I have been in Manchester for almost three years now and I have to say it grows on you. It’s like home now and I love it.
But it wasn’t always like this. When I first moved here, I hated it. It was the city that had everything I missed and loved in my home city.
As time went by though, I learned how to spend the perfect 48 hours in Mancland so it’s only fair to share my wisdom on things to do during a weekend in Manchester.
Whether you’re travelling around the UK or going abroad, I’d always encourage you to try the local cuisine.
But no matter how much of a cultured palette you have, you’ll probably get a hankering for fast food now and again while you’re on your travels.
After all, it’s quick, cheap and even though it’s bad for you, it’s blooming delicious.
As a full time worker I only have a certain number of holidays per year. 29 to be exact. How do you split them throughout a year to get your travel needs fulfilled and see the best places while relaxing and experiencing the best of a city?
I’ll be honest – I’ve never really thought there’s much to do in Birmingham.
Yes, it’s got one of the UK’s biggest shopping centres, the Bullring, but other than that, there’s not much there right?
Wrong!
A few weeks ago I spent the day in Birmingham with one of my uni friends and our original plan was to go to Cadbury World in Bourneville – just 12 minutes on the train from Birmingham New Street.
You’ve been on the London Eye, taken an obligatory photo sat on top of the lions at Trafalgar Square and tried to make the guards outside Buckingham Palace crack a smile. You’ve been the perfect tourist and when it comes to the English capital you’ve been there, done that and got the t-shirt several times over.
But no matter how hard you try, you keep coming back.
London is a city that you’ll inevitably want to visit again and again but don’t you find that seeing the same sights and doing the same things gets boring?
For some time people are nagging me why I keep booking holidays in Spain when there are so many more places I haven’t explored in the world. And they are right, but once a year something draws me towards Spain. Is it it’s charm, the language, the people, sun, food or just the Latin blood I have running through my veins? It might be one or all of them so I made a list with my top five reason I keep going back:
Before WTM London last year I decided it’s a good opportunity to take advantage of those extra holidays I had left, and take an extended weekend trip to Liverpool on a really really tight budget.
After rock climbing to Shira Camp (which you can read about here) I was in very much need of some sleep. But sometimes things just don’t go as planned and whilst I loved the food we had for dinner, the food didn’t really love me back which resulted in me spending the few hours that I had reserved for sleep, throwing up everything and anything. Brilliant…
Climbing Kilimanjaro – Diary Guide and Tips
I soon realised second day was meant to be shorter, just the four hours trekking, but as it turns out short doesn’t equal easier. Figure that! Now we were definitely climbing a mountain.
As we started we thought we might be lucky enough and not get torrential rain. We had good chances as well as the morning started of misty with no rain. But that didn’t last long. Bugger!
Climbing Kilimanjaro – Diary Guide and Tips
Jambo, (which is Hi in Swahili :-))
At 6pm on day two, snuggled by my ski jacket in the tent, I decided this was as good of a time as any to start writing a diary while climbing Kilimanjaro. I made the conscious choice to climb ‘the beast’ at the beginning of last year.
I have been struggling for a week to try and put into words what going to TBEX meant to me and my blog. Good news is instead of focusing on writing what the TBEX effect is, I focused on implementing all the good advice and lessons learned from the conference.
So I’ve been a busy bee working on the new logo, new theme and restructuring categories and SEO. Yeey! No, really, Yeeeeeeeeeey! I love every minute of it. I even ordered business cards.
For those who haven’t been to TBEX before and are not quite sure if it’s worth your time or your money, let me just say it is worth both and even more. And this is why:
An Italian – style road trip in South England that is.
Last week I sunk my teeth into a homemade calzone, savoured the rich texture of a real gelato and washed it all down with a delicate espresso. I finished the day with my toes in the ocean and a vest-top suntan.
There is no place like home…when it’s sunny and you know the right places to go. You’re about to find out about how I went about an Italian-themed road trip – from London to Dover.
Let’s do it.
You know what people say about Prague – that is one of the most romantic cities in the world, that its architecture will invite you into a world of fantasy, that the cultural activities are endless and the shopping is unmatched , that the beer is delicious and the parties unforgettable and most of all cheap. Now if you are waiting for me to deny any of these statements you’re going to wait for a long time. Prague is all of the above and more.
Manchester is a vibrant city, buzzing with the noise of tourists and locals alike. Manchester isn’t considered one of Britain’s best attractions, but it is anything but an eye sore; Manchester is better known for its shopping scene and culture. If you are thinking of shopping in Manchester then its variety of shopping centres and markets will certainly appeal to you. Now to make the experience as easy and pleasant as possible here is a shopaholic’s guide to Manchester.
As I told the story of my first day in Berlin in the post Berlin trip a different experience, I realised the first day wasn’t as bad as the next. Even though it wasn’t what I expected I certainly didn’t foresee what was about to happen.
My friend was supposed to leave on Friday morning back to Manchester to be at the office. That meant I had to go meet the Couch Surfing (CS) guy, which I will call D, who agreed to be my host for 2 nights. So after the conference we thought we should meet him for a coffee to see if he is a nice person or not. My friend didn’t want to leave me all alone with some stranger.
In the first post I told you how our road trip through Central America started. If you want read about how our road trip around Costa Rica started, you can check it out here. Now it’s time for the next part of our adventure.
For most travellers Berlin is the history, the Berlin wall, the quirky night life and the alternative life style you experience for a few days.
For me, Berlin was a different experience: sleep deprivation, hunger and a porn star maniac. How did that happen? Pretty easy, let me explain.
If you’re looking to cover some of Central America on your travels then I’d strongly recommend you look at driving round Costa Rica for a couple of weeks. Here’s the route map:
The heaven for any shopaholic has one name and that is Barcelona. Forget Milano, get your plastic cards on hand and see why the Catalan capital is the best place to shop for that new outfit you’ve been dreaming of for the past few months (or weeks) and check this Barcelona shopping guide.
Spain’s traditional meal, tapas, is one the most delicious variety of appetizers, or snacks you can ever taste. And when in Spain, there is no excuse to not have some tapas and some Sangria.
In December I found myself looking for a holiday somewhere in the UK. I didn’t have enough money to go overseas and so it seemed like a sensible choice, more so when there is already loads to see right here in Edinburgh. Many of my friends suggested either Scotland or Ireland as great places to celebrate New Year’s Eve. After a bit of research my mind was set on one of the most famous NYE party destinations in Scotland, Edinburgh’s Hogmanay. So the next step as usual was to find cheap accommodation in Edinburgh.
