What to WEAR IN SCOTLAND? | Tips for what to pack for Edinburgh & beyond

hello my peeps this is cat AKA keyboard and today I am bringing you a video that is based on a question I keep getting from you and I also see in a lot of like online forums about travel to Scotland which is what to pack what to wear in Scotland so let's have a look what Edinburgh has in the bag for us so when you're packing for your trip to Scotland you can probably apply two different strategies first one being try to think of the Four Horsemen of the Scottish weather apocalypse which is the wind the humidity the constant you know wetness and muddiness and of course the unpredictability and when you look at those four and then think okay I'm gonna eliminate everything in my wardrobe that is not quite ready for those four you will probably end up with a suitcase full of useful items I however am gonna use the other strategy which is turning to Scotland's other characteristic traits and that is mildness and to kind of explain what I mean by mildness is that in my other city where I used to live for over 20 years which is Prague the winters would get to let's say -10 or let's say -5 on average and then in the summer it would easily get to plus 35 every year so that range would be quite wild and you would literally have a whole different wardrobe for winter and summer here in Scotland that doesn't quite happen because in Winter it gets to maybe plus five degrees Celsius and in the summer like right now it's um kind of end of July and it is um about 16 degrees on some days it gets to like 20. so let's say that the range is from plus 5 to 20 and that's just 15 degrees so especially if you're not too sensitive to like being too warm or too cold cold you can pretty much wear the same stuff all year round but we're gonna get to do that later another caveat that I'm gonna add to this intro bit of this video is that you might be watching this not planning to go to Edinburgh at all but Edinburgh and Scottish Highlands the overlap in what you might need when it comes to what to wear is huge um yes in the highlands you might not be getting some sort of push afternoon tea but I mean you can so you know it the Venn diagram might actually be just a circle uh Edinburgh is quite a wild city with a lot of wind a lot of mud kind of random wetness uh you if you truly want to enjoy the city as a local there will be a lot of kind of marching up and down stairs and hills and it it's just this like MC Escher system of stairwells where you always feel like it's always just upset Affairs we also have you know volcanoes and beaches and all of that and as I mentioned earlier they are all quite wet and muddy so do not pack any like super white shoes perhaps well anyway I'm also gonna get do that later uh now we can actually explore which specific items I as a local would recommend you pack now let's get down to business I am here in what I would say is the base of every outfit throughout most of the Year here in Scotland I think I'm going to start by explaining to you how I dress between the non-summer months that will be starting like mid-august because mid-august you really start getting some like cooler wins coming in it's kind of noticeably autumnly at the end of August and I would say that like summer months to me start mid-may on average so like when you're lucky end of April when you're unlucky like we were this year end of May so what's going on here is just a little kind of a cottony undershirt black vest I think this one is from Primark Basics like this you can always get in the UK in Primark or something similar and on my bottom half I do have a pair of my favorite jeans these are the Uniqlo stretch ones you can tell extremely stretchy you can do anything in these which is very important when you're in Edinburgh and Scotland because again there's a lot of walking up down you're going to want to be able to sit on anything so yeah stretchiness is a priority but let's start building up on this for those non-summer months okay so here's a jumper and a Dickie because if you suckers thought that this whole time I was wearing a shirt under my jumpers then jokes on you because I cannot deal with all of those layers I run very warm so a Dickie is much better so this is gonna this is awkward only my neighbors know my secret my shameful Dicky Secret I'm gonna stop talking to you now foreign of clothes because as I mentioned earlier it is very windy and Edinburgh and Scottish wind is very good at getting Underneath Your Clothes so in my experience of living here for the past 12 years it's really good to wear something that goes all the way up your neck and for me actually like the Dickie is not just a very shameful fashion secret of mine it's also a practical accessory because you can actually kind of like you know button it up all the way up the wind really has no chance with this get up I am kind of pointing these things out because you might want to pack something like uh some some sort of like deeper v-neck without anything underneath or like a flowy cardigan or even just a you know non-flowy cardigan all of those especially if you're wearing something like this underneath will invite all of that wind in and I think that it's uh it's never too nice to be cold like kind of in like your chestical area so yeah this this is superior and of course in these nine months you will very likely need some sort of outer layer also so I have two jackets here which are my all-time favorites uh one of which is kind of lighter kind of more sporty more trekky the other one is surprisingly versatile because it is very sturdy it is a vintage from one of edinburgh's many vintage shops it's actually made in America I'm guessing maybe like 60 70s and it is this like hearty Tweed it's like a it's like a work looking man jacket but I'm gonna show you how this looks so first up we have