Journey to Edinburgh

After giving up my nice flat in Basel, Switzerland, on Friday the 28th there was the moment to start the engine of my car and start the journey to my new study-home Edinburgh.

The first part was more or less easy. I was lucky at the German "Autobahn", because every time when I got information about traffic jam or accidents on my road I already had passed this part. So I didn't spent much time in jams and drove on quickly to the German/Dutch border... After crossing this line I was lucky again, because there have been heavy traffic jams, but in the opposite direction and so I could continue my way till I passed Amsterdam. There I spent one hour in my car by stop and go, but I was early enough and so it was no problem :)

my ferry...

Finally I found the way to the port called IJmuiden where my ferry called "Kind of Scandinavia" was already waiting for it's passengers. I just had to wait for about two minutes till I was called to drive onto the ferry and there I was really surprised, because I expected to wait at the reception desk for a cabin key - like I know it from the French ferry - but the card I got at the car entrance was already my room key (barcode-system) and so I just went straight to my room. It was small, but clean and so I read a while and decided to walk around to have a look at the ship's facilities ... then the captain made me worry a bit, because he announced, that there was a problem with a part of a heavy load and so they had to get a crane to lift the thing and fix the problem... so we got tow hours delay, but after reaching the ferry in time I didn't have much stress any longer to reach an appointment...

leaving the port...

At 10:30 CET, 9:30 GMT we reached Newcastle. I drove off, and decide to drive the M1 along the coast to Edinburgh. On the road I saw many nice places I hope to visit one day when I'm here!

driving through the customs...

I was really amused by the "border" between England and Scotland, there are more signs and flags as I noticed at any other border I crossed between two countries so far ... I'll take some pictures next time and post it here...

The first sign I saw in Scotland was really impressive "Frustration can cause accidents!" ... this words shouldn't just be placed on a road ;-)

- Oh by the way... I was really afraid of driving on the left hand side with my beloved Mini, but till now I didn't make a single mistake and I hope to continue this till the next round about appears :o)

Finally I reached the campus of the Herot-Watt-University outside the city and drove my car straight to the parking space next to the house I'm sitting right now, called "Lord Home Hall".
I went to the reception at the main building, grabbed my keys and started searching for my room. After a few minutes I found it and was surprised by it's dimensions ... it's really small when I compare it to my flat in Basel... there even my small bedroom was bigger then my actual room including the little bath :) ... but after putting my stuff inside now it looks a bit nicer... pictures are following, as soon as I load the pictures on my pc...

That's all for my journey, tomorrow will be my first study-day and I'm looking forward what's coming up in the next weeks and months...