First ever book festival - Edinburgh book fest

If, like me, you have tons of reader, blogger and author friends/people you follow on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram you always see when book events come up. Lots of people go, have fun, meet amazing authors, bloggers connect, book pals have liquid lunches and generally a blast! I see them all the time and want to go, but have never went, until today that is!


So, why haven't I made it to any? Firstly I didn't really know what it was about, is it free to enter, if you need to pay how much, what happens. The Edinburgh Book Festival is FREE, free to enter guys. There have a ton of events on and the events you do pay for. You can go on your first day, pick up a programme (also free) which gives you a day by day run down of what is on, how much it costs and you can buy online or call. There are wee parts you can buy food and drink, not masses of choice but enough to keep you happy or you can nip outside as it is bang in the centre so you can get food you fancy. There are wee book shops inside you can browse and buy, there is also bars, places you can buy drinks and sit and chill with your book, people watch (I loved I saw so many folks with books, reading or gabbing books).





Getting around from event to event, now I get really anxious about this is I have never been before and don't know layouts (an issue many of us have. Well right in the middle is the whole lay out on a big board and honestly, even with my recovering foot it was no issue at all. The walk from the train station to the festival was a wee bit of a trek (under a mile and flat pavements, maybe 0.7 miles) but there are loads of taxis and bus stops so you can get there no issue.





Whilst it is outdoors with tents, the top over the walkway is covered so even with weather like today where it was chucking it down, once you got inside you were grand.





The toilets are really good, I was worried it was going to be those portaloos you get at concerts and gigs *twitch* I really hate them. Nope and they have ramps as well as two stairs so caters to all. Also available are water stations dottered about.





As well as having issues going to somewhere huge like that I hadn't been to before, the train journey had me a bit twitchy too. However, the train terminates at Waverley station so if like me you fret you will go past your stop you are grand as it is the last stop (from where I travelled from, just check with one of the train staff who are lovely and helpful).





Edinburgh is so beautiful and on route to the festival are some stunning buildings and lots of shops so you have plenty to look at as you go. One thing that helped me was meeting friends there, some first time in person, some I had met before, the lovely Kelly from LOVE BOOKS GROUP Mary from Live and Deadly Joanne from Portobello blog and Katherine from Bibliomanic UK. and author Jane Simpson Anderson joined us for lunch, I owe that lady a drink! If you are a blogger or reader, just reach out, there is always someone going to these things and when you have someone to meet you it takes so much stress/pressure off you. One thing I can say, hand on heart, book folk are some of the best humans out there. I know I will be back at more of the festival, was meant to be tomorrow but I didn't manage to get tickets for the things I wanted to see and I hurt my foot trying to ensure I didn't miss my train. However, I could go otherwise much less stressy because these lovely ladies took me under their wing and showed me what it is all about.


I loved my first day at the Edinburgh book festival, I will do another post about the three events I went to but I cannot recommend it enough. If you are a book lover, get yourself out there, you will love it. Hope you had a great day, I sure did!


My side kick has blagged my press pass :P