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Blighty Dayz

United Kingdom

By Nos Étapes

June 30^th, 2017

06.06.17.

Jared and I made it to Gatwick safe and sound! Yea, I’m still a baby when it comes to flying. I brought Melatonin pills with me. Lol. While in the hour-long border check, there was a moment-of-silence for the crazy week that was happening in England and of the innocent lives that were lost: Manchester and Borough Market Attacks (right before our departure). The building became suddenly quiet. It was especially touching because people from all various cultures and backgrounds gave their respects. Afterwards, it immediately returned to the hustle and bustle of people trying to get through the checkpoint. As soon we got through the checkpoint, we found a kiosk that sold Gatwick Express train tickets to London and money exchange that didn’t charge commission for cash over $500. We dealt with both nicely.

From Gatwick, we went straight to London (Victoria Station) then transferred to Underground. We got used used to the system super quick thanks to using SF muni a bunch. Underground was much more complex. Anyways, we were on our way to our Airbnb at West Kensington. We got to the station, but we got lost going to our Airbnb and took a wrong turn because the signs were super confusing. They’re very different. Instead of having two streets at an intersection, each street has a name (so four streets total at an intersection). It took us a few days to get used to this.

We finally got to the place, but it was an apartment complex. Getting into the room, initially, was tricky. It was like a real escape game (aka detective/problem solving interactive activity). We had to go around the building and find a certain gated-off section - there were a few, but the one we were looking for stood out from the rest by having a bike in it. Luckily, it was the only one with a bike at the time. We got into the gated-off section then had to go through, what looked-like, stable doors. Each was actually a personal locked-closed, almost like a locker. Using the code that our host sent us, we retrieved a set of keys! With that set of keys, we had to look for the correct entrance - it wasn’t too bad, and we were able to finally find the room. We finally made it! The room was a nice two-floor apartment room with three guest rooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom. We settled in and went straight to Covent Garden for lunch. This was a familiar destination from our Euro-trip three years ago, so we knew this was the place to be.

We had some awesome pies! Mine had squash and goat cheese, and Jared got steak and stout. We chilled for a bit at Covent Gardens and I wanted to check out a window I read about at Trafalgar Square. With our handy-dandy map reading skills, we walked to Trafalgar Square. It was pretty! I didn’t expect it to be cool. Lol. It was actually just a few blocks from the London Bridge...SKETCH! (just cause of the recent attacks, we were avoid main tourist sites in London). We saw the Big Ben from where we were, and hung out at the square for awhile. It was beautiful. We then searched for the window. We asked a building bouncer if he knew where it was and apparently, it was just on a church. We got there and I felt super successful that we were able to find our first point of interest on our trip with no phone GPS. We headed back to Covent Garden to meet-up with Matt and Anaiis for drinks and then dinner. After dinner, we called it a day and headed back to our Airbnb to call it a day. We were pretty tipsy...lol

06.07.17.

We planned to go to the British Museum today, I was so excited! This museum had real mummies and I was looking forward to that! Jared and I used underground and had a lovely walk to the museum. On our way, I bought a book map that was organized into different districts of London that ended up being super useful throughout the entire trip. It also had several points of interest that we didn’t know about, and eventually visited. We passed a really pretty path that lead right into the British Museum. When we got there, Jared got a hot dog while we waited for our friends Matt and Anaiis. His hot dog was the most hearty hot dog I’ve ever seen in an amusement/entertainment POI and was super cheap! It was too cheesy for me, but Jared loved it. Not only was the hot dog super cheap, but the museum was free! We met up with Matt and Anaiis and entered. The first thing I did was get an audio tour! ( Just me, no one else wanted to listen to the cool deets...LAME lol) I’m a huge history geek and I love listening to in-depth descriptions of exhibits and items. I loved it and was so happy! We stayed there for most of the day! <3<3<3 The first thing we saw was the Rosetta Stone! I actually didn’t know it was held by the British Museum. I was pleasantly surprised! I learned more history behind Egypt and Assyria, and I found that super interesting. I was also able to see Charles Darwin’s chronometer that was used on the HMS beagle! I TOUCHED IT! Afterwards, we went back to the station to find something to eat. We found Byron, a pretty good gourmet burger chain. I ordered Peroni cause apparently the description on the menu was, “Everybody knows Peroni.” I had to get that, and it wasn’t bad for a wheat beer! I don’t like wheat beers much.

We finished and I was determined to find John Snow’s pump. As Charles Darwin has, Snow has been brought up so many times in my science books too. He basically founded epidemiology! First, we stopped by Covent Gardens to get tickets for the Aladdin Broadway for the next night. We had seen posters in the tubes and I’ve always wanted to see it since I was younger. Also, we bought tickets at Covent Garden cause I noticed it was a bargain kiosk the day before. How lucky of us to catch it while it was in London! Then we went back to the station. From the Picadilly Station, we walked down the alleys and streets of London to look for Snow’s pump! We got to the cross street of where it was described in my books, Broadwick (originally Broad in 1854) and Lexington. It was sadly not there. I was super depressed. Instead there was a pub and on the storefront was a plaque in his remembrance dedicated to his discovery.

Jared tried to cheer me up and took my hand to start looking around the neighboring streets. To our surprise, I forgot my disappointment because we somehow ended up on SOHO’s iconic Carnaby Market. There were tons of trendy shops and restaurants. We ended up eating at a delicious tapas place. We got a charcuterie plate, goat cheese, and potato bravas. So yummy!

