Archived June 2022 from Revolution Now Magazine
By: H. Elizabeth Williams
I had the opportunity in June of this year to travel to the United Kingdom and Ireland for about two weeks, and I was so mesmerized by the beauty of it all! While on my trip, I put together a travel diary to share with RevNow readers who may be curious about what it’s like to travel abroad for the first time. I had so many new experiences that changed the way I see the world, and I hope my sharing them helps you learn something new!
The first stop on our trip was London, England. It took 12 hours by plane for us to reach England from California. Here, we met up with our family, and, while London wasn’t part of the original tour, we still managed to squeeze in as much sightseeing as possible before an early wake-up the next morning. The first thing that surprised me was that personal space was not a thing on the streets of London. Everyone was shoulder to shoulder with no complaints!
The city was really organized; the sidewalks had a designated place depending on the direction you were going. In England, people drive on the left side of the road, so I was especially grateful for a sign that warned me to look both ways before crossing the street. We crossed a bridge to get to Big Ben and tour Westminster Abbey. Did you know that ‘Big Ben’ is the name of the bell, and not the clock tower?
We happened to be in London the day before Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee. It was so refreshing to see so many people proud of their country for good reason. Everywhere I looked, there were Union Jacks! It was amazing, and helped me see patriotism from a different angle. We were all exhausted by this point, so we had fish and chips in a real English pub, and headed back to the hotel for some rest.
On our second day in England, the first stop was a town called Stratford-upon-Avon, which is the birthplace of Shakespeare. For some reason I thought The Old Globe Theatre was going to be there too, but it turns out I was mistaken. There was a quaint little street with a museum and the house Shakespeare was born in. England must be quite proud of the Harry Potter series seeing as I saw three Harry Potter-themed shops within a mile. We decided to get fish and chips, and took in the view before getting back on the tour bus.
Our next stop was a quick trip through the Viking city of York. We passed by the York Minster and through the street where some Harry Potter scenes were filmed (I’m a proud Slytherin, so this isn’t the last time I’ll mention Harry Potter.) After that, we had some free time. I was really excited about stopping at a tea store so I could try some of the good stuff! I chose a beautiful strawberry summer tea, popped a few sugar cubes in and it was delightful. There was a huge selection of flavors and different kinds of tea leaves. (As the owner of the shop told me: “It sure isn’t Lipton, I'll tell you that.”) My mother and I shared a slice of carrot cake. We weren’t that hungry, but there was not a crumb left after, it was so good. We stayed the night in Harrogate, ready to visit Lake Windemere in the morning. I was so tired, and the early mornings were not helping my jet lag.
Lake Windermere was absolutely breathtaking. I cannot even describe the feeling. American lakes don’t even compare to the effortless beauty of the English ones. We took a boat ride down the lake and I really felt like the main character with Kate Bush blasting in my ears and the wind blowing through my hair. We went to the town of Peter Rabbit, Grasmere, and I found it a beautiful little town. I could see myself going there after a day on the lake to do some work.
For the rest of that day, we headed to Glasgow. We were dropped off in front of Stirling Castle, and .I was a tad bit upset at not being able to go inside. I would have liked to have seen a bit about the life of Mary, Queen of Scots, probably the best known figure in Scotland’s royal history. Surprisingly, there was little to no mention or memorabilia of her around Scotland. Mary became queen at just six days old, and eventually married three times- her final husband caused her downfall. Queen Elizabeth I held Mary captive for 18 years, eventually having her executed.
We met Kevin the Piper, who played his bagpipes beautifully as he led us down the hill to our dinner. At dinner, we got to try a traditional Scottish dish called haggis, which was, to my surprise, extremely tasty. Haggis consists of a sheep’s liver, heart and lungs, minced and mixed with beef or mutton suet and oatmeal, then seasoned with spices. The mixture is packed into a sheep’s stomach and boiled. Definitely don’t knock it until you try it, because it was quite nice. Had some nice Scottish beer to wash it down with, and ended our night.
