The first several days went smoothly – for instance – our first day in NYC and I left my ATM card in the machine in Queens and didn’t realize it for two days. It was my only source for withdrawing money while at school this year. I can still barely believe I got it back.
We’ve tried to plan at least a few hours in advance when out and about, but mostly those plans have been falling through. We went down to Canterbury to see the beautiful cathedral and then on to Dover to the white cliffs – but then our luck ran out. The boat wasn’t operating, the taxis were nonexistent and the buses no longer took our desired route. Determined not to spend more money since we had purchased a weekly bus pass we traveled all the way back to London just to catch a different bus and head another direction – this time to Salisbury to see Stonehenge. No dice. The bus was full.
Trying to hit Bristol next, we were again denied. After changing plans and boarding the bus to Bath we arrived at the station at 11pm. According to our guidebook the nearest YHA hostel was located up a “very steep hill”. Recognizing that it had been a long day, we opted for a taxi and paid £5 to get us up there. After pulling my bag up the driveway and into the hostel we were notified by the security guard that a bus full of students were occupying the entire place. So we headed back down the hill and across the town to the YMCA.
:::sigh::: One male dorm bed and one female dorm bed left.
Finally! =)
So here we are in Bath. We’ll only be here for a few hours to sleep and wander around in the morning and then we’ll be jetting off to Bristol and on to Stratford-upon-Avon (the home of Shakespeare). I know that Nick thoroughly enjoyed the castle experience today in Dover – it provided lovely views which he photographed at length. It’s snotty I know, but since I’ve been to more impressive castles I was more keen on the Secret Wartime Tunnels that meandered beneath the castle. They were used during WWII and make up an interesting tour we went on.
