personally i'd go with edingburgh too. I went to UCL for my undergrad degree, and while I loved it there, the time out of study (while I worked before I knew I wanted to do medicine) meant that going back into study was daunting and tough!
Yes I survived but I still think that it would have been better to not take the time out.
Essentially, if you go to UCL, this would have been an unplanned gap year, and while you might get a job or might travel, I think you'll find that you'll end up just lazing around doing nothing most of the time (which is what most of my friends ended up doing).
Now if you're really up for taking a gap year, by all means, do it, but try to make good use of that time rather than wasting it!
And yes, I'm aware that both my universities are london based, but london isn't everything either, Edingburgh is a large city too and you'll definitely be able to have an enjoyable student life there, and even if you can't visit family all the time, that shouldn't be a problem, there's video calling, and you'll go home on holidays