this one which is a waterproof breathable windproof tape seams sort of jacket which when you again think about the four things that I told you about why edinburgh's and Scotland's weather can be sucky this is exactly what you need you need something that is breathable because of the humidity but otherwise you want it to protect you from all the elements so as you can tell this one kind of ends kind of just above my butt which is great when you're tracking because you do want to have that movement in your legs if you're tempted to get a longer one then maybe look for one that has that like bottom zipper because you will want to open up that space so you can move your legs which hopefully are clad in these Mega stretchy jeans I I'm sorry I will never stop talking about the stretchiness and an important little detail my coupon get it in my Etsy Shop link into doobly-doo and the other jacket which you can tell is much longer which I think that especially in Winter will be surprisingly warming sometimes again with the wind with the humidity it's so good to have something that like covers your legs so yeah with a sports jacket because they're a lot less flowy that will kind of limit your movement but with these kind of more dressy jackets it's less of a problem so yeah and on this one I also have a pen because I think ultra rare should always have a pin ideally by MOA so this one has the Scotland In Bloom pen in blue they come in other colors also this jacket is surprisingly warm surprisingly sturdy it can really take quite a lot of wind and rain which is great in Edinburgh but it still manages to make me look kind of put together so I like that a lot so now we've established that what you're wearing on the most of your body can be pretty simple pretty easy but where the art of knowing Scottish climate and its weaknesses lies is in accessorizing and I do have some of my favorite accessories here and first I'm going to start by a little quiz which is when I wore my favorite coat earlier what was its weak point yes it was the neck and chest area you need to you need to listen to me better that's how the weather gets you and that's why I have here my scarf This Is by The Tartan blanket company which is a really nice kind of designer brand based here in Edinburgh who make Lamb's wool and cashmere scarves you will find that sort of scarf all over like you know the touristy Center in the souvenir shops but I do like that the Tarzan blanket company does make these kind of less usual colors and patterns and also they are a b Corp so uh very ethical very nice so do support them to support an ethical local small Indie company this is one of my favorites it's uh what in some of my favorite colors I think this is quite heathery so it is kind of like non-obviously Scottish and it is Lamb's wool and what I think is important is that again as edinburgh's climate in Scotland's climate gets quite humid you don't want to have some sort of like artificial textile around your neck because you will get very sweaty very icky and I hate that so you instead want something natural so it can be either this or maybe you have like a silky scarf that's also going to work better than any sort of polyester adjacent situation now the other thing in 2023 I myself was quite surprised that even throughout May when you know all the blossoming trees were already past their Prime I was still thinking I should really be wearing gloves right now um I'm not sure about you I do have fingers that are quite sensitive to cold and also feet but more about that later and I do have Reynolds so when my hands get really cold especially when I'm handling something cold and kind of metally like my camera the blood flow to my fingers kind of stops and then my fingers get white and they feel really weird and I'm kind of like one percent zombie at that point so uh yeah I have to wear gloves but because I also want to have some sensitivity in my fingers still I opt in for these kind of like thinner gloves with like Smart Touch features this might not be enough especially when it gets colder like at night in winter but what is good to always have especially in like winter months so let's say between end of November to end of March I would really recommend you Source some of these hand warmers you can also get their reusable ones but I do sort of you know with some shame I do prefer the one use ones these are really good they last couple of hours you can have them inside of your gloves and inside of your pockets or both and yeah they will keep your hands uh fully loaded with blood with feet I think that if you're staying at a hotel you will probably not have this problem but if you're staying at an Airbnb or if you're like flat swapping or for any reason you're staying in some sort of like a tenement building which gets colder at night your feed will be cold like even in summer last night again it is July right now last night I felt really bad for not having put on any fuzzy socks it really helps me fall asleep it's really helpful to have them and obviously in Winter you might even want to put them in your boots but uh yeah I would pack at least one pair or you know you can always buy them again in Primark Primark is good for all of those Basics if you run out or you forgotten now last thing hats now Hats play several roles in protecting you and making you look civilized here in Scotland first one is obviously warmth but second one is a certain control over your hair situation because Edinburgh and Scotland again windy windy as heck so um I personally don't like hats because I feel like whenever I put one on I do look like some sort of like large round Moon child so I opt in for these guys earmuffs which are now kind of like a part of my brand I do get people stop me on the street in in Winter saying like oh it's you and your ear muffs it's like these earmuffs are now