Flashpacking Europe and the UK
How to Tour the UK and Ireland in Just Eight Days
Talk about a crash course in backpacking – an 8-day tour of the UK and Ireland that took us through Belfast, Dublin, London, Edinburgh, and the country side. For a girl who has never been out of Canada this is a pretty full itinerary to tackle.
I’d been travelling for over a year by the time my rookie-travelling friend Mel decided to visit me in London. I was stoked to be seeing a familiar face again, but wasn’t quite prepared for her ambitious travel plans. I figured I’d go along for the ride seeing as I can always go back and do things properly. It was Mel’s trip so we did it her way. Of course I fully intended to make sure she learnt a few things about travelling along the way. First lesson: Just because England can fit into the province of Ontario three times, it doesn’t mean that eight days is enough time to see it all.
Finally we make it back to St Christopher’s Inn, chuck her bag in a room and head off to Camden Town right away.
The mission has begun. I wake up at 7am on the Saturday ready to head out to Heathrow, collect Mel and start our whirl wind tour. I checked my notes only to realise she hasn’t told me which terminal she flies in to. By the time I find a computer and the most likely flight for her to be arriving on (Air Canada from Halifax) I’m thankful that her flight is delayed an hour beacuse of course the tube line I need is undergoing engineering work.
Mel gets her first glimpse of the nightmare that is the London Underground at the weekend. My severe sleep deprivation gets us heading west when we need to go east and every line we try is experiencing delays. Finally we make it back to St Christopher’s Inn, chuck her bag in a room and head off to Camden Town right away. Our first stop is my favourite little Japanese restaurant for a bento box and a chopsticks lesson.
We explored the many splendours, bright colours and quirky sights that make up the six Camden markets. It’s a slow process - not just because of the crowds, but also because Mel is a little camera happy and likes to marvel over cars driving on the left hand side of the road. Her enthusiasm finally won me over as I recalled my own first impressions.
An early one for her means that we’re up again at 0800, giving me a grand total of four hours sleep. All good, I shower and off we go. We start on the north bank of the Thames River, past the Tower of London to Tower Bridge and back up the other side to Southwark Cathedral, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, and the Tate Modern museum. We make a pit stop here and try to wrap our heads around the idea that taking a blank canvas and painting it brown constitutes an exhibition in a prestigious gallery. I try to point out that with modern art it’s all about conceiving the idea that the curators are paying for and that we’re meant to be appreciating. Right, Mel’s not buying it.
Arrive in Belfast and first things first - we buy a bus ticket to Dublin and store our luggage before we’re off to see the sights.
We're flying out of Luton to Dublin at 0630 the next day, or so we think. We go to check in but there's a problem with our reservations. It turns out we're a month late. Our flight was for February 06, not March 06. We stress for a minute but there's no way we're not going to Ireland. To get on the RyanAir flight we wanted to be on will cost us £155 each. Head next door to EasyJet and they can get us to Belfast for £70. Mel pulls out her credit card and it looks like we're going to Northern Ireland.
There's not much in the way of tourism in Belfast apart from a big fish and an old church but the old buildings and stunning architecture won Mel over. But my personal favourite was the Tesco supermarket. This was no ordinary building because the stately exterior just didn't seem to fit the regular square, florescent lit, sterile food buying experience. Inside there's a huge domed ceiling, bright blue and yellow columns and old stone figurines. It's way over the top and I started snapping some photos, much to Mel's embarrassment.
Mel pulls out her credit card and it looks like we're going to Northern Ireland.
It starts to rain and which means it's time to find a pub. With all Mel's talk of experiencing the traditional, I'm shocked to see her unenthused, even disgusted face at the mention of a Guinness. This is where lesson two comes in: There's no point in coming to Ireland unless you're going to do it properly. This means a pint (or ten) of Guinness (just to be sure Mel gets the full experience). After a huge curry feed from the pub we're both exhausted and decider to jump on the next ride to Dublin. Mel gets her silver lining and sees some Irish country side during the three hours journey south. I get mine too – a nap.
It all sinks in when we wake up. We in Dublin with no Euros and no idea how to get to the hostel. It's getting late and everything is closed so there's nowhere to change our money. It's a mission to the hostel and we take the wrong street at a five-way junction at least three times. Needless to say we see a bit of the city on the way to Avalon House. Of course it would have been more enjoyable without the rucksacks but we finally make it there.
The next day involves finding Euros and a map of the city. I complain about the rain, all the while telling Mel about the hole in my boot and the cold that I'm not quite over. “It's all part of the Irish charm,” is all I get back. It's only when I finally convince Mel to seek refuge inside that the rain lets up.
