Alright, let me tell you about my first big solo adventure. Now, I’d traveled alone before, but hadn’t been alone for long on a trip and most of my “solo” trips before this one was to visit someone. But in August 2017 I decided to head out on my own. I don’t have a lot of people I can travel with as I’m just too different from a lot of my friends and I want different things from my trips. I have had some big adventures with my cousin and if you all want to hear about them, I might write a little something at a later date. Anyways, as I do feel a little at home in Britain and Brits are more outgoing than most Norwegians, I decided to head over for an 11 day trip on my own.
Southampton I flew to Gatwick and got the train straight down to Southampton, mainly because I thought it would get too late for me to head all the way to Amesbury on the first day. As I arrived I found the guest house and headed back out for a walk and some geocaches. I have to say I'm not too impressed with this city, but I suspect I didn't see the best parts of it because I didn't have more than one afternoon/evening. The first thing I had a little anxiety about was going out on my own, I did try it with so so results in Newcastle the previous spring. I’d say it went ok in Southampton, I did talk to people and such, but it does take me quite a few drinks before I get the courage to walk up to people when I’m on my own like this. Popworld always deliveres good music though and I did end up dancing a bit.
Stonehenge The next day I headed to Stonehenge! This was a big part of why I decided to embark on this journey. So I got the train to Salisbury and got the guided bus from here to the Stones. I don’t think I need to tell any of you that this is a cool experience, it’s just one of those things it’s nice to have seen and to check off the travel list. After spending an hour or so by the stones I went for a walk, instead of heading back with the bus (even though I believe that does stop by a couple of nice sites on the way back) I had decided to walk to Amesbury, the nearest town to the stones. I bought some strawberries from a stand at the parking lot and headed out. It was a lovely walk through the fields in the English countryside where people greet you when you cross paths. And seeing the silhouette of Stonehenge from across the fields was nearly as cool as seeing it up close. I have to admit though, I was pretty tired when I finally got to Travelodge in Amesbury. Having had the backpack on my back for quite some time even before the walk from the stones I was feeling the weight a little and my feet aced. I put my backpack down and quickly headed back out, knowing I wouldn’t get back up if I sat down in my room. After a short walk in town to get a few things I ordered pizza (Domino’s, I’m slightly obsessed) to my room and had an early night.
In the morning I got the bus from Amesbury back down to Salisbury, which really is a lovely place to take a walk. The train takes a few hours to Cardiff and it seems this is a popular train on a Saturday. I ended up sitting on the luggage rack with my backpack still attached as the train was so incredibly full. At least I got to rest my legs, not everyone were that lucky.
Cardiff Arriving in Cardiff, as always, I made my way to my accommodations for the night to drop off my backpack, before a walk around town. Cardiff is a really interesting place, here you can see modern buildings and art right next to old historical places and I personally really like the street art. And there is a lovely park as well. If you're ever looking for an interesting place where you can get your shopping on too, I'd recommend Cardiff. I really want to come back to this city! Anyways, I went geocaching and sightseeing before hitting a couple of shops, in search of a cheap top or dress for the night. I was not surprised that I ended up finding this in Peacocks.
Round 8pm, after getting settled in my hostel room and freshening up a bit I headed back to the city centre to see if I could find a bar where I'd be comfortable eating on my own. I know there are those of you out there who have no problem eating alone in a restaurant, but there are also those who would never even consider eating out alone. I guess I'm now somewhere in between. I won't go to a restaurant to eat alone, but a pub/bar for simple bar food or something like a wetherspoons is doable. However, Saturday in Cardiff means just about everything is packed, which I should have known, seeing as the hen and stag dos (bachelor and bachelorette parties) were in full swing when I was eating a sandwich on a bench by the bar street round 3pm. So I went to subway instead, because I really did need to eat something. After this I checked out some bars, the first one looked like a fairly empty cocktail bar, I was wrong. It was indeed a cocktail bar, with lovely fancy cocktails, but it was far from empty. Being Norwegian and from a town where no one is out before midnight I still get surprised when the bars fill up as early as 9pm, even though I have lived in Sunderland and did like to go out round 9-10pm myself. The place was booming, the cocktails good and the music was alright too, but I was not ready to go up to strangers yet. I headed to another bar where someone did come up to me while I was at the bar, so we talked a little, and I danced with a girl I met in the girls toilet, as you do. Then I was alone again and I figured my choices were 1: call it a night, or 2: pay for entrance into Popworld. I chose Popworld. After getting the courage to actually just tell the crowd in the girls toilet that I was on my own I ended up having a great night. I was adopted by a hen party. Then ended up having a mini dance off with a random girl, we had so much fun! I chatted with loads of people and even got a little attention from a few cute guys. Getting back to my hostel I ran into some people who were not done partying, one of which ended up sitting in the hallway with a helmet on trying to recruit people for an afterparty. I just love the british randomness.
