Some Things are Worth Getting Up at 5AM For...

As some of you may know, my friend & I are planning a trip to Great Britian this summer. It has been my life-long dream to visit Scotland, my ancestral home. Because London is so close, we're taking a few extra days & visiting England, too. I am so excited for the trip, I can barely stand the wait. It's like waiting for Christmas morning when I was little; when my brother & I would stay up 'till the wee hours of the morning to sneak out to the living room and poke around at our presents.

We started planning this trip a year ago, when we became roommates again. About a month ago we nailed down the dates of our trip & were pleased to discover that we'll be arriving in Edinburgh at the start of the summer festival season. That information meant that we needed to make B&B reservations right away. We found an awesome B&B for a great price & made reservations last month. I was so excited that this trip was really happening. We also learned more about the festivals going on & decided we really wanted to visit the Royal Military Tattoo festival while we were there. For more information visit: www.edintatto.co.uk

Basically, its a military performance from tons of military bands & regiments from around the world. The festival runs from August 5 - 27, 2011, with performances every evening except Sunday & two performances on Saturday. They perform in a stadium at the base of the Edinburgh Castle & the grand finale features a combined pipe band performance of Auld Lang Syne & Scotland the Brave. When the finale is finished, they close the program with a lone piper playing on the ramparts of the castle. I get emotional just thinking about it, I can't imagine what it'll be like when I get there!!

Tickets went on sale on Wednesday, December 1st at 10:30AM, Scotland time. That meant 3AM our time. Oh Boy!! I finally pulled myself out of bed at 5AM and click the link. I was immediately entered into a queue that read, "Do to the high demand, you have been entered into a queue. Your position is #1,988 and your estimate wait time is 1 hour 20 min." That information was extremely accurate. At exactly 1 hour 20 min. I was automatically directed to the purchasing site & was pleasently surprised to see good seats available in our price range for the date we wanted!!! I'm so excited to go! The show might be the highlight of the trip!!

Here's a pic of the event: