hello world!
I started this blog because I'm actually traveling/ living abroad for the next 5 months! I'm born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and go to school in the area as well, so a big reason I wanted to study abroad was for new experiences and cultures. My final destination will be Cape Town, South Africa where I will be attending the university there, but until then I have an ambitious month throughout Europe planned for myself!
The first stop on my journey was a little more casual because I found myself in the UK a day before my travel buddy arrived, so decided to head a little south to the seaside city of Brighton. I probably would've stayed in London the first night except a close friend of mine from 4 years ago moved to Brighton and I thought it would be lovely to give her a visit.
When I arrived in London Gatwick Airport, I was a little nervous about how much time it would take to get through customs/immigration and the like. I don't know why but there was literally no line, no nothing, just like an electronic gate that checked that your face matched your passport. There was literally nobody staffing customs even if that were a thing. To be fair, this was the US/ UK residents line and I could imagine stricter security perhaps for arrivals from other nations.
I purchased a SIM card for £25 which gave me 13 GB of data throughout the EU and UK minutes, which I never ended up needing anyways. I also withdrew £50 from the ATM which was a massive mistake with an exorbitant exchange rate and I highly regret that. Later, I would shamelessly hop from ATM to ATM and decline the transaction until I got what I deserved.
I hopped on the Gatwick Express train for a 30ish minute ride down to Brighton where I booked a hostel bed in Seadragon Backpacker's Hostel for £15 a night. I rolled my suitcase about a mile from the Brighton Station to the hostel and shoutout to Joe who let me check in early and get my stuff situated. The place was quiet nice, included a light breakfast of coffee and toast, and was a very skinny old building with good lighting in the room, and a clean shower.
I didn't really know what to do with myself and decided with a quick Google search that I could see a lot of the city by going on a short run. Despite it being a weird mix of foggy and lightly raining, I made a big loop around the shoreline, down Brighton Pier, past this cool upside down house, and eventually through the Royal Pavilion and (South) Lanes. The sea was something I am not used to in sunny California: the ocean was a murky blue-brown, the fog gave low visibility, and the beach was made of light colored PEBBLES not sand! I loved the charming nature of the Lanes, cute cafes, and the general hustle and bustle of people moving around the city. Of all my destinations, this was the least touristy (especially in January) so it was kind of like having the place all to myself to explore! I've never really traveled farther north before so it was quite a surprise that it was dark out by 4:30 PM!
I connected with my friend Jasmin who lives in Brighton and she took me on another spin around the town. We saw the North Lanes which were amazing-- think thrift shops, vintage treasures, and a fun place to bargain. We walked through the pier and were sad to lose at all the arcade games, we took photos on the photo booths, and eventually found ourselves at a Mexican restaurant. While it didn't compare to California Mexican food, the frozen raspberry margaritas were A+.
I fell asleep mega early because I think the red eye flight and jet lag finally caught up to me, but sadly, it was not a good night's sleep. I woke up for a good 5 hours in the middle of the morning and filled the time by booking more buses and hostels for later in my travels. Yet, I was still up the next morning with enough time to grab breakfast and check in to Pelicano Coffee just outside the Brighton train station onward to London.
I realize that I didn't do Brighton much justice in this post but it was actually quite special-- think of it being like the San Francisco of the United Kingdom, with a big LGBT scene, apparently it is run by the Green political party so there was a big emphasis on environmentalism, and there were a lot of young people walking about. While I think it was a little chilly and cloudy for me in winter, I could definitely see myself living in a town like Brighton. The coolest part was how walkable it all was-- while there was a surplus of double decker public buses, there wasn't need to hop on one when I could get to most places within a mile circumference.
If you're looking to travel to Brighton, I think it would make the perfect half-day trip which is kind of how I did it. And that was my day one of many!
