Cambridge
Everybody I spoke to before going to Cambridge said it was one of their favourite spots in England, especially if asked to compare it with Oxford. While I can agree that it was really beautiful, and fantastic to be immersed in such prestige and history, Oxford for me was a nicer place to visit. With that said, that shouldn’t tarnish my report of Cambridge, I really did have an awesome time walking around and checking out some of the fabulous colleges, churches, parks and finally, the famed Eagle Bar for a quick drink before I left. My start to the day was not indicative of good things to come. Having spent the night again in Sarah’s house in London, I afforded myself probably just a little bit too much time to get ready in the morning, and then was in a rush the whole way to Liverpool Street Station. Then, making it with 7 minutes to go I decided to grab a coffee before the train, which naturally was finished one minute before I was meant to be on board. In any case I did make it, but it certainly had me on edge.
Cambridge itself really is a charming town, and deciding to spend the first portion of the morning in my old, get lost before I get organised fashion, I saw some pretty awesome sights. The highlight I must say, was the Kings College Chapel with its seriously impressive ceiling, choir and courtyard. That said, I explored quite a few colleges (Trinity and Corpus Christi, two off the top of my head) and the whole time, I could practically feel the aura of intelligence seeping through the masonry. As well as that, the beautiful canals and gardens, most of which belonged to the university provided for nice walks and beautiful vistas as I began to come to terms with the fact that in just over two weeks, I would be returning to Brisbane. I ended my afternoon in the Eagle Pub, allowing myself one beer before I realised, just like in the morning, I’d afforded myself a little bit less time than I needed to get to the station, eventually having to run, again to the train station, making it on immediately before it left.
Edinburgh
Like all things, my bad transport timing for the day came in a three. Having quickly eaten at Sarah’s, I actually got on the tube with a reasonable amount of time, and everything was looking like I was going to be fine for me. Well, about 4 stops in I got a call from Sarah saying I had left my Toiletries bag (a combined worth of like, 50 pound) at hers. Deciding I needed it more than I didn’t, I got off the train, ordered an Uber to hers, and had it drop me back off at the tube station. I arrived at Victoria tube station 5 minutes before my coach left from Victoria coach station (by all reports a 10-minute walk). So, sprinting with my broken suitcase and not looking as I crossed streets, I yet again, found myself on my bus with one minute to spare. The bus ride itself was fine, aside from me being sweaty and uncomfortable, and I managed to actually get fairly decent sleep on the 10-hour journey to Edinburgh.
When I arrived in Edinburgh that morning, I was a bit grumpy and caffeine deprived, and was not pleased about the fact I had to walk over one of the largest hills in the city centre to get to my hostel. But once I’d settled in and caffeinated, I began to really appreciate that Edinburgh is a stunning city. The castle, the architecture and the beautiful background scenery had me completely in awe. I met up with one of my friends from creative industries, Charlie, who happened to be on exchange in Edinburgh and she gave me a bit of a tour of what she’d seen, and we also caught up over lunch and in the afternoon had coffee. It was really nice, and kind of interesting getting to talk about experience as somebody at the end of the exchange to somebody who’s just beginning theirs. I ended up having an early night to bed, with Netflix viewing that night, as well as getting some well needed sleep.
The next day, Charlie had university til about 6, so I wandered onto a free walking tour. Not lasting too long, I thought it would be a nice way of killing some time while I decided how I wanted to spend the afternoon. I by total accident met two guys from Australia who went to high school down the road from me. The tour took us up to the castle and to one of Edinburgh’s famous cemeteries to keep the list short. At the end of that, we, and a guy we met from America went for a hike up Arthur’s seat, and while part of our improvised route became a little dubious, we made it to the top and were treated with beautiful views of the city and of the sea. Having a pretty good afternoon, we cooked dinner before I headed out to some awesome pubs with Charlie, which turned out to be a fantastic night! Edinburgh blew me right out of the water, and I definitely have every intention of returning.
