I only write here when we go on vacation- UK 2019
This is getting obnoxious, but we are Anglophiles, and we needed a good vacation. So, we went to the UK again! For almost 2 weeks! With a bunch of my college friends and their families! The whole trip went smashingly well, we had a fantastic time.
Here's the play-by-play, will try to add pics and/or links later:
Took a red-eye flight over, left at 7:40, which is earlier than the red-eye we took last year, but resulted in the same level of feeling trashed by the time we arrived. No more red-eyes! I say that every year and then at ticket booking time my cheapness takes over.
Day 1- Arrived, got our rental car, and took off into Dorset. Stopped at a rest area for breakfast and much needed coffee, West had his annual Day 1 Rest Area Mental Breakdown. This time it was because he got a Burger King burger for breakfast but it had condiments on it. We really need to be better prepared for the arrival morning tired & hungry child crankiness (or stop taking red-eyes and avoid it all together!). Got ourselves sorted, and it was extremely good that we had another driver along with us, for T valiantly took the wheel as I was about to fall asleep.
We chugged along to Lulworth Cove to view the spectacular Durdle Door. It's a natural limestone rock formation that juts out into sky blue ocean, and I've wanted to see it since our trip last year. There's a super steep cliff path you have to trudge down (and back up) to see it, and it was a bit more of a trudge in the hot sun than we necessarily wanted in our sleep-deprived state, but it was worth it to view such majesty. Got ice cream cones (whippy cones with flake bars!) after said trudge, then got back in the car to get to our destination for the night, Dorchester.
We stayed at the Best Western Wessex Royale in Dorchester. A very medium-quality hotel, it was fine, but very hot (UK does not believe in AC, as a general rule), and among the least comfy of all the hotels we stayed at. But it was good enough for a solitary night. We rallied for a trip to the Dinosaur Museum, which was tiny and not that interesting, but West liked it, and it was just the right speed for keeping us awake but not demanding much attention. Then went to a fantastic micropub, The Convival Rabbit, for beers. There was a trad music session going on that was actually really good, the weather was gorgeous, and it is an A+ Would Return Again place. Got dinner at Dorchester Brewhouse & Kitchen, a brewery with good food in an interesting mill-reclamation area of the city that seemed worthy of more exploration if we were more awake. Dorchester on the whole is fairly run-down, but I could see a return visit if only as a good home base for some nice seaside and countryside rambles in Dorset, which is one of our favorite counties in the UK.
Day 2- Drove over to Exeter. We planned the first two days as basically reasonable stages of driving to get ourselves towards Cornwall without trying to do the whole drive in one day. We know our limit for long drives is a couple of hours per day if we want to stay sane, and Exeter seemed like the most reasonable stop that also had stuff to do/see.
We went to the excellent (and free!) Royal Albert Museum, which was really interesting and well presented. We kinda raced through there because I wanted to go to another attraction before hitting Soccer O'Clock, would love to go back to that museum in the future and spend more time there. We raced on to a historical reenactment day at St. Nicholas Priory. There were people in garb (and some doggies hanging out in the kitchen just like old timey doggos would have done), and the rooms were done up in period styles. Had a good conversation about the history of the place with one of the reenactors. West was kind of a pill during this visit (his pill-ness was higher than I would have liked on the trip, but I guess that's a nine year old for you?). I enjoyed it immensely, though. The boys headed off to watch a football game (soccer), at which they had a great time. T and I had a lovely girls' lunch at a cafe in the city center.
Checked in at our hotel (Queens Court Hotel), and met up with Family R, kicking off the start of our bananas Bates Girls & Fams Trip. Drew & West came back from the football game, and we all trudged out for dinner at George's Meeting House. It turned out that pub was part of a chain that has an app, so you can order your food & drinks at your table, pay for it all in advance, and have it brought to you. It was so easy, I really hope that app technology can take off in the states at some point in the next decade. Not having to tip over there makes that kind of app easy, but I bet we could figure out a way to do tipping on an app to get an equivalent experience.
Here's the play-by-play, will try to add pics and/or links later:
Took a red-eye flight over, left at 7:40, which is earlier than the red-eye we took last year, but resulted in the same level of feeling trashed by the time we arrived. No more red-eyes! I say that every year and then at ticket booking time my cheapness takes over.
Day 1- Arrived, got our rental car, and took off into Dorset. Stopped at a rest area for breakfast and much needed coffee, West had his annual Day 1 Rest Area Mental Breakdown. This time it was because he got a Burger King burger for breakfast but it had condiments on it. We really need to be better prepared for the arrival morning tired & hungry child crankiness (or stop taking red-eyes and avoid it all together!). Got ourselves sorted, and it was extremely good that we had another driver along with us, for T valiantly took the wheel as I was about to fall asleep.
We chugged along to Lulworth Cove to view the spectacular Durdle Door. It's a natural limestone rock formation that juts out into sky blue ocean, and I've wanted to see it since our trip last year. There's a super steep cliff path you have to trudge down (and back up) to see it, and it was a bit more of a trudge in the hot sun than we necessarily wanted in our sleep-deprived state, but it was worth it to view such majesty. Got ice cream cones (whippy cones with flake bars!) after said trudge, then got back in the car to get to our destination for the night, Dorchester.
We stayed at the Best Western Wessex Royale in Dorchester. A very medium-quality hotel, it was fine, but very hot (UK does not believe in AC, as a general rule), and among the least comfy of all the hotels we stayed at. But it was good enough for a solitary night. We rallied for a trip to the Dinosaur Museum, which was tiny and not that interesting, but West liked it, and it was just the right speed for keeping us awake but not demanding much attention. Then went to a fantastic micropub, The Convival Rabbit, for beers. There was a trad music session going on that was actually really good, the weather was gorgeous, and it is an A+ Would Return Again place. Got dinner at Dorchester Brewhouse & Kitchen, a brewery with good food in an interesting mill-reclamation area of the city that seemed worthy of more exploration if we were more awake. Dorchester on the whole is fairly run-down, but I could see a return visit if only as a good home base for some nice seaside and countryside rambles in Dorset, which is one of our favorite counties in the UK.
Day 2- Drove over to Exeter. We planned the first two days as basically reasonable stages of driving to get ourselves towards Cornwall without trying to do the whole drive in one day. We know our limit for long drives is a couple of hours per day if we want to stay sane, and Exeter seemed like the most reasonable stop that also had stuff to do/see.
We went to the excellent (and free!) Royal Albert Museum, which was really interesting and well presented. We kinda raced through there because I wanted to go to another attraction before hitting Soccer O'Clock, would love to go back to that museum in the future and spend more time there. We raced on to a historical reenactment day at St. Nicholas Priory. There were people in garb (and some doggies hanging out in the kitchen just like old timey doggos would have done), and the rooms were done up in period styles. Had a good conversation about the history of the place with one of the reenactors. West was kind of a pill during this visit (his pill-ness was higher than I would have liked on the trip, but I guess that's a nine year old for you?). I enjoyed it immensely, though. The boys headed off to watch a football game (soccer), at which they had a great time. T and I had a lovely girls' lunch at a cafe in the city center.
Checked in at our hotel (Queens Court Hotel), and met up with Family R, kicking off the start of our bananas Bates Girls & Fams Trip. Drew & West came back from the football game, and we all trudged out for dinner at George's Meeting House. It turned out that pub was part of a chain that has an app, so you can order your food & drinks at your table, pay for it all in advance, and have it brought to you. It was so easy, I really hope that app technology can take off in the states at some point in the next decade. Not having to tip over there makes that kind of app easy, but I bet we could figure out a way to do tipping on an app to get an equivalent experience.