On our way to the station, we got a bit lost and stumbled upon Chinatown. It was bright and colorful. And since it was late at night, it was nice because it was less crowded. It was much cleaner than SF and LA Chinatown. We eventually got to the station, and knocked out when we got settled.

06.08.17

This was our last day in London before going to Margate, Kent so we started off early. We needed to get train tickets to Margate, and still haven’t had a real English Breakfast since we got to the UK! So, the first thing we did was grab that English Breakfast! We saw one across from an internet cafe we planned to get the tickets at, called Cafe Continental. I think that was actually the best one in the whole trip! The proportions were perfect: beans, hash brown, poached eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, and an additional freshly squeezed orange juice. So good! Afterwards, we tried getting train tickets at the internet cafe, but the ticket site was weird and we ended up going back to our place to use our phones with the wifi. We managed to get them, and went straight to the British Library! I love libraries, and try to go to as many as I can back home. It’s so calming for me. It was so cool and worth it! There was a tower of King George III’s collection of books that was about four/five floors high. Other things we saw there were: Alexander Fleming’s notebook with the results of penicillin discovery (!!!), The very first edition of the King James Bible, Leonardo da Vinci vs. Michelangelo (apparently they were rivals so they would leave sabotaging notes in each others’ works), Beatles manuscripts, the actual original sheet musics of Bach, Mozart and Achille-Claude Debussy, Jane Austen's unfinished ‘Evelyn and Catherine’, the MAGNA CARTA (!), Shakespeare’s original Sonnet 8, and MUCH MORE!!!! <3<3<3 We spent a few hours there then headed to Camden to checkout the marketplace there.

It was chill, and we love marketplaces. They’re always so lively, colorful, and there were different kinds of foods. There were interesting shops, and some were apparently owned by gypsies. We ended up getting Chinese food, Hungarian food, and cupcakes. I got Goulash and Lángos, while Jared got chicken and rice lol. The best cupcake flavors out of our batch were cookies n’ cream and lemon raspberry. We headed back to the station and picked up freshly squeezed orange juice on the way. It was the best orange juice in the entire trip! I wanted to surprise Jared by taking him to St. Dunstead-of-the-East, which I found in my research before the trip. When we got out of station towards St. Dunstead, we were surprised to see ‘The Monument’ right out front. This huge landmark commemorated the Great London Fire of 1666.

We continued toward our destination. Once we got there, it was breathtaking. It was actually the ruins of some cathedral in the middle of the city. Jared was really surprised...SUCCESS! Much more beautiful than any picture of it was, and it was hard to capture its ambience. We chilled there for awhile, but I think we ended up overstaying. We still had Aladdin to catch. It was crazy getting there! There were coincidentally many transfers! We got there thinking we only had 10 minutes to spare, but we ended up making it 30 minute ahead...another Success! Aladdin was great! Definitely do not regretting getting tickets. Got to watch a Broadway in London <3 They took out Abu and Rajah, but the broadway version was very enjoyable. They had just started performing on Monday of the week. The genie was my favorite character, the actor was skilled and played him successfully.

Afterwards, we went towards Carnaby to meet-up with Matt and Anaiis. We grabbed dinner first, but everything was closed since we got there around 11PM. We found a ramen house at Kingly Courts, and it was surprisingly good for a chain! Better than some in SF...lol. The staff was very nice and accommodating even though they were closing. Afterwards, we went to find Matt and Anaiis. We found them being cute and owning the dance floor in an underground bar. We had a bunch of stuff and didn’t want to interfere with their fun, so we left. Our line for the underground was closed at midnight, so we ended up catching our first black cab of the trip. The driver brought us in front of our street, but was kind enough to bring us as close as he could to our apartment because he noticed sketch looking people. Jared and I ran straight to the apartments after leaving the cab and passed a startled fox! We made it! We settled in for the night to get ready to go to Margate the next day. TWO MORE DAYS TILL THE GORILLAZ!

06.09.17.

I had a bad habit of sleeping-in instead of getting up earlier to get the day started the entire trip. Sleeping in is just the best with Jared (cuddling and redditing together) <3 We also took advantage of Wifi by screenshotting maps of our route for the day. We got up around 6:30ish and ended up getting breakfast at around 8:30. It was a huuuuge English Breakfast! Both of us didn’t end up finishing it so we took it for take-away, just in case we got hungry in Margate, Kent. Margate held the Gorillaz’ Demon Dayz Festival, if I forgot to mention that lol.

We returned to our place with an hour to pack, clean, and check-out. We also had to be at the national rail station to catch the train to Margate at 11. It took about an hour to get there because of all the transfers in the tube again… -_-. We barely made it to the train, with less than 10 minutes before departure. Phew! It was two hour ride, and we knocked out. This is very bad...one of us had to be up to watch our stuff…(I did so a couple times...). Jared and I weren’t the best at it, but we tried lol. When we got to Margate, we rested and chilled a bit at the station’s cafe. We also needed wifi to contact the next Airbnb host and to save the map routes on our phones. We started looking for it but got lost because there were two different addresses: the one Airbnb provided and the one the host actually provided. The one from Airbnb was completely wrong. Fortunately, we weren’t too far from the station and called the host again.

