Giant's Causeway and Belfast

Day 26 & 27




We woke up and made our own traditional breakfast with beans, fried tomatoes, and plenty of tea.

Edinburrrrah

Day 8

The original plan was to get up at the crack of dawn and hike up Arthur's Seat; however, we slept late, and when the alarm rang at 4:30am, I was not having it and we decided to sleep til breakfast time.

I elevated my ankle on the edge of my bed, without leg support, and my knee felt like death in the morning. We started out at Edinburgh Castle and found a post office box to drop my postcards. These cards would proceed to get lost around the world; the first one took a month to get to the Netherlands, and the one to Canada took two months after being rerouted from Hungary, while the one to the United States arrived two months after travelling to the Philippines.

Glasgow, made by people

Day 7



It was another early morning as we had a 7am train to catch to Glasgow. Lunch at Bread Meats Bread where a random parade came by as we were awaiting our food.



We then ventured into the city and then spent a lot of time browsing through the Lighthouse. They had an environmental section which took us both back to our undergrad days.

Tea time in Manchester

Day 6

I decided to take it easy this morning; I had a BritRail pass, so I could take any train I liked and service to Manchester was every hour from London. I woke up and decided to grab some food from the nearby Pret.



The ride to Manchester was leisurely and full of beautiful views. I finally understood the term 'rolling hills' when viewing the English countryside.

Gloomy London

Day 5

My first trip to Europe happened in the summer of 2007; now ten years later, I was back again. However, the only place I stopped at again was London; therefore it inevitably made me draw comparisons.

I headed out to the station an hour early; the smug feeling lasted all about two minutes before I realized that going to the UK meant leaving the Schengen area, and therefore, Passport Control.

When we arrived, I realized why people called London gloomy - even during rainy days in most other places, the sun shines through in spots and there are moments of brightness. In London, the skies were depressingly grey and drab, and it made its surroundings appear grey as well.




The first stop was to grab an ankle brace from the nearby Boots. Lights change extremely quickly in the U.K., and coupled with my lame ankle and not being used to the cars being on the 'wrong side', I got beeped at a few times while making my way across.