Hey Everyone,
If you all did not know, I have been in the UK for the past week or so.
I left on the 14th and spent most of my time with Colin at his home in
SW England, near Bath. Some of you have asked for an e-mail, so here it
goes....
I flew standby from Boston, I am on Colin's flightlist (yay!) he works
for Virgin. The flight was sucky because I was surrounded by sick,
loud, crazy and crying kids/babies. But I guess I cant really complain
for the price....( :
My first whole day in the UK Colin and I went to the Cotswolds! I have
wanted to go here for a really long time. They are a bunch of super
cute villages, look them up, they have been in lots of movies. It was
really awesome, but was super carsick which sucked, so I had to take
dramamine so I didnt repeat Costa Rica's vomiting car ride
experience....Colin said I bored him because he had to do all the
driving while I slept! haha, sorry Colin! Oh, and the day before we
drove by Stonehenge, not all that impressive, a bunch of rocks, really.
The second day, we went to Wales, Colin's most favorite place on the
planet, next to Scotland. JK, Colin hates those places, some weird
English-Scotish-Welsh thing, I dont know...Anyways, we went to
Chepstow, which is where my Dad's side is from and went to Chepstow
Castle and Tintern Abbey, they were really cool. Colin was a good
sport, these arent really his normal fun activities to do! Then we
stopped at ASDA aka UK Walmart. They are much classier in the UK!
Day three, we went to Bath!! I was SO excited for Bath! I have wanted
to go here for such a long time. We took the train today, so both Colin
and I were happier, he no driving, me, no pukey feeling! I dont get
motion sickness on trains, but on every other moving object I do, who
knows. We first went to the Roman Baths, which are crazy old (dont
remember exactly, so lets just go with crazy old) and they were
AWESOME! We spent hours there. Afterwards, you can drink the water that
used to be prescribed, it is supposed to be good for you, but it tasted
like blood! Yuck! But I did feel kinda like a vampire...Ah, Twilight
has ruined my life! Haha. We also went to Bath Abbey, the Royal
Crescent and the Circus. They were all very cool. We ate these things
called pasties, they look like calzones, but are made of potato and
filled with cheese and other delicousness of your choice. They were
yummy, and cheap! I have been much more authentic in my food choices
you should all know. Mainly due to Colin, I even tried this weird
relish pickle jelly stuff. Colin wanted me to eat Marmite, but I
smelled it and had enough. If you dont know what marmite is, it is for
a reason, its nassssty smelling, and prob tasting as well! Anywho, we
then went to Sally Lunn's to eat a bun. While at this little restaurant
(it is the oldest house in bath, also old, but not crazy old). And
while there, I accidently deleated all of my pictures from my
trip...........I was really, really, upset and on the verge of totally
freaking out in the restaurant but managed to maintain control. Colin
thought I might be able to get them back, we went around to three shops
in town and Colin tried really hard at his house to get them back, but
to no avail ) : I was really, really, really upset that day, my
pictures are important and it was sad to lose them! I finally just had
to realize that losing my pictures dont negate my trip/experiences, or
at least that is what I am trying to remember! Still sucks though!
My last day with Colin we went to Longleat house and park, his brother
works there and got us free tickets. It was a cool old house and an
animal park, random combo if you ask me. Colin and I were in a
nocturnal house thing and all of a sudden I hear, oh, look at those
spiders...and I was like OMG there must be tarantulas in here. I
glimpsed and saw one. Then I closed my eyes and was like Colin I HAVE
to get out of here! He asked why and I said something about spiders,
starting to panic. Well, he thought this was hillarious, so got in my
way so I couldnt get out...I was just pushing on him with my eyes
closed trying to get out. Eventually he let me through but thought it
was really funny, I didnt. If you have ever seen me around spiders, you
know....
I stayed with Colin's family for this portion of the trip. His Mumsy is
soooo nice!! She was so welcoming and accomodating for me and went out
of her way to make me comftorable, and made me vegetarian food each
night! Ahhh, so nice! It was cool to have a real life english
experience, living with a real family in real suburbia.
Colin and I stayed the night at Gatwick airport in London, paid for by
virgin, because he had an early flight the next day. The hotel was
literally IN the airport. Such a great idea! The hotel was amazing,
normally £200 a night!!! That is like the combined total of all hotels
I have ever stayed in! Ok, well not quite, but the nicest place I have
ever stayed! And I had a 6:30 am flight the next morning, so I just had
to walk out the door down the terminal to it which was nice.
