Tag: UK Travel

Wales & Scotland

After an electric time in London, I decided it was time to take the city out of the boy and head out to Wales. Well, not fully out of the city, because I ended up staying in the Capital of Wales, Cardiff. This is a place you can skip. Even the people don’t want to be there. In their ever-friendly smiles, they tried to tell me how much of a shit hole Cardiff is. Ok, fine it’s not that bad, but definitely not a place I want to live in. Their national parks in Wales, however, are spectacular. The Brecon Beacons was incredible, and Snowdonia is a top reason why I know I need to return to Wales. Something to note: the country does make it tough to travel around. (Especially to these national parks) I highly recommend if you go, to rent a car. Linking some notes on the main bus line from Cardiff to the Brecon Beacons below. I also recommend that you do not decide to piss off the road while waiting for the bus, could make it challenging to grab your gear and flag down the driver. Not speaking from personal experience or anything.

Outside of general touristy things in Cardiff and a lot of hikes in the Brecon Beacons, my highlight was finding and absolutely demolishing a group of Welsh uni students in basketball. Did I enjoy asserting my dominance on kids 6 years younger than me? Absolutely. US 1. Wales 0.

Edit: I recently met a Welsh from Cardiff who actually likes her hometown. I’ve been told to issue a public apology for my opinions. Take this as a witness. Writing this so she does not go full Liam Neeson from “Taken” and end my always entertaining, nonsensical life.

From Wales, I took a train to Scotland, where I ended up visiting Edinburgh, Stirling, Glasgow, Glencoe, Loch Lomond, and Loch Ness. Top highlights for me were the architecture of Edinburgh, drunk conversations with Glasgow locals on politics, finding (and slaying) the monster Nessie, and the Scottish countryside.

Note to every girl I have met on my travels: No, I did not check out the filming locations of Outlander in Scotland. Sorry not sorry.

New Travel Rules I added for myself in Scotland:

  • “If you stop to listen to a musician or street performer for more than a minute, you owe them a dollar.” – Kevin Kelly
  • If you are supposed to walk up/down 3 floors or less, then take the stairs. Anything over that is acceptable for the elevator
  • Always bring a water bottle. Fuck paying a pound/euro for every meal. This might be the first thing I noticed the US is “in the right” for.

Greatest invention I saw:

On my flight from Scotland to Spain, the airline loaded up the plane from back to front. US and the rest of the world NEEDS to adopt this strategy. I don’t understand why this is not common, best practice. Yes, I know there are the Karens of the world who want to be put on the plane first, but their rationale of being “prioritized” doesn’t even make sense. Why would you even want to be in a small condensed space for longer? Loading from back to front would save so much time and increase efficiency with flight timelines. It’s a seamless process with no downsides. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

Summary:

Overall, I absolutely loved my time in Wales and Scotland. Next time I’m back, I’m trekking through Snowdonia, training the North Coast 500 (Route 66), and visiting the Isle of Skye. Peace out UK.

Directions to Brecon Beacons:

  • If you want to trek to Pen y Fan (the highest peak in South Wales), stop at Storey Arms. Read more about ways to reach Pen y Fan here

Spots in Cardiff:

  • Roath park
  • Cardiff castle
  • Cardiff bay
  • Millennium centre
  • Llandath cathedral
  • Castell Coch
  • Caerphilly castle
  • City hall

Spots in Edinburgh:

  • Arthur’s seat – extinct volcano overlooking the city
  • National Museum of Scotland
  • Edinburgh Castle
  • Camera Obscura and World of Illusions
  • Palace of Holyroodhouse
  • Royal Mile
  • Calton Hill
  • Inchcolm Abbey and Island
  • Meadows
  • Leith
  • Royal Botanic Garden
  • Michelin starred restaurant Martin Wishart
  • Portobello Beach
  • Sneaky Petes

