Being a Tourist Where I Live

Being a Tourist Where I Live (April)

It has recently become likely that I will be leaving Edinburgh, and I am both excited and anxious about moving on from this beautiful place that has been my home for nearly five years. So I have decided to make the most out of my time here so that if I do end up leaving, I will have seen as much of this beautiful city as I can before I go.

I have lived in the UK before. When I was younger, I did a year of my undergrad in London. It was wonderful, but I spent the majority of my time there in classes or in my dorm, and I didn’t get to see nearly as much of the city as I wanted to in my time there. People frequently unintentionally rub salt into this sore spot when they find out that I lived in London. They get all excited and start listing off touristy things you can do there and asking if I did them while I lived there. To make matters even worse, you can do about eight billion touristy things in London, so even when I share what I did there, it doesn’t seem like much compared to the colossal list of things I could have done.

I am determined that this won’t be the case if and when I leave Edinburgh. I am going to visit as much of this city as I can before I leave it.

I did some of this when I first moved here. I saw several museums and historical sites in my first two months living in Scotland. It’s a fun way to get to know a city, and I knew from past experience that once I got distracted by work and actually living in the city, I was unlikely to go out and do all the tourist things. I still planned to do a few of them once I had settled in; however, the lockdowns had other plans.

So I am bound and determined to go to every site listed in the guidebook I have.

And you know what?

I am absolutely loving being a tourist in my own city.

I love finding new parks and Byzantine-era graffiti. I loved visiting all the museums I wanted to see and the spots where movies were filmed. Every time I go out, my eyes are opened to a new architectural marvel.

Being a tourist is adding joy to mundane things.

It’s also making my daily life easier. I now know all sorts of hidden cut-throughs or less traveled paths. I know the slightly longer walkways that take you the scenic way. I’ve found grocers that sell things I had been looking for and the best out-of-the-way charity shops.

Even if I end up staying right where I am, I will be glad that I took the time to get to know my city.

And if I do leave, I will be able to tell the people that ask that yes, I did do the main-stream tourist thing while I was here, and the lesser known one, and the obscure one. I will have a large collection of stories about my time here.

So this is your sign to go out and fall in love with the place where you live. Please take advantage of the things that are so amazing people travel to see them. They are right outside your door.