Hogmanay Stoke Travel
Hogmanay with Stoke Travel
Edinburgh’s Epic New Year’s Festival And A 24 Hour Party
This post in looooooong overdue. If you follow me on Instagram or read my blog, you may know I sold everything to travel full time back in 2018. But it all started with a 3 week solo trip to Europe.
I spent time exploring London, sightseeing in Portugal and volunteering with Diverbo in Germany.
I was even lucky enough to score a tour guiding position with Stoke Travel for their Hogmanay trip which included a roundtrip party train from London to Scotland for the major New Year’s Eve Festival in Edinburgh.
Stoke Travel is a festival/party travel company that offers budget trips and campsites at the best festivals around the world like Oktoberfest, San Vino, Royal Ascot, Sitges Carnival, Springfest, musical festivals around Europe and more!
The company offers fantastic deals on their trips (the prices for their Sail Croatia trip are far cheaper than other companies!) but the best discount comes from booking with a promo code which gets you free UNLIMITED drinks at most of their festival events.
Stoke Travel Promo Code: THEWANDERLUSTROSE
This can be a huge money saver if you’re traveling Europe on a budget and plan to drink at the festivals.
Hogamanay Festival
I knew I wanted to ring in the near year at the legendary Hogmanay Festival and I was thrilled when I came across the opportunity to apply for a role with Stoke Travel.
While the position was unpaid, it only required me to help out during the festival and my whole trip was entirely free – drinks included!
My Day Working at Hogmanay With Stoke Travel
So what does a day guiding with Stoke Travel look like for a major 24 hour festival?
7:30 – 9:30am
Check in. Grab a breakfast deal from Betjeman Arms & discounted drinks to get the day started.
9:45am
All guests must be at train platform.
10:17am
Stoke Party Train departs for Edinburgh
11:00am
Receive a ready made brunch pack so you can line your stomach before the celebrations begin!
11:30am – 3:45pm
Enjoy your bottle of bubbles on the journey along with Train Spotting drinking games, international NYE countdowns and tonnes of Stoke Travel prizes and giveways.
3:45pm
Arrive in Edinburgh, Scotland. Stokies will guide you to the pre party
4:00 – 7:00pm
Stay warm indoors or discover Edinburgh – we’d recommend checking out the Christmas markets.
7:30pm
The famous Hogmanay street party festival starts.
9:30pm
The hourly fireworks leading up to to the New Year begin.
12:00am
The final and biggest fireworks go off and doors open for the Trainspotting after party.
5:20am
Be at Edinburgh Waverley railway station.
5:41am
Train departs back home
10:45am
Arrive back in London.
I woke up early (VERY early) because my hotel in London was pretty far from the meeting point and I had to be there by 7am to assist with check in and breakfast.
We had an awesome crowd, I spent the morning passing out breakfast, answering questions and getting people excited about the trip to come!
I was in charge of one whole train cart. My duties included passing out wristbands, making sure everyone had their bottle of champagne for the train ride and making sure I had everyone’s name and contact info for when departure time arrived the next morning.
After that, I simply had to make sure everyone had a great time!
And if you’re familiar with Stoke Travel, you’ll know it was a wild party indeed. The train ride alone was half the fun!
Stoke Travel Promo Code: THEWANDERLUSTROSE
People were sprinting up and down the aisles, playing games and popping champagne!
Despite a few hiccups beyond the Stoke Travel’s control (the train tracks were closed due to an emergency so our train was delayed getting into Edinburgh) the 24 hour trip was everything I hoped it would be.
Once we arrived in Edinburgh, it was already getting dark. I had originally planned to go see the castle but the party was already well underway! I helped lead my group to the pre-party and made sure everyone got in okay.
By this time, people were already quite drunk and some had lost their wristbands. After some chaotic running around and sorting out the situation, my duties were mostly done.
I made friends with a group on my train cart and spent the rest of the night dancing in Scottish bars, watching the fireworks and roaming the winding streets of Edinburgh all night. It. Was. A. Blast. Everything I hoped and more!
We stayed up the whole night until the train departed in the morning. I checked people in for departure and for the entire ride back to London, people were strewn about the train, sleeping every which way.
Usually when I travel, I take a lot of pictures and videos. But truthfully, since this was my first trip I just enjoyed the experience! I didn’t have a fancy camera at the time and I knew nothing about editing.
Fortunately Stoke Travel always has a fantastic photographer and videographer around so I am able to share their photos here.
For other Stoke Travel festivals trips, check out their website here. And use promo code: THEWANDERLUSTROSE to save on your booking or get free unlimited drinks!
Check out the video of time at Hogmanay with Stoke Travel!
It was certainly memorable and a truly unique way to ring in the new year!
