Pip pip cheerio

One of the many reasons I chose to do the Spring Voyage of Semester at Sea was because it left in the city of my school, San Diego State University, and ended in England. That means the voyage would basically be a 3.5 month long route to eventually drop me off in England. The Fall Voyage usually is the opposite, starting in England and ending in San Diego. I was so happy to be able to continue traveling even though Semester at Sea had come to an end. Now, for some reason, I never really cared about going to England. I love the accent and all that, but I knew it rained a lot just like where I grew up in Seattle, Washington. Well England sure surprised me. It was absolutely gorgeous and the sun was shining the whole time I was there, and I just loved the whole England vibe. I would go back in a heartbeat.  

DAY 1

The second I got off the ship and heard someone working at the ship terminal speak, a huge smile spread across my face. If you know me, you probably know I’m kind of sort of obsessed with the British accent. I walked into a huge room full of everyone’s luggage and finally found mine after 10 minutes or so. I dragged it all out of the room where some people’s friends and family were waiting and crying and reuniting and all that. I found a line for the company that was shipping people’s luggage home for the ones who still wanted to travel around. I got to the front of the line and left two huge fat suitcases with them and that was that. I was free.

I got a taxi with Aishwarya and Rick, and we headed to the Southampton coach station. We were there quite early for our 3:30 bus, so we each took turns wandering around a market close by and getting some food. When the time finally came, we hopped on the bus and arrived at the London Victoria coach station at 5:50. We walked a little bit through a mall and also exchanged some currency and we ran into a few SAS’ers along the way. I swear, we take over every place we go to! After exchanging some currency, it was time to go underground and take the famous tube! We were trying to get to the hostel we were staying at, Generator. Aishwarya was going home a few days later and decided not to pay the money to ship her luggage home, so she was lugging everything everywhere, through long hallways, down and up the stairs (there are no elevators or escalators that we saw!), and not to mention, there were SO many people hustling and bustling about. It was a huge struggle but we finally made it to our platform and the subway (or whatever it’s called) came and opened its doors briefly, but it was so crowded! There was a guy’s neck literally sticking out the door and as the doors shut, he quickly tucked it into the crowded tube. I literally thought he was about to get beheaded. So we didn’t make it on the first two because it came and went so fast and we could not shove all of our stuff in there, but we FINALLY made it after some necessary pushing.

We managed to get off at the correct stop and had about a 10 minute walk to our hostel. We were so relieved when we finally made it. Our hostel was huge and there were tons of people of all ages. I saw grandmas, kids, and entire families! Generator is a big hostel chain in Europe and I quite liked it. Our room was pretty small though, with I think 3 other people sharing it. Emily and Brie were meeting up with us later and they booked another room because it was kind of last minute. It was also Jordan’s birthday the following day and he and Caleb were going to stay at Generator as well. We definitely started a trend.

That night, we last minutely bought tickets to the 1 Big Night Out Pub Crawl. I knew I wanted to do it but thought maybe I would be tired. Well I wasn’t tired at all and turns out, just about every other SAS’er had the same idea. It started so early at 7:30! We had to get there by 8:30 or they would have left for the first bar already, and we made it with like 15 minutes to spare. We met up in the Generator lobby with some friends and saw other SAS’ers who were about to leave for the pub crawl as well. We walked for about 25 minutes (taxis are so expensive) and made it to Verve Bar, the starting location. About 3/4 of the people there were from Semester at Sea and there were a ton of us. We showed them our tickets then got glow sticks, t-shirts, and a highlighter (to write on other people’s shirts). We also got a ticket at each place we went to so that we could get a little flavored shot. It was a good deal!

After a bit, this loud funny British guy led us all to a room to say the pub crawl rules. I got it all on video because it was so hilarious. We finally left for our first stop. There was a total of 5 stops that night I think, and some were small bars and others were fun clubs. It was Jordan’s birthday at midnight and we made sure he had fun. I met fun Aussies, Emily and I took pictures with some British police officers, we danced and screamed out “Livin’ on a Prayer” and “You’re the One that I Want” from Grease. It was a great night with fun people and was the last big Semester at Sea takeover.

DAY 2

So basically everyone had been craving Chipotle since the voyage left. It was in none of the countries we went to, and we discovered that there were a few in England. It isn’t a huge thing in England, though, like it is in the US. So for “brunch” we excitedly headed out to Chipotle. We managed to go the opposite direction we were supposed to on the tube, but eventually we made it to Chipotle. We were salivating and shaking (not really…okay, maybe a little). The workers were probably thinking “crazy Americans”. I went all out with that beautiful fresh guac and chips. Mmmm. The first bite was beautiful and we all devoured our meals. Apparently too fast. Everyone got really tired and wanted to go back to the hostel and sleep, besides Rick and I. I was determined to get to Kings Cross and take a picture at Platform 9 ¾ from Harry Potter, and luckily Rick was still down to come with me. We tubed it to Kings Cross as the others went back to the hostel, and we went straight to looking for Platform 9 ¾. Well it was easy to find! There was a line and a guy who had the best job ever: to put a Harry Potter house scarf on you and fling it into the air and back away so that you can take cool pictures with it flying up in the air. I hurried over to get in line and was so excited to take pictures.