The next day, we traveled to Edinburgh. I’ll admit I did bring the wrong shoes, though. With so many hills to climb, I started to name my blisters. In some free time, we took to the streets, and my brother chose Gordan Ramsay's Bread Street for lunch. It was good, and I can see it’s worth the hype. After lunch, we headed up the path towards the castle and went bar hopping! My younger brother is 18 and it’s legal for him to drink there. I found it funny that I got carded the whole time and he didn’t once. Edinburgh was where I got the feel of what people from Scotland are like, because a local passed us while he was talking on the phone and said to the person that he was talking to that he was not like “those plastic looking Americans.” I still think that was the funniest thing I heard on our trip!
Following the rugged Ayrshire coast, past the island of Ailsa Craig, the stepping stone from Ireland to Scotland we board the ferry to Northern Ireland. As I mentioned before I’m pagan and protestants just make me uneasy (it’s a religious trauma thing). So needless to say I kept a low profile which is not like me at all. I found it weird how we did most of the tour on the bus by a local specialist who just hopped on and told us where to look. Then when she told us the history I realized why. Now I don’t want to butcher this but let’s just say Northern Ireland and Ireland still have a lot of tensions even today with good reason. We drove through Belfast and the only stop we made was to this really cool peace wall of sorts signed by many famous influential people… And we got to sign it! The Belfast Peace Walls separate catholic and protestant communities. The purpose of the walls was to curb the violence steamed from the outbreak of civil unrest during the riots of 1969. They also had all these amazing activism arts on walls and I saw more acceptance for human rights on a WALL then I did my whole life in America. Sorry for not giving more on Northern Ireland but we were only there for an hour before we headed to Ireland.
The next day our first stop was to tour the Guinness factory… at 7 in the morning. As my dad said, true irishman have beer for breakfast. He also he was like Charlie in the chocolate factory so judge away (he’s from Boston so it’s in his blood). Now, I will be going to Irish hell for saying this but I do not like beer that much. However, Guinness was really good. I got to learn the workings of how their beer was made and the history and progress of the slogans and advertisements. We had some free time to adventure around Dublin and I have to say this was my favorite place so far. The vibes were amazing and it was just so effortlessly beautiful and just the place to be. The locals didn’t seem to think so though. My dad said when he came here when he was a kid they welcomed tourists but this trip they just seemed annoyed and not into it which I get. On our little tour we were told it was very expensive in housing nowadays which blew all my plans to move there right out the window. Also, good on them for taking in Ukraine refugees they had a really good system there from what I saw. I got to see a little bit of Trinity College and was proud to hear that they have a tradition on international women’s day where they strut by the statue of this sexist founder and throw their underwear on him. I learned over lunch just how much Irish dislike the English because businesses are not allowed to accept pounds not even for a personal tip. That night we got a wonderful dinner and a show and I will say I was blown away by the dancing. It was magnificent and intriguing. It really keeps your attention and I could never move my feet like that without looking at them. Irish coffee, which is irish whiskey in coffee with sugar, is so tasty and it was funny to watch my dad get handed four others because some of the women on the trip couldn’t drink and he refuses to waste alcohol.
Early the next morning we gained insight into rearing world-class thoroughbreds at the Irish National Stud Farm established in 1946 in Kilkenny. Of course when seeing all the horses I bonded with the one who had ADHD and just bit and pulled on the fence all day. There were also some beautiful japanese gardens, I believe known as the best in Europe, there but I only caught a glimpse because we were rushed back to the coach. Kilkenny Castle was another stunning view and I couldn’t help myself to run down the grass hill. We headed into Waterford next to tour the world-famous crystal manufacturer. The tour guide chose me to lift this vase and I was so nervous because I’m clumsy and it was heavy. It was a beautiful showroom and extensive process. I didn’t realize you had to go to school for more than eight years just to work at their factory. For our last night in Ireland we headed to a local pub and listened to some excellent live music and my dad and I actually had to go up in front of everybody and learn a irish dance which was awesome! Overall Ireland was my favorite and I would like a castle now.
