This is a comfortable and pleasantly spacious flat, in an excellent location.
Close to bus routes, and the town centre.
The WiFi worked very well, the bed and sofa are comfortable.
The oven was great, the kettle was clean and worked well.
I didn't use the TV, which is generously sized.
My mobile phone worked a good amount of the time while inside the apartment, and always worked once I was just outside.
The iron worked very well, and there is even an ironing table here to use.
I did not use the washing machine, as there were no tablets for it and I was too cheap to buy a whole box in order to use only a couple of tablets. I had lots of clothes with me, so did not need to wash things during my stay anyway.
The toilet , sink and shower worked very well indeed. There was shower gel here when I arrived, and the landlady brought extra when she was coming to the flat to bring extra bedding supplies.
There was a small amount of coffee, salt and pepper here when I arrived, as well as washing up liquid.
There was milk (in date) when I arrived, which I foolishly assumed had been left by the landlady.... but when I used it for coffee, afterwards it made me feel quite ill... and it went rather stinky the next day, still before going out of date.... so in hindsight I think it had been poorly stored and just left behind by the previous tenant, as I have milk here at home just now which is a full week out of date and still smells and tastes fine, isn't making me ill to use etc. It really ought not to be getting like that before going out of date.
The landlady hires a cleaner she said, it would be good if she asked the cleaner to chuck out any questionable items (edible or otherwise) which had been left behind by the previous tenant, before the new one arrives.
The sink area was small with no draining board however, and the fridge was dysfunctional during my stay. The freezer was completely jammed with ice... it clearly had not been defrosted for months if not years.... nothing would fit in there, the door would not close as the ice was forcing the door outwards and the catch was broken. As the small freezer compartment is in the top of the fridge, this also meant that the fridge was barely functional.... as everything had a tendency to get frozen enough to wreck the food... but not well enough to store frozen items in the fridge.
I was going to buy duct tape to tape the freezer shut but did not find time for this during my short holiday in Edinburgh... the landlady was astonished to see the state of it when she came by (she came by the flat anyway to drop off extra bedding) but did not bring duct tape to shut the freezer, and asked me to remove the tape before leaving "so that the next person could choose whether to have it on or not", and "because the cleaner might think there's a reason for it being there".
Well, I never got round to putting duct tape on there and it seemed like there was no plan to defrost the freezer in between my stay and the next person moving in, so the next person probably had the same problem.
The windows were very difficult to open and would not stay up reliably, but I wrestled them open and then stuffed a bunch of toilet rolls into the gap which kept them open. I found the apartment became too stuffy with them closed. But this arrangement did mean it was not practical to keep opening and closing them whenever I went out. The windows open onto the back garden which is an enclosed area only accessible to people living in the same building, so I just left them open while I was out. This worked well for me.
Another small issue I had was that there was only one very small dish towel provided, which was made out of microfibre - so it just didn't dry anything properly, as is typical of that material.
I recommend chucking out anything edible rather than using it, if it is there when you arrive. I also recommend asking whether the fridge and freezer work before booking.
I recommend bringing a few clothes washing tablets with you, as well as a couple of tea towels. Perhaps consider bringing duct tape, as the freezer door was bust so might need taped shut even if it has now been defrosted.
I am sure you could buy these from Edinburgh shops if you manage to fit it in, of course.
There is no landline phone, so I recommend to take a mobile phone with you - but most people have those nowadays anyway.
These issues aside, the apartment really was nice.
Everything was nice and clean, with a pleasant white and red colour scheme.
I liked the decor, and the table and coat hooks were very useful.
The Wifi is excellent, and very reliable and fast.
The double bed is really nice, and very comfortable.
There are shops nearby, including Scotmid supermarket.
There is a bus stop just around the corner.
It really is a convenient place to stay.
It's also a nice place to invite guests while you are in the city.
I found the landlady to be friendly and easy to contact.
I like this apartment, and would recommend it as a place for other people to stay.