After having a little photo shoot, I went into the gift shop with lots of cool Harry Potter stuff. I got some pens and buttons, the cheapest stuff there, then headed out. That’s when Rick and I ran into one of our SAS friends, Eric who actually had studied abroad in London and knew the area well. He was with another SAS girl, her mother, and a guy who lives in London who he met when studying abroad and Eric said he was just about to show them the city and invited us to come along. It was perfect. It was such a beautiful sunny (but chilly) day and we walked around for a while. We basically had a photoshoot around London. We took pictures in front of the Kings Cross sign, where the London Bridge once was, the famous Tower Bridge, Big Ben, telephone booths, The London Eye, and just everything possible. We ran into SAS’ers on a bridge while walking from Big Ben to the London Eye! We got hungry and went to a pub in Leicester (pronounced Lester) Square that I think had some special Indian food night. It was a nice long day and I was so glad I didn’t decide to crash after eating that Chipotle! I took it easy that night and just connected to the internet at my hostel and got in bed at a reasonable hour.

DAY 3

I met up with Heather in the afternoon and Emily told everyone to come to a restaurant called Nando’s for lunch at 1. Well there were a good 10 SAS’ers along with 3 friends who decided to meet up with them in London. Nando’s is extremely popular in England and it is all about chicken. Amazing chicken whichever way you’d like it and with different sides. It’s so good and I wish they had Nando’s in America (I just looked and they only have it in Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland, and Illinois!). I think it’d be a huge hit in California!

After lunch where we said some goodbyes, Heather, Rick, Aishwarya and I headed out to slowly make our way to Buckingham Palace. We walked through lots of action comparable to the Hollywood Walk of Fame (with street performers like Yoda hovering above the ground) and then walked through a beautiful park that led us to Buckingham. We took a ton of pictures and I couldn’t stop staring at the guards since I’d always seen it on TV/in movies and now there they were right in front of me. We walked more to some square with lion statues called Trafalgar Square and were exhausted by then. It took us a while to find a way to get back to our hostel on public transportation and we finally caught a bus, my first double decker!

That night, we went to Leicester Square and Rick brought his guitar. Heather is an amazing singer and we came up with the idea to go and street perform just for fun. So they stood out in Leicester and sang and played guitar. They did that for a while, then a man came to watch and started recording them up close. I didn’t even realize for a few minutes that it was actually her dad, and he took her back to wherever they were staying when she stopped singing. We got some dinner, put the guitar back at the hostel, and went back out since it was our last night in London. We forced Aishwarya to come with us even though she didn’t feel like it, but she just ended up leaving after like 30 minutes anyways. We were at a pub but it wasn’t too fun so we decided to look at other places around the area. We found a club with a line and entry fee, but managed to talk to these women who had a table in there and they got us in! We had a great night dancing until the club closed. As I was leaving, I discovered the “Cloakroom” which is just the British version of a coat check. I like the term “Cloakroom” better!

DAY 4

Since I was leaving in the afternoon to take a train up to Liverpool, I chilled at the hostel until then. I finally had my first traditional English breakfast at the hostel and it was AMAZING! Sunny side up eggs, beans, bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, bread, potatoes, and sausage. I was so full but so satisfied. I ate and was on my computer in the common room and there was big news that day: Kate Middleton had just had her baby girl! I think it’s pretty cool to say I was in England just a few miles away from Kate when she had her baby. When it finally hit the time to leave for the train station, I said goodbye to Rick and Aishwarya. It suddenly hit me that I was now going to be alone for a bit. I always traveled with people on Semester at Sea and had been around SAS’ers constantly in England so far. And now, I was about to be all alone when walking to the train station. I was nervous but mostly excited!

I headed out to the station which wasn’t a far walk at all. I printed out my tickets and headed to the big board to see what platform I was at. I started cracking up. There were a ton of people just staring up at the board waiting to see their platform number and they all looked like zombies. It was a hilarious site, but I joined them. When my platform popped up, I hurried to my designated platform and got on the train. There was a stop about halfway to Liverpool where I had to get on another train, but I finally made it. I got off and after a few minutes of waiting, I finally saw my ex, Tom. I met Tom in July 2012 on a Mediterranean Cruise and we talked non-stop until he came to visit me July 2014 in California. We tried to make long distance work out but it didn’t and he had another girlfriend by the time I got to England. We were still talking though and good friends, and I was heading up to Scotland to visit a friend who was studying abroad anyways so I decided to stop in Liverpool.

Liverpool was kind of my “you get to relax for a few days now after constantly traveling” stop. It’s pointless to say day-by-day what I did because I didn’t do much, but here’s the gist of it:

DAYS 4-8

-I watched a ton of Game of Thrones to get Tom caught up

-We went out the first night and I met some of his friends. Liverpool nightlife is pretty crazy. Girls go all out and dress up no matter what day of the week it is.