For those wondering; I stayed at the YHA Cardiff Central, it's not as central as I would have liked, but if I can save a tenner or three I'll walk a few ekstra minutes. So it's about a 10-15 minute walk to get to the city centre. The hostel itself is quite nice, seems it might have been a nice hotell at some point and the room I was in looked like it was from the 90s (but that might be because of my Norwegian eyes, styles are quite different from Norway to Britain). But even though it looked a little old, it was still quite nice. I didn't use the common areas or anything like that, I tend not to as I normally have busy days when I'm traveling, but from what I saw that part of the hostel seemed redone and modern.
Manchester I got up really early, especially for being a sunday after a night out, but who am I kidding, I'll go out any and every day of the week if I can while on holiday. As you'll soon see in this post. The train from Cardiff was quite comfortable though and I had a relaxing couple of hours before arriving in Manchester. As I mentioned in my first blog post I have a friend in Manchester so for this part of my holiday I was not alone. I've been to Manchester once before and I wouldn't call it my favourite place, but it does have a few things to offer. So this time I had more time to explore. As my first trip to Manchester was a shopping trip I didn't see too much of the city. I geocached both my days in Manchester and got some company from my friend and a friend of hers for parts of my walk, which was nice. Like Cardiff Manchester also has a lot of street art, probably even more so. And I really like exploring and finding cool murals, so Manchester is good for that.
Hitting the town is always a must when I'm visiting this friend, so we went out for a few drinks. We never really found the best party, but that was to be expected as I was in town on Sunday and Monday night. We did have some fun though and talked to a few new people in a gay bar on the Sunday.
York Arriving in York by train I quickly found my hostel to leave my backpack and went exploring. Since I only had a day in York, my goal was to walk the wall. And I did nearly walk the whole thing. I'd say York is a pretty unique place and going for walks here is hightly recommended, the wall is cool, there are loads of old facinating buildings, narrow charming streets and the museum gardens are beautiful. After a long walk I went back to the hostel to rest up a little before getting ready for dinner and drinks. I went to a wetherspoons for food, and although it feels a bit strange to eat out alone, it was okay. After food I headed for those narrow streets to see if I could find somewhere to have a drink, and I sure did. I had an idea of some places I could check out, since I tend to over prepare, but you never really know until you're there. So I ended up in Bora bora, one of the bars on my list of possibilities, a nice little bar with a tropical theme that seemed to be getting busier. After getting my second drink a girl came up to me and I was nolonger alone. I had a great time chatting with my new friends and the drinks were good too. When my new friends had to go, it was a Tuesday night after all, I started walking back towards my hostel, but as I really wanted to dance I decided to go into Popworld, which was closer to the hostel I was staying at. I ended up gaining some new friends here too, and danced the night away.
I got up quite early and went for a short and refreshing morning walk before getting the train onwards. Leaving York my impression of the city is that it is a charming and friendly city with a lot of history in the walls (not just in the city wall).
Peterborough So I chose Peterborough mostly because of the placement and shopping opportunities. But if you know where to go there are nice places to go for walks too. I was now ready to start my christmas shopping, yes, it was August, and I do start this early, so I needed a suitcase. And so, after a short walk I went for a little bit of shopping and then decided to get back to my travelodge room early and get some much needed sleep.
The next morning I headed for the little town of Stamford as a friend of mine suggested it. And there are geocaches here too, so why not. I had planned to go up to the Burghley House, but as they were getting ready for some event on the grounds there was no way for me to get up there the way I came into the park, and I didn't want to spend my whole day trying to get up there, so I found one of the two geocaches I looked for in the park and then made my way back towards the town. It really is a cool little place. I found some geocaches, took some photos and had a nice lunch in a pub called Kings head. I did a little more shopping after getting back to Peterborough, and had another early night.
London
London isn't very new to me, I've been severeal times before, but I always seem to find something new. After a little more shopping, yes, I really do love shopping, I got ready for a night out. I met up with a friend I hadn't seen for about 8 years for food and a catch up. After a lovely chat with my friend I joined a bar crawl, London party pub crawl to be exact. I'd done this with my cousin earlier in the year and knew it would be a good one. And it was. I met some really cool knew people and danced the night away. If you haven't done these crawls before but like meeting new interesting people I highly recommend it. You get a wristband to show you're on the crawl and just about everyone on the crawl will be happy to chat, so spot someone with the wristband and introduce yourself.
On my second day of shopping in London the tube (sorry, that's the underground) stop I wanted to get off at was closed so I had to get off one stop earlier, which meant I had to go for a walk in a part of London I haven't seen before, which was quite alright.
Party night number two in London and the last on this trip was just as much fun as the first. I ended up talking to a bunch of guys and hung out and danced with them most of the night. And on the last day of my first big solo adventure I was so tired and my feet hurt so badly I only mustered energy for a couple of hours out and about and had an early night. I did have an early flight home after all.
Summary: So to sum up, I visited 8 cities or towns in 11 days and I had a great holiday even though I traveled all on my own for the first time. However, for a trip like this, it was just a little too long. I'm a very social person and when I get tired and end up staying in my room for the evening I sometimes miss having someone to chat to while eating take-out and watching some tv. So I've learned from this and now try to keep my trips to 7-8 days, 11 was just a few days too long for me when traveling alone.
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