Theater, art, and Haggis! A guide to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

by Gadling Staff on

Each week, Gadling is taking a look at our favorite festivals around the world. From music festivals to cultural showcases to the just plain bizarre, we hope to inspire you to do some festival exploring of your own. Come back each Wednesday for our picks or find them all HERE.

Known as the “largest festival on Earth“, Scotland’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival has something for everyone. From students donning kilts wanting to groove to the newest Jazz singers to street performers on stilts, this annual festival is an adventure where the energy flows into the streets and makes everyone feel like a performing artist for the day. The Fringe has come a long way: from its 1947 beginnings with only eight theater companies, to the present day festival, which sells over 1.8 million tickets each year! Tourists now travel from around the globe to experience this extraordinary event.

Begun by the Festival Fringe Society as an “open access festival” allowing unrestricted exhibition by anyone interested in performing, the modern version of the festival now features some of the world’s most unique and avant-garde artistic and theatrical pursuits. The shows range from dramatic Shakespeare told from the perspective of dinosaurs to puppets singing show tunes. However, the performances are only half of the experience that comes along with the price of the ticket. What else happens at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival? Keep reading below.

With over 34,000 performances taking place over three weeks, the word ‘venue’ takes on a whole new meaning at the Edinburgh Fringe. The performance spaces range from a traditional stage to more progressive bars to classrooms with floor seating to places not so appealing like toilets!

Shows start all throughout the day and run long into the night, so every attendee should pick up a program. Treat the program like your tour guide for the length of your visit. Inside you’ll get reviews, a synopsis and location information for each show. Grab a scone and your program and hike up to Arthur’s Seat, the highest point in the city, for a panoramic city view and chart out each day. Since performances vary a great deal in length and are located all throughout the city, double check your times and locations before buying tickets.

Though the offerings of the Fringe Festival change every year, the one show that is on the top of every must-see list is the Military Tattoo at Edinburgh Castle, a 90-minute celebration lead by over a thousand musicians and ending with fireworks. Tickets for the event are in high demand every year, so make sure to buy those tickets in advance. When it’s over, walk to a pub and have yourself a “dram” of Scotch while trying the Haggis (a Scottish tradition of a sheep’s heart, liver and lungs mixed with spices) and tasting the tatties (potatoes). Like the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, it’s a one-of-a-kind Scottish experience!

This year the festival is scheduled from August 6-30th. Follow on Twitter and Facebook to stay up to date on the latest happenings of the Fringe!

One for the Road: Ingrid Anders’ “Earth to Kat Vespucci”

by Catherine Bodry on

You probably already know that there is a margarita cocktail and a margherita pizza. But before I studied abroad in Europe, I had no idea that ordering myself a salty, limey, tequila-y beverage might actually yield a plate-sized cheesy, doughy meal. Call me an ignorant American; I don’t deny that I was (and still often am) one.

Ingrid Anders understands, and in her debut novel “Earth to Kat Vespucci” (iUniverse), Anders’ title character makes all the mistakes in the book (except for the margarita mix-up) on her first trip abroad. Kat Vespucci is a senior at Rutgers University when she runs from heartbreak by signing up for a year abroad in Berlin, Germany. The school year marks her first time abroad, and the mishaps start as soon as Kat leaves the airport and attempts to buy a pass for the train: Kat is confronted by not only the different ways in which transport operates outside the US (you mean you buy a ticket, but no one checks it?), but also an often-befuddling European bureaucracy.

Other topics Anders covers include such light-hearted ones as water-saving showers, country-wide Sunday store closures, sexual freedom (yes, fellow Americans, we are just a little bit repressed), the difference between pepperoni and peperoni, and many European males’ lack of macho-ness (is her roommate gay? A metrosexual? Or simply European?).But there’s also the stereotypical stuff that often gives Americans abroad a bad name — our lack of geographical knowledge (at her first school dinner, Kat hides a map of Europe on her lap under the table in order to place where all her European classmates are from), our lack of political and historical knowledge of anything outside our own country, and often a lack of knowledge regarding America’s role in world politics — and the way the rest of the world views us.