-There was this amazing restaurant where we had brunch about a 20 minute walk down the road. It was an even better English breakfast than the one at the hostel!

-Tom still had “uni” as they call it, so I bussed it over to him when he was done and he showed me around Liverpool

-There was a place called “Hannah’s Bar” that was right by a bus stop, and I would always get off there because it was the only time when I actually knew where I was. One time when I was waiting for Tom at Hannah’s Bar, an older guy called me over to his table. There was a young woman sitting there with a clipboard and paper and she said that he is the owner of the bar and they are trying to make new drinks. They asked if I wanted to try it and of course I said yes since it was free! All I remember is that it had ginger beer and tasted amazing. They gave me the whole drink and asked me some questions about it, then I got into a conversation with the owner, Gerry Conteh, talking about how my name is Hannah and I’m from America and how he has a Hannah’s Bar in New York as well. Tom finally showed up and got chatting with him as well, and the owner bought us champagne. You have the best conversations when meeting people while traveling!

-Oswaldo happened to be in Liverpool when I was, so we met up and went out to a bar. I was so extremely underdressed though!

-The last full day I was in Liverpool, I introduced Oswaldo and Tom and we ventured out to the wharfs by a Beatle museum that we didn’t end up going in. We just kind of wandered around and ended up eating at my favorite place, Nando’s!

I arrived in Liverpool on May 2, and stayed all the way until May 7. I really needed that downtime to process everything I had done in the past few months and to plan out what to do in the next 2 weeks I had until I had to go home.

DAY 9

I took the 3.5 hour long train from Liverpool, England to Glasgow, Scotland. One of my (now ex) roommate’s ex-boyfriend, Will, studied abroad in Glasgow the same semester I went abroad and he still had a few weeks left in Scotland. Of course I made an effort to visit him since that meant a free place to stay, plus they had an extra room where a roommate had recently moved out of! It was perfect.

I got off the train and spotted Will after a few minutes. He had walked from his dorm/apartment which was about 20 minutes away, so he helped with some of my stuff and we eventually made it to his place. It was noticeably colder in Scotland, but the sun was out so that helped. I dropped my stuff off at his place and after I met his roommates and a few friends, we left so he could show me around some of the city. Will walked pretty much everywhere since he lived right at his college so everything is right there. It’s a pretty walkable city. We set out and walked around for a while where he showed me churches, statues, shopping centers and all that. We were hungry and after seeing many restaurants that looked good, I picked an Italian one that had really good sounding gluten free pasta. It was scrumptious. I decided to get dessert too. I thought I’d reward myself for traveling so well and without getting anything stolen!

That night, Will and a few of his friends showed me the Glasgow nightlife. The clubs are really fun and they had such cheap drinks! I think a jack and coke was only $2! We stayed out late and went to this really good take-out place. I can’t seem to remember what type of food it was though…oops.

DAY 10

Will had to study for his exams, so I went off by myself to Edinburgh. The bus took only about 1 hour and I got off the bus feeling completely free. This was the first time I was about to explore a city all by myself and it felt AMAZING. Edinburgh looked much older than Glasgow and I really felt like I was in Scotland. I walked through streets and couldn’t stop staring at the beautiful buildings. I found a park-like place that had a little coffee shop and ordered some coffee. I saw a guy playing the saxophone not far away, so I brought my coffee over to some stairs right by him that some people were sitting on and soaked everything in. It felt awesome to just sit down, look around, and realize that I was in freaking Scotland. It was such a serene moment that I will always remember.

After I sat down for a good while, I headed up stairs that led to a hilly street. I finally saw the beautiful Edinburgh castle in the distance. I made my way to it and bought my ticket to enter. It was beautiful and so old (the castle has existed since at least the reign of David 1 in the 12^th century!), and the whole thing was treated like a museum. I could wander wherever I wanted, from places where cannons stood to dungeons where people back in the day kept prisoners. I was there for a couple of hours, reading a lot and imagining a time when people actually lived and ruled at this castle.

Right down the street from the castle, I saw a guy in a kilt playing the bagpipes! I couldn’t stop listening and staring (and of course I got a picture with him) because I’ve always heard about it and seen it on TV. That was definitely another moment when it hit me that I was in Scotland. I started heading towards the Edinburgh Dungeon which took you through Scottish history underground and featured rides and live shows. I got in line for it but last minutely backed out after realizing it wouldn’t be a fun experience alone. I instead went to a mall close by and found an amazing restaurant dedicated to serving all types of baked potatoes. I was happy. After eating and charging my phone for a bit, I made my way to the bus station and headed back to Glasgow.

DAY 11

I said bye to Will and headed off to the airport for my next stop: Dublin, Ireland! Scotland was a nice short stop and I loved it. There’s so much history in the UK compared to America, and seeing that castle really made me think about how things used to be like in this beautiful world we live in.