a variety of innovative technologies and there is a creative wing for artistic input.