Glasgow
Most of the people I’d spoken to told me not really to bother with Glasgow, but because I had to leave from there to get to Belfast for the cheapest price, I ended up staying the night there anyway. Having arrived fairly early in the morning, I left my stuff in the hostel and then spent the next four hours exploring and have concluded that Glasgow is much better than it is given credit for. I went to the Glasgow cathedral, and attached Necropolis, and spent almost an hour wandering between the graves. I also checked out the Gallery of Modern Art (I kid you not, called GoMA), which had some pretty interesting art and some of the awesome Merchant City before my check in at 3. Once I’d checked in, I got some rest and then checked out the People Palace, a cut little museum with exhibits about the life of the inhabitants of Glasgow. Back in my hostel room, I had a really eccentric guy staying in my room. He was an ex-Argentinian navy member, in Scotland studying, and for reasons that weren’t super clear he was packing the back of a car seat and a car motor pump into a newly bought suitcase. He also showed me a trick for making European phone chargers fit into UK power points (hint, it involved putting a key in the grounding part of the plug). He ended up being a really cool guy to talk to, but was still a little odd. Finally, I went out for dinner at a pub around the corner that the hostel had a discount at and had the largest burger I’d ever had, as well getting to listen to some music from the grungier part of my life, which I appreciated much more than I thought I would.
Belfast
After a fairly long bus ride to the port where I would take the surprisingly luxurious boat from Scotland to Northern Ireland, I found myself in Belfast city at about 2:30 in the afternoon. I rather uneventfully dropped my stuff in the hostel and then did my usual, walk around until the sun goes down kind of thing, to kill time before I met up with Emma and Tony again for dinner. Belfast was quite a bit more modern and less old fashioned than I was expecting, but still had its fair share of pretty awesome buildings, cool sites, and really nice coffee shops. In fact, there were quite a few really nice cafés around Botanic Avenue, quite close to my hostel, so that was most excellent. With my power-sightseeing over, I waited in the cold outside city hall for Emma and Tony. Now I’d gotten pretty used to the cold, so it was very strange for me that I felt it so badly in Belfast when the temperature wasn’t that low, but whatever reason was behind it seemed irrelevant because I felt a little bit like I might die. Against all odds though, we made it to a pretty fantastic pizza place called Little Wing and ordered a 24” pizza, the likes of which I’ve not seen before.
We caught up over our ridiculous amount of food and beers before moving along first to a pretty traditional and fairly nice Irish bar called Kelly’s, another place that I can’t remember the name of for a couple of games of pool, and then finishing up as all nights should in my opinion, at the famed Whetherspoons. The next day, feeling a little bit rough from the night before, I made way to the train station closest to my exchange friend, Rachael’s place, before myself and her friend ventured up the north coast. Along the way, we stopped at Ballycastle and looked at the magnificent views of the beach, as well as the famed Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. While the weather was freezing, the picturesque landscape and views over the ocean made it well worth it. We continued the road trip a little further West, before having dinner at Remore and heading back. Spending the greater part of the day out, and knowing full well that the day after I would be having a really big evening out, I decided that upon arriving at home (At 9:30) that I would go straight to bed.
The next morning, having had quite a slow time getting up I decided to venture out to the Titanic exhibition on the advice of Rachael (I had told her that as a kid I had been really fascinated by it). It was quite steep in price, but 100% worth it. It ended up being super informative as well as kind of interactive. My ticket into the museum also bought my way on the only remaining white star liner vessel, the HMS Nomadic. That ended up being really fantastic, and though obviously much smaller than the titanic, provided with a sense of the style that would have been used on some of the lower-class decks. After that I was taken by Rachael, Emma and Tony to the St George markets, which made for a good spot for lunch and also just to wander and see the kinds of things for sale here- which was pretty fantastic. They all had to leave fairly early in the afternoon, so I decided instead to wash my laundry while I waited for later in the evening when I would be going out with Emma and her work friends for one last big night out in Europe. Had a super fun night out, even if it did mean I was pre drinking by myself for a bit, and Emma’s friends were really fun, and made me feel part of the group.
It’s hard to believe that this is my penultimate travel blog post, at least for this round!
Until I write again
Fergus
Ferg Abroad 