Cotswolds is enchanting indeed

The final installment of our blast from the past on the UK, we present to you the story of our little drive into the enchanting district of Cotswolds. Read all about it here. Our little soujorn here was simply a drive through on the way from Liverpool to London. You see, Mel had regular business trips to Southport from Amsterdam, and on one occasion had to return via London for a separate meeting.

Since the two business trips were a week apart, it did not make sense to fly twice. So why not fly into Southport one week, drive down to London for the next?

Sold!

But what was one to do over the weekend? Hence Suan came along to enjoy the hotel facilities while Mel was in the office. And over the weekend we drove south through this beautiful stretch of England and stayed there for 2 nights. This time though, we did our research and booked a B&B in advance… you might recall our earlier posts here and here.

A pity it was only 2 days that we had. For the Cotwolds deserved much more of our time. But as they say, this is just a starter and you’d be back for the main course. Except we did not till this day… sigh.

Have you been to the Cotswolds? Don’t you just love the feeling of being there?

A city called Eidyn

You might have read our journey to the South Island of New Zealand here. Because there is similarly a city named Dunedin located in a beautiful spot along the coast. If you had read our article or are from New Zealand, you would know that the city was named because of the influx of Scottish immigrants, or so we were told.

So where’s the inspiration come from to name this city that far in the southern hemisphere? The answer is obvious. It must had been the city in Scotland itself!

So here we are, in a continuation of the last handprint story where we had left the lake district. The drive was north as the crow flies, though we traveled further than the bird could in a day. And we ended the day searching high and low for a place for the night. For as you might have read previously, we drove without a plan (of places to visit or sleep) with nothing but a map and hope…

Great stuff right?

But having survived the night we were in Edinburgh, and we had to make to the mandatory sights on the then brochure at the tourist center. We did as much as we could along the tourist trail. And with precision we left as soon as we were done. Find out what we did in Edinburgh in just one day here. Yes we know we ought to have stayed longer and we do regret that.

What would you recommend if we were to return to this city?

Lake District and the northern “frontier”

This is a continuation of our reminisce – ie our blast from the past series on the UK. The last time we set foot on the UK was in 2010! But lest you think it was just 8 years ago, read on. In the last handprint post, we shared that the road trip that began in Wales.

Well now we had to make a choice.

You see back then we did not plan out an itinerary to follow. We simply rented a car, bought a motoring atlas (of the UK) and began driving making it up as we went along. Heheh… we have since progressed a long way from that!

In some ways that was exciting at that time, a few younglings packed into a rental and having the freedom to roam as they wished. On this occasion we simply drove north and made a sharp left into the lake district, incurring the admonishment of the local traffic cop as we exceeded the speed limit a little… heheh. Read about it here.

You might notice from the essay link that we pieced two parts of our journey back together. One at the lake on the way north somemore, and then back down. For you see we wanted to keep the article focused on England. To pique your interest somemore, let us tell you that Great Walls weren’t proprietary of the ancient Chinese. The Romans did the same too in the UK.

Do you know the names of the two “Great Walls” in the UK?

How about a road trip in Wales?

One of the places in Europe where the Celtic language and traditions remain alive is in Wales. Because it is so distinct from the rest of the UK, it was one of the places we determined to explore very early in our soujorns to the the British isles. And that was well over 20 years ago.

So today is yet another reminisce. A flashback as some would call it.

For this was the first road trip that Mel and Suan took together on the open road. Basing out of Birmingham, the rental would bring us not only to Wales, but today we start here. For the drive gave us a sense of history so long past, well into the times before even the Romans came to the island.

From the train station with the longest name, to the numerous burial mouds of Celtic cheftains, this last vestige of independent Celtic entity tells us an intriguing story of struggle. Now this drive was only the northern half, so there would be yet more in the future. We look forward to having the privilege to repeat the drive, albeit in a different direction (the south that is) someday.

Indeed no words can describe our journey. Read all about it here. Have you been to Wales? What experiences have you to share?

Demise of the Red Phone Box

As far as I can recall, in all of my trips to the UK, I had seriously not taken much attention to this often-said iconic red booths that you are suppose to make phone calls from. Sounds archaic now, but that was the most innovative thing in the early 20th century.

You see, here in Singapore, the phone booths are open. They might be red too, but obviously not in the boxy way the British have them. Them UK ones are probably designed for privacy (?) and perhaps the cold rain that never fails to ruin your day.

Click here for the article at the Huffington post.

With wireless technologies making leaps and bounds (I know, I studied electronics and communications), and the days of the land telephone line is not just numbered, it is a surprise that it still exists! How many of you still have a “land line”?

So these structures are expected to become monuments, if they last.

On any opportunity to journey to the UK, it will definitely be on our other bucket list to take a selfie (or wefie) of the red icon.