MY TRAVELS within the UK

UK- London, Leeds, and Liverpool

During my time living in Wales, I have been able to travel  to several places, since everything is at such short distance! It's amazing how small Europe is, when you are used to a huge country like Canada of course.  Within the UK I went to London twice.  My first time in London was when I arrived from Canada to start my International Exchange in Wales.  The plane arrived at Gatwick airport, which is a bit further from the city, and I had 9 months worth of luggage with me!! Well, my arrival at Gatwick was a little hectic because I was on my own carrying a heavy load, and I found most people at the airport, to be ...not too friendly :S
From Gatwick airport I had to get to the train station that would take me into the city.  A nice man helped me out with the luggage, guided me to the train, and even told another employee at the train to help me out once I got off...so with this little experience, I had once again hope in Londoners...as I ALWAYS say, we should never generalize or label anyone.  Making this mistake will make you a very sad and negative individual.

Upon arrival into London, I had to take a taxi to my cousin's friend's house where I would stay for the next 3 days.  She was not home when I arrived, and her nice neighbour saw me...sad little me...sitting outside waiting. ehhehe (u picturing it?) I called Tara, that's her name, and she told me that the neighbour was a very nice guy and I had nothing to worry about.  So when he offered me to come into the house to sit in the living room and have some tea, I took the offer :)  I was soooooo tired!!
Tara told me she would be late from work, so I locked my suitcases and left them at the neighbours'.  I then went out into the city with my little map for the first time....

London is beautiful, it IS a very big city... and very clean.  The best thing about London is the subway system, it's HUGE!! so many trains that take you absolutely to every little corner of the city. It is also very organized and easy to get around.  I loved the fact that I found it so easy to find the places that I wanted to visit,... it was a breeze.  However, I have never seen such rushhour in my entire life, not even in Toronto which is already a busy busy place. There are way too many people in London, and the stress can be felt....this is why, I don't really think I would live there.
I visited the Science Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, British Museum, and Natural History Museum.  They are all very impressive and worth visiting.  My favorite one was the Natural History Museum of course, since I love animals more than anything.
I also visited Buckingham Palace.  I remember so clearly how it drew a smile to my face as soon as I caught a glimpse of it.  It is stunning!! so beautiful. Some other places that I visited were: Westmister Abbey, London eye, Tower of London, London Bridge and St. Paul's Cathedral.
I may probably be forgetting some of the places, but you get the picture...it was a very busy 3 days!! but I loved walking around the city discovering and using their great TUBE system.

As I previously mentioned, I did go a second time to London. But as I had already seen most important places; to me, the most memorable part of that second trip was that this time I had the company of my loving cousin Maria...WE HAD A BLAST!! sightseeing, eating out, karaoke, live music, club, and again, just walking around this great city. (Gracias por venir mi morrsss, me encanto pasar esos diitas juntas :) )

I also went to Leeds and Liverpool.  I went to Leeds with the purpose of attending a concert "Decemberists".  A former co-worker and good friend of mine, Guillaume, asked me to accompany him. Since Leeds is only a train ride away from Wales, I had taken a weekend to go with him to the concert in Leeds and also to visit Liverpool, the birthplace of the Beatles! :) The concert was amazing...it was a lot of fun.  I don't even know how to place their style of music, but I trully enjoyed it.  Guillaume had waited for me at the train station with Marc, the guy who was going to be hosting us in his home for our one night stay in Leeds.  We went to the concert as soon as I arrived cause it would start around 9pm, and I arrived around 8pm.  Marc's co-workers were also at the event, so we were a group of about 8 people.  We had some drinks and just enjoyed the music...we couldn't talk much though, it was very loud !

Both cities, Leeds and Liverpool are a lot smaller than London, but I found them very nice.  In both places we were lucky to be hosted by people who we found through a website called http://www.couchsurfing.com/ which I HIGHLY RECOMMEND. We now call these guys our "couchsurfing friends" :D.  The guy who hosted us in Leeds, Marc, took us into his home which he shared with a few housemates and his pet CHICKENS in the backyard, yes, chickens!!! they were very cute.  When it was feeding time, the chickens followed him all around the backyard :D lol.  Marc's housemates were all very nice and also his co-workers whom we met with at the concert....we all went out together to have breakfast the next day in a little coffee place, where I actually tried for the very first time in England, the typical "English Breakfast".  Completely different than what they call an English Breakfast in Toronto, I was surprised.  This breakfast comes with fried eggs, sausages, beans, fried mushrooms and lots of thick tomato sauce. Guillaume wasn't too fond of the sauce, but I really loved it, it gave it a little kick :)...of course it also came with toast, orange juice and a nice cup of coffee :)  Anyway, later that afternoon, Guillaume and I took the train to Liverpool, where we were hosted by another couchsurf friend, Kevin.  Kev was an independent musician and composer.  He had a very nice voice and was great at the guitar.  We spent a quiet evening in his cozy livingroom listening to his music that he had recorded on CD's, and later we went out to a pub for a drink.  Kev was very nice and accomodating.  The next morning he actually made us breakfast :D
While out in Liverpool, Guillaume and I just decided to walk around and see what we could find on our way following the map....hehehehhe so crazy.  Well, except "the CAVERN", where the Beatles played, we actually looked for that place right away cause we really wanted to see it :), this place is like I don't know how many floors underground, it IS an actual cave!!...i think... very dark, but it was so cool, and of course there was memorabilia of the Beatles everywhere, including their drums.

All in all, I found it to be a very nice experience to take a few weekends off now and then during my study period in order to visit all these places in the UK....and the people that you meet along the way make all the difference :).