The book is in no way anti-American, and I don’t want to give that impression at all. Rather, Anders skillfully and humorously navigates a sheltered young woman’s eye-opening experience abroad. Fortunately., Europe is a tame introduction to the “rest” of the world, and Kat is a curious and intelligent explorer. Anyone who took their first trip abroad as an adult will likely identify with many of her bumblings, and with this character, Anders shows herself to be a promising new novelist.

A day in the life of a Norwegian?

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Ever wonder what people like to do in Norway? According to the graphic above, posted on Reddit, favorite Norwegian activities include “dreaming about fjords,” “eating lutefisk” and “skiing to work.” Having never had a chance to visit this Scandinavian country of snow, socialized medicine and reindeer, I can only laugh at whoever came up with this chart. And I’m beginning to wonder, why do I have a sudden urge to visit? Considering one of the activities listed on the graphic is “submitting things on Reddit on behalf of the Norwegian Tourist Board,” I’m guessing some clever viral marketing is probably at work…

[Via Buzzfeed]

Professional honeymooners: dream job or nightmare?

by Laurel Miller on

Does a half-year working honeymoon sound like your idea of a dream job? If so, you might want to contact RunawayBrideandGroom.com, an Irish travel agency catering to destination weddings and honeymoons.

But wait- there’s more! You’ll also be paid 20,000 euros (about $27,000). “The Ultimate Job” is the latest in a series of promotions designed to capture the public imagination and serve as a “brilliant” marketing tool for people and places. The idea was inspired by last year’s blockbuster “Best Job in the World” campaign in Australia.

Winners will travel the globe for six months, and get paid to test out the most romantic wedding and honeymoon destinations around the world. More than 1,000 couples have already applied for the chance to be sent to resorts in Africa, Europe, Asia and the United States. You don’t have to be Irish to apply, but you do have to tout Ireland as part of the process.

Hopefuls have until April 7 to apply for the “horrendous assignment” — as the company teasingly calls it (hee.) — which starts mid-May. B.Y.O. Viagra and UTI medicine.

The winners will be asked to blog about their experiences a few times a week, “when they can get out of the hammock after sipping a glass of champagne,” says Rosemarie Meleady, managing director of RunawayBrideandGroom.com. Assuming they stay sober long enough, they must also write for The Irish Times once a month.

While 182.5 days of globetrotting is a dream job for many (mainly real travel writers), it would still test the limits of even the most solid of couples. Here’s hoping the company also throws in a good divorce lawyer.

British cyclist to attempt new round-the-world speed record

by Kraig Becker on

Beginning tomorrow, British professional cyclist Alan Bate will set of on a round the world bike ride that he hopes will not only set a new speed record, but actually smash the old one. Bate has set his sights quite high, with a schedule that will see him covering the 18,000 mile route in just 99 days, if he can maintain the brutal pace.

The route, which can be viewed by clicking here, will begin, and eventually end, in Bangkok, Thailand, but will follow a circuitous path from there. Bate will ride on five continents, heading first to Australia and New Zealand, followed by North and South America, then on to Europe and across Asia, back to where he started.

In order to keep his punishing pace, and break the 100 day mark for an around the world cycling trip, Bate will need to average roughly 182 miles per day, through all kinds of conditions and across a variety of terrain. That will be tough on good, well maintained, and paved roads, but will be especially challenging in more remote countries. That is also a lot of miles to grind through, day in and day out for more than three months.

The current record is held by Julian Emre Sayarer, who completed the journey this past December in just 165 days, although that mark is yet to be certified by Guinness. Previous to Sayarer’s record, fellow Brit James Bowthorpe circumnavigated the globe on his bike in 174 days back in September.