possibly more important than Simon no don't worry uh I think that if I lived these lying somewhere people wouldn't be like oh that's cat's earmuffs but when Simon goes out without me people definitely do recognize him but this is a nice little segue into bringing Simon in because Simon actually wears his hat all year round because you probably know he's curly he's long haired and the climate here is not the best for his hair situation so yeah one last thing about hats if you like a baseball cap or maybe some sort of like wider brimmed hat uh which are both kind of a fun and stylish way of you know putting together your holiday wardrobe don't so unless you are very confident in this hat just being like perfectly made by some sort of local Artisan for your specific skull uh I think you're going to lose it so don't bring your favorite hat if it's one of those hats uh just yeah ear muff it up welcome to my shoe intermission as you can see we are keeping it quite unisex uh I would say that the base of your packing will be some tracking shoes uh you might think you don't need those if you're doing like a city-based trip but I genuinely think you do you do need something that is wind mud waterproof honestly even if you just want to go up the Craigs or the Arthur seeds or on a slightly wetter day which is most of them if you're gonna go up Carlton Hill or any of the parks or the beach this is going to be your best friend I had these for a couple of years and they are amazing I think these are Timberlands but you know anything similar whatever works for you you know bring them now in the summer in you know the peak summer months I don't think that you will need these for any of the other months but in the peak summer months if there's even just a whiff of chance that some sort of heat wave is coming I think that having some sandals is good because they don't really take that much space they're relatively light I do like these that do have like a bit of platform just because that way you don't get like things coming under your feet as you're walking unfortunately Edinburgh Glasgow aren't the cleanest city so you might even get like some glass coming in so I feel a bit better with a bit of platform you might argue that makes it less unisex but I think that's just the shackles of your own expectations on your own gender then we have the issues we're making this political now then we have these shoes which you can tell very fancy Simon's fanciest shoes and um I think Simon finds these quite comfortable to walk around also so if you have a pair that you can do like a 10K in I don't mean a 10k run I mean a 10K walk around the day in the city but also you know you can kind of wear them to a nice restaurant in the evening because I would say this is not really the attire for like going somewhere nice but this is so if you have ones that are good for both going out but also walking around then those are your best friend and of course my go-to right now in my kind of yellow power color also very unisexy rdclo adidasis and this I would say you could probably take this to a nicer restaurant if you clean them so not in this state of course if you're a person who likes wearing heels that's an option but with all the cobblestones and things like that and I don't think that any of you would be packing heels into like the highlands but uh yeah don't don't do that for Edinburgh you can bring them but you in heels you will basically be uh dependent on taking taxis and public transport most of the time and personally I don't like that that's why I don't really wear heels uh maybe like some platforms might be a bit better but still the sort of the ground in historical centers of Scottish cities are not really level so it's a bit dangerous then you know it can get Slippery from the wetness it can get Slippery from iciness so wouldn't probably recommend that the other thing I would not recommend is kind of like very fancy like fresh white shoes uh yeah I think that you would you would have some regrets I think that uh Edinburgh and wider Scotland would uh really like kind of do a number on your white shoes so I say leave those at home for those special occasions so in the summer apart from the sandals which I just mentioned I would also recommend the following items due to the humidity I really like this is the season where you really should bring some nice natural fibers so I am now wearing this fun sort of you know again very uni sexy shirt with nice little Burgers and Fries so this is very pleasant for when it gets warmer because you know especially if you're wearing around the backpack you might get kind of like a sweaty bag is that too much info I don't care so having something that's natural either linen or cotton is really going to help you you can bring some sort of nice like linen trousers like I do have a pair which I really really like which are just you know kind of nice and blue and Airy and kind of cropped so they you know they can be worn with um Regular trainers or with sandals and I just find them very Universal you can kind of wear them anyway you can kind of dress them up down and they're very comfortable uh however Scottish summer obviously isn't the warmest of Summers you do get these like 10 15 minute periods of feeling like you're like totally melting under the strength of the summer Scottish sun which is surprising and yet you know next 15 minutes or like when you sit down in a pub outside like outside seating in a pub and it's in the shade you will feel very cold so that's why I recommend bringing a denim jacket which um I think again denim usually mostly cotton so a nice natural material which is both kind of Hardy I think it can take some battering from the weather it's pretty windproof you can put pins on it uh but at the same time I find it quite breathable and it's you know it's pretty stylish you can get