The posts in this part of my site are all related to my travels in Britain. I had the good fortune of being able to make several solo trips to various places in the UK in my 30’s. For the most part these posts were written either from internet cafes or hostels while I was actively traveling. So they are the unedited thoughts I had at the time. I talk about places I enjoyed and people I met and the experiences that I wouldn’t trade for anything.
I hope you enjoy reading these posts and I would love to hear if you have any thoughts, questions, or you just want to share your own memories sparked by reading mine.
I’m still working on photos from England in September and my next trip is literally on the horizon. I’ll be in Costa Rica just a few days after Christmas, and in Nicaragua when the New Year rolls around. I’ll accumulate more photos, so I really have to buckle down and finish with London already! I…
I’ve been back in the states for over a week now. There are days it feels like I never left in the first place. There are always a little bit of the blues whena trip ends. That’s how you know I had a good time. There’s not much to say about the trip back other…
That was my time in the UK whizzing past at a bit over the speed of sound. I fly back in the morning. I should rightly be in bed already. I for some reason thought I had a flight back around 1pm but checked the print out when I got back in tonight and realized…
I lazed about a bit this morning. Because my two nights here were unintentional and there was, in fact, only one spare bed tonight, I have to change rooms the first two mornings. If I hung out until 10am I could go ahead and change rooms rather than dumping my bag in storage. As I…
I have no idea where to begin. I really haven’t properly logged my experience in Cornwall, and I don’t have my notes with me and I’m bushed. For the moment, we’ll leave it at incredible. Newquay was a gorgeous piece of earth, as was all of Cornwall. It was the quintessential English experience, even if the…
Arrived back I’m London late afternoon to a bit of an issue. There was a fire in the tunnel under the English channel. All service today canceled. A descision on tomorrow to be made overnight. I’m at the train station now to sort out what I can do. Very lucky to have booked a room…
Day 3 in the UK. I wandered a lot my first afternoon. Bright and early the next morning was my meeting with the Haggis Tour bus for my Cornwall tour. It’s a relatively small group of 10, which I think is fairly good as tours go. First day was making our way down to Newquay…
Although I was doing my usual scampering around at the last minute Saturday, getting to the airport that night was relatively simple. Hardly any wait for the train, chech-in, or security. I walked the whole distance from the main terminal to E gates, hoping to tire myself out so I might sleep on the flight….
Now there’s a blog title that will confuse a lot of people… Okay, if you realllly desire to, you can click for a far larger version. I uploaded the full size for this since I figured others on the trip might want, you know, a poster to remember us all by! At our last stop…
Last day in Edinburgh. Tomorrow morning, I fly out at 9am… per Edinburgh Airport, that means I should be there at 6am… ouch… So, today needs to have an early conclusion so I can be done packing and all that fun stuff. I left with a 32 pound backpack, and I don’t think I’ve added…
I’ve one more full day in Scotland to report on and am days behind in updating my blog. What a combo… Ullapool to Fort Augustus More beautiful scenery and history. That was true every day of the trip to the point that it becomes hard to really describe it. Among other places, we stopped in…
Yesterday was an entire day just on the Isle of Skye. The weather was decent, not perfect but good. Some occasional mist but really there was some sun, and it is Scotland in winter, so will not complain. Since we were spending another night on Skye in Kyleakin (think I spelled that right), the morning…
Edinburgh to Oban Yesterday morning was up “bright” and early to make my way to the Haggis Adventures office on High Street. Was so paranoid about oversleeping that I did not sleep well and ended up being first there. It was only by a short time, though, literally less than a minute. By 8:30am, we…
Some of you may have seen on the news that Edinburgh’s street party was cancelled last night. All told since I’d been before, this wasn’t crushing news for me. It was still a unique event in my life. After dinner (chicken sandwich at a place called “Wannaburger” or something like that – probably a chain…
As beautiful as yesterday was, today was its antithesis, but I’d read as much about today’s weather. I had a very late start. I think I stirred this morning around the appropriate time to wake-up, but I thought better of it. I didn’t actually wake up until about 10:30am local time. And by the time…
First, if you spot some strange characters, it’s going to take me a bit to get used to the UK keys again, so bear with and all that jazz. With each trip, I seem to be more haphazardly packing at the last minute. This one was made worse by a Christmas gift gone wrong. One…
Today was my first full day back in the states. Incredibly tired. I guess a combination of being on the go every day for a week and jet lag. Going the other way was not nearly so tiring, I know. As I said in an e-mail I sent out to an assortment of people from…
Wow, basically two days to catch up on! I never found time yesterday to sit with a computer. I woke up on the late side, but in plenty of time for yesterday’s plans. I wanted to go try the British Museum again – this time with one of London Walk’s tours. I have a MUCH…
Very long day. Well, I slept late at least, but I haven’t stopped moving since. It was nearly 9am when I got up. That’s not my norm on Sunday mornings, but then I normally have a large AJC waiting on me to read and I haven’t been operating 5 hours outside my normal time. Once…
End of day 3… Wait, I guess I should begin at the end of Day 2, since I left at the beginning of said day… I didn’t do the B’ham Palace and Westminster deal. I had done both before and the weather was decidely not fun. Instead, I went on a tour of the Victoria…
It’s morning of Day 2 in London. Had a nice breakfast in the Hostel. I never did that last time, but I got up early enough this morning that I could. Right now I have a room to myself. The room I booked is a six bed room “en-suite” – which refers to the fact…
Well, it’s really London, and it was more of a 767 than an Eagle… At any rate, I arrived here a bit after 11am. The drive to the airport was hell. Apparently an accident on I-285 which backed up 400 more than normal. Then all the Cobb countians tried to go down 400 and bang…
Woke up early on Monday to take the train to London. I had already begun considering not stopping in York. I was tired and just had a feeling based on my trips to Stirling and Dunfermline that a few hours (which was about the max I could give) wouldn’t be enough to orient myself to…
Feeling more well rested today. Didn’t do a lot yesterday. I did go on the tour of Mary King’s Close. It was quite neat. They ham it up a little bit for the tourists – the guides and re-enactors are dressed in period clothes and all and claim to be from the period when the…
Very tired today. Slept until nearly 10am. Am having breakfast as I write this. I only have one definite plan today and that’s a tour of “Mary Kings’ Close.” I don’t recall the full history but it’s a section of the city that was walled off during one of the plagues. Most of the people…
I’m SO TIRED. My feet ache like I can’t believe. I just stopped at a Boots and paid an exorbitant (when changed to dollars) amount for some arch supports before my feet just die. When I walk at home, I do about 2 miles in half an hour. Supposing I’m coming close to that walking…
By and large doing well. My feet are about walked off. I can’t imagine how many miles a day I’ve walked. I know I won’t be walking for the rest of the week when I get back. I don’t think today will involve quite as much walking since I’m not taking a train anywhere (walking…
Another morning in Edinburgh. Back in McD’s. Up too early to take advantage of the breakfast provided by the hostel. Haven’t eaten here yet either, so this will probably be short. I had a good time yesterday. Rode the train up to Dunfermline, which is the ancient capital of the Scots. Really picturesque place but…
My flight arrived on time yesterday. Both times I’ve flown BA, in flight they’ve said that we would get to London half an hour early. Both times, we’ve missed and been on time. Don’t tease me like that! This time, the only sleep I got was while we were circling the airport, so I guess…
Okay, I spent the past several days living life with no time to write about it. But I did take down the odd note in my notepad and I will shortly preserve the experience in writing. I just got back from London and boy is EVERY part of me tired. London Day One I arrived…
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