On our way to the cafe, there was a sketch looking building that looked really rundown and kinda slumpy. I had a hunch it was that building from the reviews of other guests of the same place. The host confirmed it was the building. Eureka, I was right! But I kinda wish I wasn’t... On our way up, the building entrance was locked, but there were tenants coincidentally leaving when we entered. The elevator was sooo sketch! It was so old and on the way up, it felt it would fall at anytime. We got up to the 10th floor and it was super creepy! It looked like a horror movie scene! I was thinking more like in resident evil games. It was a rundown hallway that looked like a haunted old hospital corridor. The lights were flickering and we had trouble finding the keys that the host hid. We finally found it and once we opened the door, the room and its views were unbelievable. I forgot about the horrific experience to the room when first stepped into it. There were three doors opening to the kitchen, kids’ bunk bed room, and the masters’ bedroom. Each radiating brightly from natural night alone and with ocean views. It was retro-styled and exceed way passed my expectations. The only thing was there was no wifi, so we’d need to go to the station to use our phones. It was fine though, it was really close and we only needed it to buy train tickets and update everyone.

After we settled in, Jared and I explored Margate for a bit and grabbed lunch. Margate was lovely, quaint, and calm. We got take-away and ate at the beach. We explored more for a bit, got some microwavable food for possible munchies after the concert or later that night, then headed back to the Airbnb. We were so tired from our travels and the room was perfectly warmed by the sun that we dozed off until dinner. I think we slept for two hours. We met up with Matt and Anaiis, explored some alley with them, and got dinner. The only place that was opened at the time was a pizza joint. We had a lot of food cause they accidentally gave us two charcuterie plates, along with our entrees. Afterwards, we all went to a club, danced, and drank while overlooking the beach view. It was really nice and me and Jared had not been out dancing in a while because of our hectic schedules. Our place was walking distance, but Matt and Anaiis’ was a bit of a drive. The problem was that buses stopped at midnight and it was 1-2AMish. I secretly wanted them to crash at our place since we had an extra room and beds cause I was a scaredy cat...I was not looking forward to going back up ten floors in the creaky elevator and through the eerie halls alone. The more people, the merrier and less scarier! We ended up all flagging down a taxi, and Jared and I were left to go up by ourselves... Of course, he didn’t mind it or think much about it. But because of that, it wasn’t too bad. I was still anxious until getting back to the room. Gorillaz was the next day and I was super excited, but extremely nervous. It had been just two weeks since the Manchester Attack.

06.10.17.

This was the day! The main reason for coming to England! I would finally be able to see the Gorillaz! Jared and I got ready and had breakfast at the cafe at the train station again. It was about 10ish when we started our day, but general entry was at 2PM. We planned to pregame with Matt and Anaiis at our place at around 1PM. Jared and I planned to squeeze-in an itinerary before then. The weather was perfect: sunny with a slight sea breeze. The first thing we did after the cafe was go to the local post office to exchange our dollars to pounds. We then headed to the Shell Grotto. It was the only real attraction in Margate asides from Dreamland, so we had to check it out. Also, I didn’t think we’d have time to go to the Shell Grotto the next day cause I’ve been sleeping in the entire trip. It was a really nice stroll and it got a bit toasty. The shell grotto was a bit aways from the touristy area, and was tucked into the residential areas. Fortunately, we grabbed a Margate map at the station earlier. It ended up being kinda like someone’s basement. The entrance was through a house (that was converted into a gift shop). Someone could have easily disregarded the building. From the shop, there were stairs that lead down to it, and the next you thing know, it’s as if we’ve entered a completely different world! We ended up in a cavern as soon as leaving the stairwell. It was a bit eerie, but I mustered up all the courage and curiosity I had and pretended I was Indiana Jones. With this new perspective, the cavern turned from an eerie creepy cautious walk to a mysteriously beautiful stroll. Shells lined everything: the walls, ceilings, and even in places that would be lit by candles. No one knows its exact origins, but one of the theories was that it was a meeting place during one of the World Wars (I forgot which one…). There was hole in the wall of the altar room that was bombed off! On our way back, Jared left me for a bit cause he wanted to check the opposite fork that I chose. I was loosing my cool cause I didn’t wanna be alone down there. He actually didn’t realize that it was the other end of a circle. Lol. So we met halfways. *sigh, smh* It wasn’t too big. I’d say the entire way without stopping was about 10 minutes. We probably spent 30 minutes down there cause it was just so cool, pretty, and everything was embellished. On our way back to our room, we were tempted by the ocean. It was beautiful and we spent a bit of time at the beach. We lost track of time due to the sun’s warmth, beautiful ocean view and were just relaxing and taking it all in.

