ENGLAND TRIP 2014!

Hello, weekenders! This September I was lucky enough to be able to tag along with my mother and visit her home country, England! I hadn't been for about four years and I was so excited that I had a break in my schedule and would be able to make the trip. Whenever I go to the UK it always feels like a second home. Now that I'm a bit older, I definitely see it in a new light and this vacation was such a lovely break from the sometimes fast-paced nonstop life I've been living. This feels a bit like I'm sitting down my friends to watch a long slideshow of my holiday but hopefully you will enjoy! Grab a cup of tea and live vicariously through me - let's go!

Leaving on the 6th of September, my mum and I were a very stressful (I'm joking) three hours early for our flight (we do this every time). We got a bite to eat and I snapped this photo because I was seriously enjoying the view. I'd have to say that airports with giant glass windows might be one of my most favourite things.

 After resting for a few days (and getting used to the jet lag!) mum and I headed out on our first little road trip. We rented a car and drove down to Southend On Sea. It was such a fun experience for me because my mom told me this was where she had gone on her honeymoon 30 years ago. Life is pretty crazy when you really stop and think about it, right? 30 years later and we were back only her life is a bit different now! It was a gorgeous day, a little chilly but we didn't mind at all. I couldn't get over the fact that there were rocks all in the sand - it definitely wasn't a beach to go barefoot on!

We saw a sign and found out that Southend on Sea has the longest pier in the world. I probably should have jotted down the actual distance but it was something like a little over 2 miles. (Wait - let me just google this, hold up--). It's 1.34 miles (2.16 km). It's so long that you can walk or take a train. Mum and I walked of course (I'm joking, we took the train both ways. We were so cold!).

Out on the pier there was a pirate ship of some sort that I didn't go on because I was scared of it (don't laugh!! It was very windy and shaking all over the place). It looked pretty cool though!

Instead of walking the plank I decided to pop a pound (british dollar!) into a telescope and have a british man narrate to me interesting facts. I found out that the water ended up joining the Thames River that is at London. Pretty cool and definitely an interesting view - I spied on some seagulls and a distant boat but shh! don't tell.

 

Back in town near my aunt's house, we saw some performers and decided to watch them for a little while. They were playing traditional flute music of some kind and we both agreed it was something my dad would love.

 

Off to London! It was certainly a trek to get there (mental note: Epping has horrible parking space at their train station. We ended up going on a little road trip to Leytonstone and took the tube from there) but well worth the wait! We went to The Tower of London and saw the Queen's jewels. It was so fascinating, the amount of diamonds and gold that I saw made it all look so costumey (I'm allowed to make up words, right?) like it was from a fairytale or something (sorry, weren't allowed to take photos in there!).

    

Coming out of the Tower of London we saw Tower Bridge and instead of walking across it we (okay only me) took a selfie before heading in the opposite direction for some yummy lunch.

Inserts picture of yummy lunch here. It was a great Italian restaurant called something I can't remember, ack!

While visiting my aunt we managed to find the one Asian restaurant for miles. It was super yummy, I enjoyed the wok fried noodles and tempura. I also enjoyed their music taste (a mixture of kpop and cpop!).

And then we had to leave. Other things we did that I didn't manage to get a photo of were the various shopping sprees, grocery shopping (this is actually really fun in the UK and I don't know why - they have great vegetarian options by the way check out Quorn in your UK grocery aisles!), and visiting my mum's friend that she hadn't seen for 26 years! All in all it was an awesome trip and I cannot wait to go back.

Where's somewhere that you're hoping to visit? I definitely want to visit New York City next!

 x Jenn