England (Mainly London) Thoughts

  • Upon visiting London, I’ve officially checked off 1/3 travel goals I’ve had since middle school when I was finally starting to get that craving to travel. (The life goal: Coffee/Tea on a raining day in London. The other 2 to be completed: Vacation in Santorini Greece, backpack across New Zealand)
  • My list of top touristy shit to do: 1) Tower of London 2) Tower Bridge 3) British Museum 4) London Eye 5) Buckingham Palace 6) Trafalgar Square 7) Houses of Parliament 8) Shakespeare’s Globe 9) HMS Belfast 10) Camden Market
  • London actually has bike lanes! NYC could learn a thing or two from this. Yeah fuck you and your tickets NYPD.
  • Besides the bike lanes, there actually is a lot of similarities between London and NYC – both extremely large cities filled with busy (sometimes pretentious) individuals. Amazing restaurants, activities, and other entertainment that will leave your wallet crying. But the people living in both cities will tell you they can’t imagine living anywhere else.
  • Camden Street might be my favorite market I’ve ever been to. The decorations, the water, the streets, the shops, the people, the food…all amazing. Best part: the sampling. When I was a child, after a soccer (sorry, football) game, my Dad often went to Costco to pickup food for the family weekend. Yet somehow he never seemed to comprehend that after playing a game of soccer and burning hundreds of calories, I would be hungry. It was in these moments that Costco was my saving grace. I’d hit up every single sample stations and usually repeat spots to get enough of a meal to quench the appetite. Camden took me back to this memory, except the samples here was from some of the freshest meat, potatoes, and deserts I’ve ever had.
  • New (Terrible) Business Idea: Right by Platform 9 and 3/4, there should be a “rent a child” station – this could be utilized for all the adults like me who want to take a picture, but feel awkward. Being able to pay a couple quid to rent a child to escort them will make waiting in line less embarrassing, and give the adult someone to talk to about their love of the books / movies. The child can also be there as a caretaker (and accountant) for the foreign adult who may most likely wander into the Harry Potter store and want to buy everything there.
  • Hoping that Brits find my accent as charming and attractive as I find theirs. Ah no way, this can’t be objectively true….Well come to think of it, there has to be something there due to the scarcity model. You hear a Brit (am I allowed to call them Brits?) speak in the US, it’s rare and deemed more attractive. Perhaps the opposite could ring true in London. Yes, perhaps. Need to remain optimistic and hopeful.
  • Overheard in the streets of London:
    • Girl 1: “Why did you do it?”
    • Girl 2: “Because he was sooo hot.”
    • People really aren’t that different from place to place.
  • If you want to be a posh tourist and visit Buckingham Palace, its worth going to watch the changing of the Queens Guard – 11 am weekdays, 10am Sundays
  • Was not allowed into a club because the bouncer “could see in my eyes I was drunk.” Literally didn’t even have a single lick of alcohol in the past 48 hours. Fuck Fabric nightclub.
  • British Museum Notes
    • Oh the famous British museum – Look at the history of England and all its artifacts? No, more like look at all the things across the world that Britain stole haha. I think I’m allowed to call the kettle black since the US is just like this. (Takes one to know one)
    • For a good 2 hours while visiting, (don’t ask me why) all I could think about was how I would get away with stealing items, and what items would be impossible to steal. (6 tonnes of stone lion? Yeah infeasible) Is this an admission of guilt? Absolutely not.
    • 2 things I found most interesting: Mummies and Money sections
      • Mummies – naturally anything dead and yet still not fully dead due to preservation will be fascinating. Most humans I think are in a constant stage of fear and curiosity about the process of death, as well as how other humans have dealt with it
      • Money – could be my finance major or my internal greed I have always felt as a kid, but I found this incredible interesting. (Total nerd move I know) One part worth noting – they went all the way from the start of exchange of goods and system of accounting —> “present day” where they talked about “electronic cash” and how we may live in a future without any physical coins / paper, just paying with a credit/debit card. In my opinion, this falls incredibly short of where we have been for the last +10 years. (bitcoin invented in 2009) I wonder when crypto will be included in this museum, because it will happen some day soon and should already be included.
  • I actually like Shakespeare plays. After seeing my Insta post of the Harry Potter picture at Platform 9 & 3/4, my friend Mike challenged me to watch a play and “be cultured.” Turns out for 5-10 euros you can do just that.
  • As this was my second country in Europe, this was the first time I was able to meetup with “old travel friends” who I made in Ireland. A simple game of Wordle with an Auzzie in the Galway hostel led to hanging out again with her in London. And a British hostel mate from Dublin became my local tour guide of Wimbledon. This friend Charlie introduced me to the beautiful world of British parties, fish & chips, Wetherspoons (Spoons) pubs, and how to drunkenly navigate the tube and trains of England. Solid lad.
  • England could very well be a good country to post up for the incoming World Cup this Autumn. We shall see.