Over four days I traveled to England, Brighton and London, with my English class at school. These were the craziest four days of my life. We didn’t stop. We didn’t have time to stop and when we got to our beds I think everyone was asleep in minutes.
So it
all starts at 3.00am in the morning on the 21stof march. First step, getting to
the airport! For me getting to the airport takes about 5mins max by car. Here
though it takes over an hour to get there, so the wakeup call was at 3 in the
morning! I had stayed at a friend’s house that night as her dad was taking her
plus me and two others to the airport. It took three alarms to get us all up in
time! Then it was off to the airport for us!!
Nothing very
interesting happened on the plane. Mind you nothing much ever happens on
planes!
We landed
in London’s Gatwick airport at around 9 in the morning England time (England is
one hour behind Sweden). We got our bags and once again I was happy for my pink
spotted suitcase, so easy to see and no other bags quite like it! Once out of
the airport we caught a train down to Brighton!!
Brighton
is lovely, but very much a summer city and it wasn’t quite summer when I was
there. Well actually it wasn’t like summer at all because funnily enough it
rained (England just living up to its reputation I suppose), but still a
wonderful place!
When we
got to Brighton we walked to our hotel, which was right in front of the Brighton
pier and the rather stony beach, and then got given an hour for lunch! So being
a Kiwi and not having had fish and chips in quite some time I went straight for
the fish and chip shop! (So very healthy of me!) My friends had never really
had fish and chips before so I was also keen to show them this wonderful meal!
Personally I prefer New Zealand’s fish and chips than Brighton’s but it was
still nice to have them! We got back to the hotel and meet our teacher who was
about to take us for a walk around Brighton! We started off by going on the
pier and looking at all the arcade games and the rides (the rides were sadly
not open as it wasn’t summer time.) We then went to The Lanes. The Lanes are a
bunch of little streets (Lanes) that have cute wee shops in them. These shops
are great for window shopping but not so good for the wallet if you plan to
real shop! We then walked on to center of town, where the shopping was a bit
easier on the wallet! After that we had free time! So for almost all of us I think
that meant Primark! For those who do not know what Primark is, it is the cheapest
clothes shop in England and it is wonderful and like heaven for those who love
to shop! Me being one of those ‘love to shop’ people this was amazing but also
rather dangerous I had to get anything I brought first back to Sweden but then
back to New Zealand, which is where it becomes a bit more uhoh! But I shopped
all the same! J
That night we went back to the hotel to turn in early as it had been a long day
and LONDON was the next day!!
If you
are planning on going to England please give yourself more than one day in London!
One day is not enough!
See when
you only have one day in London you have to run around it! And that is what we
did, we ran and ran our way around London! First we caught the train up to
London’s Victoria station and then the underground to the British Museum. The
British Museum is HUGE, you need over a day to see everything in there and to soak
it all in, but with that in mind our teachers gave us 1 hour and 30 mins to see
all we could! So let the running begin! Out of everything in that museum I saw
two exhibits, the mummy’s and some of the ancient Greek exhibits and that is
it! And by the time I had seen those it was time to go on a site seeing tour of
some of London’s sites. So back on the underground we went and then we got off
at when Big Ben lives! It is strange seeing thing in real life when you have
seen them only in pictures before! From Big Ben we went on to Westminster Abbey.
This is the place where the royal wedding happened and all sorts so it was
really cool to see! It really is a beautiful place and I am really happy I got
to see it! Plus it is so old!! Like three times as old as New Zealand! Then on
to St James Park which had some crazy squirrels who liked to climb on people! This
only made my love for squirrels grow! They are so cute!! 
Then it was time for
Buckingham Palace itself!! The Palace in rather large, it looks bigger in real
life than it does in the pictures. I think one of the most disappointing things
about Buckingham Palace was that the guards were in grey blue coats and not in
their signature red coats. Not too happy about that one! After the palace we
got shown half the way to Piccadilly Circus and then given three hours free
time to go where ever we wanted but we just couldn’t miss the train back to Brighton!
We all spread out many having planned out their shopping map! For me though it
was up to Piccadilly Circus! This place was so crowded with people and the
bright lights were shinning down and it was so amazing yet it felt strange as I
was in London, the place I had wanted to visit for so long! After Piccadilly
Circus it was on to London shopping! First stop, a toy store! But not just any
toy store, it was Hamleys! Hamleys is pretty much the biggest toy shop I have
been to in my life and it was so wonderful! Any toy you have ever imagined is
probably in that shop! And no I didn’t leave that shop empty handed, I now have
an English guard teddy bear! Then we just explored Oxford Street and Regent Street
along with hundreds of others. One thing I learned about London is that it is
big! Really big!!
That day
in London was one of the most exciting days I have ever had but also one of the
most tiring days I have ever had! But I have fallen for London and its British
charm!
The next
day we were back in Brighton. We went to see The Royal Pavilion. This place is
where a prince, then made king, lived in from around 1787 until he was made a
king. And this palace is, well, different. When you look at the outside it looks
almost Indian inspired but as soon as you walk in it is like you have stepped
into the heart of Asia! This Prince really went all out on his palace! After
going around The Pavilion we all met outside to be given a challenge by our
teachers! The challenge was to go find a place in the Brighton area. So we were
given a bus ticket and a place and got give five hours to get there come back
and write about it! My group was given Portslade Railway station. This is not
the most exciting railway station of life but one train did go past when we
were there! Exciting stuff I know! Others were given football stadiums, but we
got the train station! On a plus side we got to ride a double decker bus to get
there and back! Double decker buses always put a positive spin on the world!
Our last
day was spent in Brighton and we were given free time from when we got up until
4 in the afternoon! This is where the main amount of shopping was down! But also
the playing of arcade games for an hour before shopping on the Brighton Pier! When
we got to the hotel everyone was repacking their suitcases to put in all of the
new things and it was quite a funny sight! We then walked up to the train
station and caught the train to the airport. Our time in England was coming to
a close. We landed in Stockholm at 11.30pm and I finally got a stamp in my
passport saying that I have been in Sweden!
All in
all those four crazy days in England were some of the funniest days I have had!
And although my mind went back into full on English it was all worth it! I am
so happy I was given this opportunity!
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