them in any color uh and you know any any sort of gender lean you might prefer you know that I like my knitwear so this one is kind of like it has like a bit of neatness to it another huge staple in my summertime wardrobe is this very light Uniqlo hoodie so this is one of their um kind of like dry you UV cut cool to the touch hoodie so it is meant for summer it is supposed to kind of protect you from the UV rays and uh people are always surprised by this but you could definitely get sunburned here in Scotland and perhaps you know you don't like to think about it too much and perhaps you like to always have like a bit of a layer on you know especially if you're hiking so it can be hiking within the city or it can be hiking in the highlands I think that especially if you're somewhere on the on the west coast this might also be pretty good for keeping the midges and ticks out because uh it kind of like covers you all the way to your palms uh yeah I really like these they come in many colors and they come kind of in cuts for both men and women and everyone in between so yeah I really recommend this one it can also be a pretty good layer for any other season but I think in the summer it's the best because it makes me feel protected and it also makes me look like I actually like sports a question I get quite often is about how to deal like dress codes or just dressing up if you're going somewhere slightly fancier I think one of the quintessential experiences here in Edinburgh but also in some of the extra large cities in Scotland is to go out and have a nice afternoon tea and for that I think that it's good to you know not wear like a graphic t-shirt without anything over it or shorts or Jorts or maybe even your kind of More trekky Boots all of those things might not feel all that right in that sort of setting but I think that if you want to keep it simple when you're packing you can't go wrong with just packing like a nice Blazer now one thing that you can't really wear with your Blazer is a backpack I don't think a backpack especially a nicer one would be necessarily a problem when it comes to the dress code but I just think that it doesn't look good with like a tailored fit so instead why not bring a nice bag like this one which full disclosure I have been gifted by the company called steady Blake and I did want to talk about it a little just to thank them and I genuinely really enjoy it it's in my favorite color you know I love yellow it is kind of my like mental health sort of power color whenever I look at it I'm just like yeah that gives me energy that gives me the dopamine so yes what I like about Teddy Blake as a brand is that uh they are fully like genuine leather made in Italy but at the same time they are very affordable you can check out the link in the doobly-doo for a little discount code from yours truly but you know just check out their website they do have bags in all sorts of sizes and colors and finishes again this one was my favorite I was able to pick any and this one just I thought would fit everything I have including my shoes don't wear these to an afternoon tea but do you wear this it also comes with like a strap and everything but I didn't want to make it messy I just wanted to be classy so yeah once again check out the link in the doobly-doo for up to 60 of their beautiful Italian leather bags and uh thank me later I guess now to get to the topic which I have probably promised you in the thumbnail things you should not be packing when coming to Scotland first of all things that are not windproof and I don't mean like a light jacket which wind might get into I mean mostly dresses and skirts which are made of like flowy materials and are not like knee length and longer because I have seen my fair share of naked butts in Edinburgh and I imagine all over Scotland this happens on daily basis as well um the wind here it just kind of like travels in unpredictable patterns and it will expose you any unbroken into uncomfortable Footwear is ill-advised uh you will inevitably be doing more walking than you imagine or you know you will be doing all the walking that you're planning to do if you're one of those sporty hiki types in which case also not the best idea even you know hiking boots also need breaking into to which you probably know even better than me so yes I know I mentioned not wearing white shoes but I think that in general any white clothing is a bit problematic because you know in Scotland and in Scottish cities it's nice to have the option to just kind of like sit wherever you know you have the right to roam and just like that you have the right to sit on whatever you please most of the time I think that in Edinburgh it's quite nice whenever you buy like a coffee or ice cream a lot of these shops they don't really have sit down space you know a lot of the central nicer coffee shops are very small so you know why don't you watch my Royal mile guide video and you're gonna find out just how many little hidden Nooks there are for you to sit down wow Edinburgh the paradise of sitting down I also wanted to talk briefly about tartun tat which is you know all the stuff you can buy from the touristy souvenir shops which I'm not saying they're bad but honestly if you wear them you will very likely just look like you're doing like a stag night or a Hindu I don't think that anyone in the cities or in the countryside would just think like oh that's a person who's trying to fit in that's not going to happen instead you can opt in for some like nicer kind of like pledy by the way in in Scotland we don't say plaid we just say Tartan but uh yeah check you know it's sort of like nice checked trousers in this case I think these are nice and kind of understated uh and they do have like a bit of a sort of a Celtic vibe to them so I like things like that and also obviously you can always get some Tweed a