So that was yesterday morning, I flew to Edinburgh, Scotland. I LOVE
Edniburgh!!! It is such an amazing city. It is also the first time
traveling alone, so that is a bit weird, but freeing being able to do
whatever I want, when. Seriously though, especially to all my European
traveler readers, Edinburgh is one of the coolest cities I have ever
been to. It has an awesome vibe, is super walkable, and has cool stuff
like castles and stuff and is surrounded by green foothills, which are
beautiful.
Yesterday I went to Edinburgh Castle, climbed a tall monument, which
was hillarious because I have never climbed a round circular tall thing
with stairs by myself. I am afraid of them. Kristina and Jennifer could
prob tell you more about that! I go suppper slowly and freak out. This
was especially bad because near the top you literally had to crawl
sideways to get through, I thought I would be stuck up there forever,
not having the courage to go down again...But I made it. I also went to
a cathedral and went on a bus tour. Then I got a deep fried Mars bar!!!
It took a LONG time to find it with asking many people where to get
them. When I did, the guy goes, are you American? I said yes, hes like,
you Americans, you are all so obsessed with these things!! Haha, I
thought that was really funny. So, they are a bit strange. The nougat
in the candy bar gets all, like, rough? I dont know how to describe it,
and they are deep fried like a fish stick. Prob wouldnt do it again,
but when in Rome, you kinda have to. I went back to the hostel and
slept, I was starting to feel really sick, which didnt suprise me
because colin had been sick and I had been surrounded by sickies on the
plane.
Oh, by the way. This hostel is a bit crazy...I walked into my room and
stopped. Why? Because it was the messiest place I had ever seen in my
life. And if you have ever seen my room (which is always messy) you
should have a clear picture of just how messy this place was. 14 beds
or something like that, and the floor was covered, literally completely
covered, in clothes shoes and random crap. I found out everyone, except
two of the beds, the girls are LIVING there...how weird. They have been
there for months, which explains all the crap everywhere. They were all
Australian, and all friends, so it was a bit awkward going into their
''home'' that they have been in for months. They were also really
inconsiderate and rude making a ton of noise, they prob dont care
anymore, they all were always talking about how they are sick of living
in a hostel. No crap! Who wants to LIVE in a hostel??? It was
irritating because I woke up like around midnight to my mattress being
lifted up. Yes, you read that right. The girl below me was tucking a
sheet into it so she would have a little coccoon like bed. I was so
pissed. To top it off, I lost my ear plugs so I couldnt drown them out.
I bought more today!
Today, is my birthday, and spending it alone in a different city is a
bit weird, but I have been having fun. I had a piece of tiramisu as a
happy birthday to me cake. I went to the brittania royal ship and
Holyrood palace, I am pretty obsessed with the royals here, they
fascinate me. The only bad thing about today is that I am getting sick,
and as the day has progressed, my throat has gotten more and more sore
and I have felt worse. Plus, it was raining. Oh well, everything cant
always go right. The weather has been really accomodating most of the
trip, so I cant really complain! By the way, I am here during a time
called half term. Which is when all the kids in the UK have a week off
from school, so everything is crazily busy, which I figured, since it
wasnt summer, it wouldnt be! I didnt know that before coming. I thought
I would be able to experience travelling without masses of crowds that
I have always had to deal with! Oh well. Next time.
Tomorrow I am off to London! I am SOOO excited!! As you may remember, I
have been to London before, with Kristina on our first trip to Europe.
I am there only for a day, I leave Sunday. I am going to The British
Museum (Kristina and I only skimmed this) to the Victoria and Albert
Museum and a few other places. I am really excited to just walk around
the city as we really didnt get to do this before. I leave Sunday back
for Boston.
So thats about it, I am just hoping I feel better tomorrow so I can
explore London! Although I will regardless. This is the first time I
have been in a different country without Kristina, which is a bit
weird! Oh, and I forgot, I checked a box here (I NEVER check, I have
this weird phobia they will lose it) and guess what? They lost it. Or
''delayed'' as they put it. It was syrup for Colin's mom from Vermont,
eventually it made its way to us, but it figures!! They also
interrogated me at immigration for literally 15 min, at least. It was
really weird, I was afraid for a bit they werent gonna let me in!!
Ok, I think people want to use the internet, there is a guy making
really irritating sounds, so I think its my signal to go. See or talk
to you all soon or a bit later!
Love, Kimberly
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