We barely made it back when Matt and Anaiis came. The first thing we did was get in line for festival shirts. The guys stayed in line while Anaiis and I grabbed drinks and food. We were able to see De La Soul perform from the line!!! That was pretty cool! The day went by too quickly and we wanted the best spot to see the Gorillaz. We chilled at the main stage and saw KANO. I feel like his music is kind of like Kendrick Lamar's, but UK style. lol. There were so many more artists to see but they were at different stages, and we didn’t want to lose our spot. It was sooo worth it! The Gorillaz’ performance was AWESOME--an experience of a lifetime!!! The fans here were so hardcore and we fit right in. Everyone jumped, danced and sang to both new and old songs...throughout the whole 2-3 hour performance! Not just singing with the lyrics, but also with the instrumentals! So cool! I do that all the time, but to ‘da-dum’ with a whole crowd was CRAZY! Damon Albarn and all his collaborators were so into it! Jeff Wootton, the bassist, was just as cool! He rocked out so hard! Both seemed to really loved their fans, and looked so happy to be there. Too bad we didn’t catch a glimpse of Jamie. Damon pointed out where he was during the concert, but then he also said Jamie started running away. He’s too modest...man, he da one! Omigosh, I want the DVD for the concert! It all went too fast. He meant to finish but the fans chanted for more and he gave an hours worth more! I still can’t believe I was there, especially with my bestfriend too <3 When it was over, we stalled a bit to wait till the leaving crowds dwindled. We grabbed dinner from the only open restaurant, and parted ways. Jared and I went to the station before the Airbnb to buy our train tickets. Then we called it a day, a nice dreamlike day. :)

Here's some footage from the Demon Dayz Festival: https://www.redbull.tv/live/AP-1RCU26MF92111/demon-dayz-festival

06.11.17.

Just as I thought, I slept in. We had an hour again to clean and pack before catching our train. At least we stopped by the Shell Grotto the day before. We would not have been able to visit it if we saved it for today. Thankfully did groceries when we had arrived at Margate, so we had a quick breakfast and caught our train. It was another 2 hour trip back to London and the first thing we did when we got to the London station was get the best pretzels we’ve ever had! We came back about 6-8 times throughout the trip to the Victoria station and got a pretzel every time lol. Then we transferred to underground to go to Latimer Road station.

Finding our third Airbnb wasn’t as bad as our first and second ones, but it was still a bit tricky. There were multiple rooms with the same number in the housing complex, and there were no noticeable divisions. So one of Jared’s odd instincts came up. lol. I told him there were rooms with the same number, but he disregarding my observation. He went right up to the very first door with the specific number, knocked, and tried to open the door immediately after (forcibly jiggling the knob)! A poor-ol’ foreign mom came out and frighteningly looks at us, as if she was a victim of a bank hold-up. He did that throughout the trip… *smh* Jared called our host, and we didn’t take much longer to find him. The nice thing about the place was it was just in front of the station, probably just a minute walk (once we knew where to go). It was a really nice condominium. From the outside, it looked like a single-floor condo, but when our host showed us to our room, it took us three flights to get there! It was cute and quaint and exactly what we needed.

We got settled it, and did a little research of what we could do with the time we had left in the day. It was almost 5PM, so everything was closing, but we didn’t want the day to go to waste. With the handy book that I bought on the day to the British Museum, we found potential spots: Notting Hill and Little Venice. We also had not eaten lunch, asides from the pretzel at Victoria station, so we planned to find a place. On the train ride to our Airbnb, I noticed a marketplace just one stop away. We head there, but it was sadly closed, so we just winged it the POI's with empty stomachs and started heading over to Notting Hill. When getting off the station, it was a lovely walk. The streets were close to upscale-looking houses, but to our surprise...that was NOTTING Hill! They were just Georgian-style houses, no market, no restaurants, nothing! It was just a residential street...lol. Sure it was nice, but we were STARVING! Going back to our map in the book, we noticed Portobello Market was close by. We didn’t know what to expect, but we just wanted to find a place to eat. When we thought we were lost, we stumbled-upon a corridor with a string of lights between the buildings and followed it. We stepped onto streets with colorful buildings and shopping stalls. Eureka, the marketplace! It was much better than we expected. Everyone was friendly, and the marketplace had a nice local intimacy. We strolled through and got something to eat. We headed towards Little Venice, afterwards.

We had to take the tube to another station, and walked the rest. The walk was also beautiful. It seemed that anywhere outside the main touristy parts of London were super romantic. From the station, we turned into a street and it was just lined with houses under a tall canopy of trees for almost a mile. When we got to Little Venice, it was sadly closed. The boats along the canal were actually gondola restaurants and shops and there were closed on this specific day of the week. It was unfortunate, but the scene was still worth seeing in person.

Since we were back in London, we wanted to go back to SOHO to Carnaby. When we found it the first time, there was a Bao place that was crackin’ and we planned to try it once we got back to London from Margate. When we got there, it was closed! NO! Devastated, we went to a chocolate restaurant next door to aid our broken hearts. Omigosh, it did! They served the richest dark hot chocolate we ever had! We also had chocolate cake, truffle samples, and affogato. The idea that having desserts before dinner was utterly proven wrong. Everything was so rich we needed something savory to wash it out. Haha. Jared and I made it our mission to find the carbonara place we have three years ago. It had the best carbonara ever! Going back to the states, we have tried so many places with carbonara, but nothing comes close. So we had carbonara anywhere it was served. Anyways, we found an Italian restaurant that served carbonara in SOHO. It wasn’t THE carbonara, but it was the best we had in London the entire trip! We also has delicious risotto and with their excellent house wine. We headed back to the Airbnb after dinner and called it a night.

6.12.17.