An early start to the day with a four hour bumpy ride across the Irish Sea to Wales by ferry was a lot for me and I realized I do not in fact have my sea legs considering the fact I was knocking into every person and wall so I didn’t fall over. We didn’t spend much time in Wales but the way I’d move to this country just to look at the men… Respectfully of course. We were able to journey to the Welsh capital of Cardiff to view the Millennium Centre, National Assembly and historic Cardiff Castle at the heart of the city. While we were touring the castle I started hearing loud music and thats when I realized Diana Ross was performing right outside on castle grounds. To be fair I didn’t even notice because I was too busy drooling over the tour guide and talking to him about the castle the whole time only to notice at the end of the tour the zipper to my jeans was pretty much down so needless to say I did not get the number. We finished off the evening as a ‘Be My Guest’ dinner which I didn’t realize was just on a locals property. It was a small but beautiful vineyard overlooking the Wales countryside called Glyndwr Vineyard and tried all their wine which was surprised to find all sweet even the red wines had no bitterness to them which is my preferred wine. I was not aware Wales was not only part of the wine world as well but actually a pretty big part of it lately. We had dinner and enjoyed some wine at the beautiful winery in the mountains and I got to feed some llamas and it was such a beautiful sight.
Finishing off the tour we headed back to England. Now by now I am exhausted from the time difference but I had an amazing experience on my last day. We arrived in the glorious town of Bath with its elegant Georgian facades and world famous Roman Baths from which the city derives its name. Bath had the most impressive architecture I saw and it was just so beautiful. However, upon arrival we passed the Jane Austen center which had me freaking out and obsessing over the whole time we were there. We quickly toured the roman baths, which were absolutely gorgeous but please take caution when tasting the water. My brother was the only one out of all of us to try it and he was also the only one of us to catch covid (this is just a joke he caught it from a lady on the plane ride home so wear your masks). We only had 30 minutes to practically run in the rain a few miles to the center where I quickly took a picture with the queen herself and purchased the most beautiful teapot (if you can’t tell already I love tea). It was a miracle that didn’t shatter on the plane ride home in a suitcase but it did. Our last stop before London was to visit the mysterious monolithic stone circle at Stonehenge, which I thought were going to be much bigger but it was still cool to see. They call it a mystery since the stones are not native to here but to Wales and it’s a mystery on how they got here and there’s suspicion of Christ making them but I’m gonna tell you all my completely unresearched theory: Stonehenge was 100% most definitely built by the pagans for rituals and dancing (stones aligned with the full moon) and they will not admit it to be a possibility because they’ve pretty much erased all evidence and history of pagans to make room for their stolen traditions and artifacts and claim them as their own. Argue with the wall. Also, just to put this in real quick, it was disappointing to see one of the places where pagans were known to settle first along with the vikings not have any history or recognition of us. I think I saw one thing dedicated to the Vikings and it was just a replica ship on the side of waterford and it wasn’t even lifesize. It was just sad but not surprising. Our way back to London was quiet because no one wanted to go home but it was still such an amazing view to wrap on. Lots of practically untouched land makes it so beautiful. America could learn a thing or two and let things grow and not build so much but hey thats just me. I also found it amusing how I saw more farms with animals in one town then I did my whole life in the United States. Also the fact that country means beautiful out there while here it’s scary and looked down upon.
Overall, this trip has given me a new outlook on life. I see all I can be and do and how different and amazing everybody is. While it is a bit of a culture shock I felt it was refreshing to break away from the American societal outlook and judgment of things and see how other people live and do things and how self-centered Americans are and act. Men are also so much better looking there and I fell in love with at least one man from every country. No, but on a serious note I loved it and I would love to travel the world and experience all these different cultures and way of life respectfully and with permission. If you are thinking of going I say do it. I would suggest going on a group tour especially if you have a chance to do it when young. I learned so much from being one of the youngest and listening to both the tour and the other ones experiencing it with me and made some new friends from all over the world. There was one woman who has visited all but three countries in the world and I think that would be a new goal of mine if realistic. I thank you for taking the time to read about my experience as a american going abroad. I know it may seem like a silly thing to write but I feel like this could be useful for others seeking travel or just an insight into how someone from a odd country such as mine can experience and learn by stepping out of what we’ve deemed the safe zone. Honestly, in light of recent events I’d view the countries I just went to to be safe zones rather than here but that’s a conversation for another time.
Check out my instagram h.eliza.ams for more travel videos on this trip!
Other:
Here is a article for the explanation of the tension in northern ireland and ireland: https://www.britannica.com/event/The-Troubles-Northern-Ireland-history
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