lot of the Vintage shops here are just like filled to the brim with things like this and Tweed and it's really worth having a little look around and then you can really lean into the sort of Academia fantasy you're really gonna like fit into especially the cities I think that when you wear tweed you just well first of all you just look smarter who doesn't want to look smarter but yeah also you just kind of fit into the aesthetic of the architecture and you will take very nice photographs ship skis one more thing I wanted to point out is a lot of people around here wear like Harry Potter scarves and things and look whatever makes you happy I don't really care but I want you to know if you're one of the Harry Potter fans that the whole kind of JK Rowling controversy is still very much kind of alive here and Scotland is a much more pro-trans country than England so if you are like a fully licensed Harry Potter outfit some people might look at you and you know jump to conclusions so you know this is just a piece of information that I'm giving you so you know you know what you're working with when you're wearing Harry Potter themed stuff I think that maybe a nicer way of doing it is to do kind of like a Harry Potter version of Disney bounding so maybe you know like pick your house and dress yourself in the colors of your house and then if you meet a fellow fan you can kind of start a conversation about it but you're not kind of like obviously throwing money at JK Rowling which is seen as problematic in this land and before I finish this video I still wanted to talk about a couple of extras which I think are good to have around you and on you one of them being a weatherproof cover for your backpack and a backpack I think that the backpack is the best sort of carrying receptacle for traveling around Scotland I have my trusty kanken which kind of comes with that built-in little sitting thing so that's also really nice but um yeah I also have this on it which is great when you have cameras in or anything else that's um you know that you might not want to get wet in general the rain here does not get to that sort of like torrential quantity it's very unusual on an average year that it would rain so bad that your backpack will get soaked however in 2023 we have now seen about 40 days with that sort of rain so yeah I think that like going forward I think it's just better to play it safe um umbrellas so I generally don't recommend umbrellas especially of this kind if you're traveling I understand that you want to bring like a compact light umbrella but if you're doing that bring one that you don't feel too precious about because the wind strength does destroy umbrellas on a daily basis so when it's windy and rainy then sometimes it's just better to have like a really good hood or an umbrella like a large umbrella which is much more sturdy and will not get inverted these smaller ones just get damaged really easily by the levels of wind we have here segwaying uh on the line of talking about wind it's always good to have like a little brush on you I never leave the house without one of my brushes just because the wind just you know it will destroy any sort of any amount of effort you put into your hairstyle so it's good to have that it's also good to perhaps buy like a small can of hairspray and use it every morning and uh my very last tip so if you're traveling to Scotland this might look like I'm just gonna tell you you know bring your sunglasses which you know is also a valid tip but if you're coming to Scotland and you want to buy something that is almost that is just so popular among locals that it is almost an inside joke uh yeah buy yourself a pair of Iola glasses or sunglasses you can get them with prescription lenses or without in which case you know if you're a 2020 Vision person then it also means that you can just pop into Iola and buy a pair of sunnies just like off the rack of the Shelf um and yeah you're gonna once once you get into aiolas you will start noticing that in Scotland everyone has them and it's a nice conversation starter you know I often see someone in Iola glasses and I come up to them and I'm like those are ayalas right well I was looking at the very same ones but my moon face is too big for them so good for you for pulling them off it's always kind of weird seeing all these people with their beautiful small faces and I'm here kind of being able to fit just like this one model and that's that anyway I love them another small Scottish business which uh deserves you supporting them so yeah that's what I'm gonna end with so those were my top tips for what to pack and what to wear when you're traveling to Scotland and any of its cities I would love to know what you think if there's anything I forgot it will be great if you share with the other people who are looking for some information down below also down in the doobly-doo you will find a link to my Etsy store where you can find all of the pins that I mentioned throughout this video because I just cannot help myself and of course if you do want to buy one of the beautiful Teddy blade bags there's also a little discount code down there so check it all out alrighty don't forget that you can also visit me and see all of my wonderful outfits see some of my wonderful outfits on my Instagram on either khaki boat where I'm more art Centric and khaki blog where I am sharing more about kind of life in Edinburgh and where to eat and kind of like newly opened places stuff like that so yeah don't forget to visit me over there and that is truly it for me now I will see you in my next video thank you for watching and I shall see you soon bye hello [Laughter]

Channel: Kakibot's Guidebook

Views: 83,892

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Id: kDG056XslMY

Length: 32min 59sec (1979 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 30 2023