Asides from the Gorillaz concert, another reason to returning to England was to make sure we actually got to see the Stonehenge. The problem was getting there. Unlike our ventures throughout the trip so far, everything was accessible through tube and/or walking. We only took a taxi once in London, but because we stayed out too late and our line did not have night hours. If we were to take a taxi to Stonehenge, it’d take two hours. It sucked that it wasn’t as accessible, so Jared and I did our research a only few days before our trip to London. lol. We fortunately found a great tour that was reasonably priced and included the Roman Baths, which I had also wanted to see! What a coincidence, it was the perfect package. The cool thing about the tour group was that we could do our own thing, and they just brought us to the landmarks while including packaging pricing. We'd be able to do everything on our own once we were at our destination with the given time. So anyways, today was the one and only formal tour day of the entire trip. It was nice change, we slept on the way to the destinations and back. Lol. We had been walking all day, everyday since we got to England. Jared said the greatest analogy for the experience, “We’re basically teleporting. We close our eyes, and we’re there”. Hahaha. Silly, but true. We arrived at Baths first, and unfortunately had only two hours there. Baths was a cute, small rural town with plenty of history, including the Roman Baths. We spent most of the time at the Roman Baths, which was a bathhouse that was sourced from natural springs. The Romans constructed the bathhouse during their reign in that particular part of England. It was so beautiful and romantic! There’s nothing romantic about the history, but it was the architecture and the serene-looking waters of the bath that were. Jared and I also really enjoy Greek and Roman culture, so we were just taken by the history and the culture behind the Roman Baths.

After spending so much time there, we only had thirty minutes left in Baths! I really wanted to try their famous buns: the Bath Buns & Sally Lun Buns. We went to try the Bath Bun first, but it was actually a nice tea house. We finally got to have our first afternoon tea since we got to England, and it in a perfect location. It was under a huge beautiful willow tree! Now that was romantic! Jared got a super good chorizo sandwich with tomato soup, but I ordered their ‘Bath Bun High Tea’ item. It came with their famous bath bun, scone, clotted cream w/jam, a sandwich (I got cucumber and cream), and choice of tea (which I got their house special). We loved it! The clotted cream was so good! (keep that in mind, it’ll come up later in Cornwall). Though we enjoyed our tea, we only had fifteen minutes left when we received our order, or else we’d be left behind. We packed our leftovers, and ran to Sally Lun’s. There was a huge line outside, but we just wanted take-away! Luckily, there was also a couple that got there shortly before us that wanted the same thing, and we followed behind them to skip the line. We were able to buy buns and teas, and we ran straight to the bus. We made it! Everyone was boarding once we got back. lol.

Stonehenge time! Well technically, an hour away was Stonehenge. On our way there, we saw the Westbury White Horse from a distance. It was 80 feet (55 m) tall and 170 feet (52 m) wide, and was one out of several other horse hill figures carved on Wiltshire, England. We finally got to the Stonehenge, but only had an hour there. This hour included about 30 minutes of lining up for the shuttle and the ride there (and back) from the information building. Though it was crowded with people, it was still very enchanting to see it in person. AHH! So exciting, we were actually there! We walked around the whole circle to observe it in a different perspective, then headed back.

Jared and I slept the whole way back. When we got back to London, we had to eat at BAO for dinner! For the third time, we returned to SOHO and caught BAO! It was so worth it! We ordered every BAO on the menu, an entree bowl, and soup… we’re disgusting...but it was SO GOOD! We ate so much that we hardly felt the drinks we ordered with it. It was the perfect way to end the day.

6.13.17.

Jared and I did not really know what to do for this day. We got up early, but for a good hour we were looking at all the maps we had and points of interest that we could fit in for the day. We planned to the Chelsea Physic Garden (mentioned in the book!), and hopefully to Brighton. Whenever there was a botanical garden nearby, we aimed to go. It’s one of Jared’s cute interests/hobbies <3 We were able to chat with the host and his wife, and MAN! They were the most beautiful couple I’ve ever met; well, of course, they were French. Everything was beautiful about them. They were so youthful, talked elegantly with their accents, travelled a lot, their family was picture-perfect, and the host had grills! After chatting with them, we headed to the gardens. It was beautiful, and we spent a few hours strolling through. I love watching Jared fan-girl over plants.

We went to look for lunch afterwards, and we happened to pass by Gordon Ramsey’s restaurant! We were kicked out….lol. Not only didn’t we have reservations, but there was a dress code. :/ We kept walking, and there was another of his restaurants! It was more casual, and we ate there. It was pretty good. We finished around 1:45ish and decided to see if we could catch a train to Brighton! We could have taken any train, but the problem was that ride was almost two hours and the Royal Pavilion (POI I have been wanting to visit) has last entry at 4:30!

