ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, & WALES...OH MY!

So during my free week I took the 16 hour bus ride from Plzen to London (with a stop in Brussles for some Belgian waffles). After my arrival, I picked up my 7 day Brit Explorer hobo pass that allowed me to hop on any National Express bus within the UK at any time without a ticket reservation.

My first stop was in Oxford where I got to see my old pal Kristy from high school and meet her husband Miles (thankfully they let me stay an extra night at their cottage the 1 time the bus schedule didn't work out).

I then went on to see Bath (with Jane Austin girly stuff), Oxford again (pretty schools), Bristol (lots of Indian stuff and shopping), Cardiff Wales (home of the Welsh love spoon), Cambridge (more pretty schools), and stopped in Manchester (average soup but a lovely ferris wheel) where I met my friend Marc.

Marc and I continued on to Liverpool (new friends in the cavern with Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields just around the corner), The Lake District: Kendal (home of mint cakes that aren't really cakes)/ Windermere (where I experienced fish & chips with mushy peas with gravy for the first time at the Little Chippy)/ Bowness (sitting by the bay with the largest swans I've ever seen in my life), Lancaster (no thanks), Morecombe (boats with no water, 2 star resorts, and very interesting people), and Preston (pizza hut buffet...need I say more?!).

The next day Marc and I talked the front desk workers at the local Travelodge into a free birthday breakfast and bottle of shampoo before heading to Nottingham (where we hung out with Robin Hood and ate many pasty from Gregg's).

Marc left and I continued on my journey through Conventry and Leicester to Birmingham (chips & curry) and then took a bus overnight to Edinburgh Scotland with a short detour to Glasgow. I got to be part of the Edinburgh Festival, hang with Braveheart, eat haggis/neeps/and tatties, and see lots of men in plaid kilts.

After that, I headed back to London on the overnight bus, had breakfast with the Queen outside Buckingham Palace, and then boarded my bus with the all-too-familiar smelly Czech friends back to Plzen.