We ran to the station, caught a train, fell asleep on the train, and ran to the Royal Pavilion! Thankfully, we already studied the map from the station to the Royal Pavilion. We made it! Once we got our tickets, they closed off the gates! And we got free audio tours too! It’s a shame there were no photos allowed. The Pavilion was so lavishing colorful! It was King George IV’s get-away. The entrance was Chinese-themed and had an illusion of infinite corridors due to multiple mirrors. The dining hall was so extravagant, and colored with bright red and gold walls and ceilings! It was also Chinese-themed. It had a high ceiling with a huge chandelier surrounded by golden dragons. There were more dragons, as well as phoenixes, covering the ceilings. The kitchen was just as extraordinary! No, it was not oriental-themed, but was traditional. It looked kind of rustic, but had tropical aesthetics that added so much appeal. If I remember correctly, it was in his kitchen that they prioritized the ‘pretty’ factor of a dish over the ‘flavor’ factor that later became popularized. Those were my two favorite rooms. Everything else was still pretty neat, and it was nice listening about the how each room was used. Other rooms included a music room and a ballroom. I think we were able to finish in about an hour. I wanted afternoon tea by the beach, so we went towards the ocean since Brighton was a beach city. Sadly, we didn’t find one, but we hung out at their Boardwalk. The only tea place we found was one next to the Royal Pavilion, which didn’t overlook the ocean. I was still happy to get some. We caught a train back to London, got some more carbonara, then prepared for our trip to Cornwall. We had made last-minute Airbnb changes and bought train tickets before going to bed.

6.14.17.

Today was crazy. I woke-up around 6ish to see a text from my friend back home asking if I was alright. I was perfectly fine, but I was curious to why I wouldn’t be. He said there happened to be a fire going on, and I asked Jared about it. He was surprised I had not heard anything. He was up at around 2AM and heard helicopters right over our building, heard sirens, and there were so many people up and about. Apparently, we were really close to the building, but I guess I didn’t think much about it since we were fine. We packed and headed down to the kitchen to have a quick breakfast. Our host was also up the whole night because of the fire, and was very concerned. I still did not believe we were near it since I saw nothing from the room. Then we found out our tube station was closed off, as well as the roads. So we couldn’t get a taxi either. We were kinda stuck… The host’s wife suggested we try the other station, and insisted she show us a short-cut since the street was blocked off. She had actually came back from walking her children to their school, and told us that their classmates were able to escape, but many people weren’t able to. It almost felt like a movie, I was in denial and didn’t want to believe how horrible it was. So the three of us stepped out of their house, and there it was… the building was right in front of us, still in flames. I wish I never saw it. We had a ten minute walk to the next station, but I kept my head down and covered my mouth and nose the entire time. I was dizzy, and felt like throwing-up, and it didn’t help that there were clumps of hair every few feet on the road. I hated it. I still shake as I’m typing this. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-40269625

We got to our station, and the station was also closed. We asked a shop if they could call a taxi for us, since our phones were unable to be used. Coincidentally, there was a taxi vendor a few shops down and he directed us there. Man, we were lucky. We got the very last taxi, and just went straight to the main station. The taxi driver was also very sad, he knew a couple people that he had not heard from. Thankfully, one of the friends he had left a few hours before because she was giving birth. Hearing that news was like a fresh breath of air. After that, I just didn’t want to think of what just happened. I put it in the back of my head, and same as when I woke up, it was just a scene in a movie.

We had missed our train, and waited an hour for the next one. It was a long five hour train ride to Cornwall, and we obviously slept most of the time. When we got there, the station was in the middle of nowhere...lol. I noticed a lady run over to a couple, and I assumed she was looking for us. Our next Airbnb host offered to pick us up from the station. I said nothing until there were signs that my assumption was correct. It WAS! They did not know who she was, and they departed ways. I told Jared what I noticed, and he chased after the lady. She took us to her Airbnb, and it was so charming! It was a caravan RV, and there was a separate outhouse. The outhouse had a super clean bathroom and steaming shower. Jared did his research into port towns and discovered Fowey. We asked the hosts how far it was and how to get their. It happened to be just 20 minutes away, and they were super nice and offered to take us. We’d just have to figure out how to get back. Lol. During the drive, we found out that he used to build boats, and that our host was a teacher, and both of them travelled around the world! They had actually just gotten married and honeymooned in Spain. Fowey was very calming and almost dreamlike. We walked around the town. The streets were so small that we were dropped off just a bit outside the city. So people basically had nice, safe streets to walk on that overlooked the waters. I thought we were facing the ocean, but it was actually a river that shortly trailed into the ocean.

We strolled around, bought some wine and clotted cream, and ate at a locally famous pub. The Cornish beer we ordered was probably my favorite beer the entire trip. We thought of just asking the pub to get us a taxi, and getting back wasn’t bad at all. The pick-up location was in front of a really old church...IT WAS SUPER CREEPY!!!! As we headed over there, the bells rung in a really haunting way. I’ve heard many happy bell ringing, but these bells sounded very solemn, depressing, and eerie. Jared said he couldn’t think because the bells gave him anxiety, like how scary movies were made even scarier with the music selection. To top it off, the sun was setting, and it was getting dark. We had to figure out which was the front of the church, and the only way to get to either ends of the church were through a canopy of trees that went through an old grave…. T-T WHY?!?! Luckily, there was an old couple walking through, but I ran back from where we started when they left. I did NOT want to go through there again, so I just hoped that we were already at the side of the church for the taxi pick-up. Thankfully, we were..YESSS!!! When we got back, we found discounted tickets to two attractions we were planning to see the next day. JOOG! Then we got settled in and played board games until we got sleepy.

6.15.17.

So we basically winged everything and tried to fit everything in this one day. The reason we had gone to Cornwall was to see the Eden Project and the Lost Gardens of Heligan. I had also hoped to visit Mevigessay, another port town that I saw on one of the pamphlets the Airbnb host provided in the caracabin. The reason for attempting to fit everything in one day was because we were already leaving the next day. The previous day, the host’s husband offered to take us to the Lost Gardens today because it was about a 30-minute drive, but we’d have to let him know when. The thing was... we didn’t want to cause anymore inconvenience since he had been nice enough to take us to Fowey the previous day. Unlike London, Cornwall was super country and there were no tube trains and we’d have to go to the main bus station to get tickets to use any of the buses. Today would certainly be an adventure getting anywhere.

We woke up early, and cooked our own English Breakfast: beans, bacon, the Bath Bun, clotted cheese, and milk. It was nice just eating outside, looking out into their yard. We were told the walk to the Eden Project was 20 minutes; however, we weren’t told about the roads. There were no sidewalks, and the roads were super narrow. It was through the forest, and I was kinda scared cause the whole way felt like a scene from Human Centipede (since it was out in the forest when the girls were taken)...lol. I felt like anyone could just take us foreigners into their car. Twenty minutes seemed like hours, but Jared did a great job and kept me as calm as possible. I really admire his patience with me and my paranoia… The walk didn’t end up being too bad and we were there in no time.

Jared was so astonished when we got there, he’s excitement was very similar to a kid’s first time to Disneyland. His passion for plants is so inspirational and cute. What was even more crazy was that Bastille was also performing there that night! Whoa...However, tickets were sold out and we weren’t fans of theirs’ anyways. Still was a pretty cool coincidence though. There were two main domes: the rainforest dome and the mediterranean dome. I think we spent two hours in each lol Our time was just a bunch of strolling, admiring the various plants, and immersing ourselves in the different domes.

Afterwards, we wanted to see if we could get to the Lost Gardens of Heligan. Since we could not use our phones, we asked the service desk to help us find a taxi. We were lucky enough to get one because most taxis were busy, since the folk around there use taxis to get their kids from school. It was just about that busy time. We set up a pick-up point and time to meet them, since the Eden Project was so huge and there would no chance in contacting us. The ride to the Lost Gardens wasn’t bad, I just knocked out...haha. I woke up just in time to see a sign to Mevagissey! Apparently, Lost Gardens was just about 3 miles away! I asked the driver if it was possible to pick us up where he’d dropped us off, and he helped us out and set another driver to do just that! Sweet! The Lost Gardens of Heligan was just as beautiful as the Eden Project. It was more natural, where the plants weren’t in domes and there were different areas of regional plants. The Lost Gardens was actually the original Eden Project, like it’s older sister. I personally loved it more than the Eden Project. The Eden Project felt too futuristic for me, as if it was cultivated for another planet because of the dome structures. Jared like Eden Project better, but I think it was also because he enjoyed the rainforest dome a lot. Again, we spent a few hours there. Unlike, Eden Project, there were animals because there was a farm on the site, there were parks to lay and relax, greenhouses, and ruin-like art structures. If I were to go back to Cornwall, I’d like to spend a day there again.

The last hour was kinda rushed cause we wanted to see more of the gardens, but had little time because of the taxi pick-up. Boohoo. There was a mud giant that Jared wanted to see the whole time, so we rush to look for her. We ran to the front to ask where she’d be, and ran back into the gardens to find her. We did-YAY! We just weren’t able to stay too long to admire her more cause we had to run back to the front to our taxi. We made it! We were able to see the mud giant, and we caught our taxi shortly after. We were now heading to Mevagissey.

When we were dropped off at Mevagissey, we didn’t really know what to expect. Like Fowey, the streets were narrow, so the Taxi had to drop us off away from the port. Again, we asked if we could get picked-up where we were dropped off within three hours. Hopefully, that was enough time. We walked toward the ocean, and when we got to the ports...it was STUNNING! The scene was like a painting, the skies were clear, the waters were clean and blue, and there were colorful boats surrounding the shops. The first thing we did was get clotted cream ice cream. I think I got black currant flavored clotted cream ice cream, and Jared got his usual coffee ice cream. We ate our ice cream and walked along the port until we got to the end, where we could see the whole port. Afterwards, we walked through the town for a bit. Jared picked up a cheeseburger for take-away, and afterwards we looked for dinner lol We waited for about an hour to get seated, but we spent that time looking out into the ocean and people watching. Everyone there was much friendlier than in London. We finally ate dinner, and I got pie and Jared got another burger. It was good, but I think we were just too tired to eat. While we were eating, we met a lovely elderly couple who were also visiting. They were taking their holiday by road-tripping all of the UK. Man, GOALS! It’s funny cause, for some reason, they thought Jared worked in London and that both of us were also just getting away from the city. Ayeee, we pulled off being from there even without accents? JOOG. Eventually, we wished them well and caught our taxi. We bought our train tickets back to London the next day, but we’d have to figure out how to get to Gatwick from there the next day. While we were doing all the reservations, it was dusk and we could hear Bastille performing from where we were. We celebrated how successful we were for hitting everything on our list with some wine, and showed each other our pictures we both took.

6.16.17.

We cooked our own last English Breakfast before heading out. Our host brought us to the train station. It was the worst train ride on our trip. For a five hour ride, I stood for a little more than half of it… The train was completely packed. I had a book that I was really into, so time went by pretty quick. It wasn’t the same for Jared, his knees were aching so we had to get him to a seat first. I fell asleep as soon as I got a seat. We arrived at Paddington Station, caught the tube to Victoria, then got the Gatwick Express to the Gatwick airport. We went to the airport to get a taxi for our last Airbnb around the area, so we’d be close to the airport in the morning. When we got to the airport, there was a really cool grocery store there. Jared and I went crazy, and bought a bit too much...The packaging was so beautiful, it was hard to turn down anything! It was called M&S, I highly suggest going there once if anyone is ever at the UK lol I bought beer and canned gin&tonic too. From the airport, we used a taxi to get to our last Airbnb. The taxi driver was kinda sketch. He got lost, dropped us off at a sketch neighborhood, and told us to just look for it… It took him ten minutes to realize what a jerk he was and he came back to pick us up again. We eventually got dropped of at the right place. This was our last day, and we just wanted to rest until our flight tomorrow. I kinda didn’t feel like talking to anyone, but Jared insisted we eat at their dining room since they had offered. Boohoo. I had no more energy to entertain anyone; however, it didn’t turn out too bad. I do not regret me forcing myself to go downstairs. There was a sunroom that was altered to a smoke room next to the dining room and it was pretty cool. They were just lounging there in there surrounded with dimly lit garden lights and cozy furniture that we had to join them. With dinner, wine and beer, it ended up being a last perfect night to get to meet a really chill and sweet elderly couple. We talked about music, the unity between the Turks&Greeks, our travels, bad experiences with the previous clueless Airbnb clients, and just life. The one thing that was cool was the topic of clotted cream! So, remember when I mentioned to keep in mind about the clotted cream I got in Cornwall? Real clotted cream is only from Cornwall! WHOA! I did not know that, but it was super delicious. It’s like butter without all the oils, like super thick milk. So I’m glad we got a hold of clotted cream in Cornwall. Before we head to bed, the host was nice enough to schedule our taxi ride back to the airport through his connections after hearing what happened to us.

Take-Away & Insights

This trip was amazing, and it was Jared’s and my first time travelling alone internationally together. It really was a nice refresher cause we absolutely had no phone access so it became very obsolete. Yay, no work/school emails! We were super prepared for it though, and I felt like that made our trip even more of an adventure. We only used WiFi, so no: google maps, uber, or calls so we couldn’t at least call for taxis. Out of our 5 Airbnbs, there were technically 2 without Wifi: Margate and Cornwall. For Margate, we had to walk to the train station, and Cornwall we had to walk to the host’s house. Asides from that, we only used Wifi at the end of the day to find maps, get tickets, and update our family and friends (via snapchat/texting/Wifi calling).

Also, paying for anything is way more convenient there than America. Almost everywhere had contactless check-out, which actually makes use of iPhone’s wallet app (I think it’s that app). But you just had to put your phone over the reader, and it was only processed after using phone’s thumb print button. And the thing about the UK, and I think everywhere asides from America, is that no one was ever glued to the phone screen. Like in the London tubes, kids to elder adults grabbed a free newspaper to the train to read if they didn’t have a book. Otherwise, riders just looked out the window. There was the occasional music listener with their head-/ear-phones, but they never, even once, looked at their phones while listening.

Luckily, I’m paranoid so I studied the best ways for transportation on our trip before coming. All our transporting needs went smoothly. And I’m proud of my behbeh cause he drastically improved his navigating skills via map reading. We mainly relied on the underground when we were at London. We only used taxi twice because the tube was closed since it was late and when the fire happened. We walked everywhere, everyday. Lots of walking lol The only place we really used taxis was at Cornwall, since it’s all rural and small towns, and getting to our last Airbnb and to the airport. But along with all the walking, came a lot of eating. If we didn’t cook our meals, we paid for QUALITY. Not just quantity, we didn’t really stinge out on our food ventures. Lol.

Music is also very authentic there, especially the fans. In America, people go to the festivals for the festival and not the music anymore. It’s very sad and stupid. It’s hard to want to go to anymore cause the people going... it’s very off-setting. Music is big in the UK, it’s so awesome! We sang, dance, and jumped the whole night to every song! It was solely for the music, and hordes of people were immersed in it. Even at Cornwall, we did not just hear Bastille performing, but we heard the fans bawling-out through the night. And keep in mind, this was at the Eden Project. Our Airbnb was a 20-minute drive away. Every train station we were at had posters of multiple music festivals, all with a crazy line-ups! I’d go back for their music festivals, but it’s just sad cause everyone has to be so vigilant with all the attacks happening.

Everything we did was spontaneous and we just planned our days either the night before or the day of. We’d look at the cool book/map (book info here) that I got and looked at what district had to offer. The only planning that happened before getting on the plane was the Airbnb reservations and Stonehedge/Baths Tour, which we only did before that week….lol… Our schedules were just so busy, we never had the chance. This trip was mainly to see the Gorillaz, so we decided to just enjoy everything else at our own pace. It was super helpful that this was our second time in England, so we got most of the touristy hot-spots out of the way. It ended up being another trip for the books!

Budget Breakdown

**Drum roll** --- For two weeks -- **Drum roll**

$2,015 EACH for 2 weeks -- we split everything

Airbnb (5) - $1,1135
Airfare - $1,100
Trains & Underground - $635.45
Taxi - $89.23
Attractions (Aladdin, Eden Project, Gardens of Heligan, Stonehedge/Baths Tour, Chelsea Gardens) - $412.77
Food - $ 640.76