From March 14th - 15th, Alyssa and I spent the weekend traveling to Brighton and London. Our first stop was Brighton. Bright and early on Friday morning, we set off to Brighton via train. The train ride was relatively quick, with one change in London. I'm feeling pretty confident as far as train travel goes now, which is a very nice feeling.
As we approached Brighton, it became apparent that it was going to be a foggy day. Even though we were hoping for some clear skies and sun, we braved the fog and freezing cold and had a great day. The first thing on our agenda was to find our hostel. We stayed at the St. Christopher's Inn hostel, which had a beautiful location right by the seaside. Once we checked in and got our room keys, we went upstairs to go check out our room. We heard a girl having a phone conversation in our room (we were staying in a shared bedroom), so we decided to just come back later. (There will be more about her later....) As we were heading back downstairs, I noticed this sign:
Normally, you see "Mind the Gap" in the London Underground, aka: the Tube, so I found it funny that they had this sign in the hotel. Unfortunately, I didn't "mind the step" as I ought to and instead tripped....
We then headed out to get something to eat. I had been waiting to come to Brighton so I could have my first fish and chips experience. I surprisingly liked it, seeing as I don't normally like or eat fish:
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| Yum! |
Then after that, it was time to hit the Brighton Pier. It felt so nice to see the beach, even it was cold and foggy. It reminded me of a combination of San Francisco and the beaches in Southern California, and it made me excited to go home. (I've still got some more traveling to do before I'm ready to go back home, though.)
We first came across something called the Doughnut Groyne. Alyssa and I couldn't help it: we had to laugh when we saw that:
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| The use of the word "groyne" was just too much for me and Alyssa! |
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| Wait, do you see that on the right? |
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| It's a man! He seemed to be doing some meditation, and was even using some chimes. I wasn't expecting to see that! |
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| I'm assuming this is the "doughnut" part of the Doughnut Groyne? |
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| It had a chip on its shoulder, so to speak. :) |
The view through the hole was actually kind of cool. I bet it would be even better without all of the fog around:
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| Photo credit: Alyssa McCarthy |
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| Photo credit: Alyssa McCarthy |
We could even see the pier from the groyne:
After a little bit of picture taking, we went down to the actual beach. It was cool to be on a rocky beach rather than a sandy beach, but I much prefer sand beaches:
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| What a supermodel! |
The Brighton Pier was so cute. It had a bunch of food stalls, most of them closed due to the off-season, and there were a couple of arcades. It reminded me of a large Boomers! The pier even had a selection of rides, as well as some interesting things to look at:
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| Our view from the pier |
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| I love this cow, but it's a little too life-like. Look at those eyes! |
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| To the arcade/fair! |
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| We found a merry-go-round! |
Can we just appreciate how cute these tea cups are?
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| Sorry, Kimberly! |
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| Frankenstein's Monster!!! It was actually kind of scary to stand underneath it.... |
Despite being chilled to the bone, we decided to get some ice cream. If only if it was summer!
After eating our ice cream, we spent the rest of our afternoon window-shopping in the area called The Lanes. I could definitely see myself shopping there if I lived in Brighton! It had a lot of little, cute shops and restaurants.
We decided to call it a day after that and went back to our hostel to rest until dinner. We ate later than usual since we were still full from our ice creams. Since we weren't too hungry, we ate at a Subway close by. (I know, that's not too exciting, but sometimes all you want is a familiar sandwich. I treated myself to a chocolate chip cookie as well.) Then, it was time to go back to the hostel and try to get some sleep.
This is when things got interesting. Before we left, everything was normal at the hostel. So it was quite a shock when there was some loud dance music blasting out of our hostel when we returned. We had forgotten that this hostel was a notorious party hostel....it is right by the beach, after all. (Alyssa and I have learned that the price is more important than sleep sometimes when it comes to traveling.)
Our situation only got worse from there. As I mentioned in the beginning of this post, there was a girl already in the room when we arrived. We figured out quickly that she had stayed in the room all day was because she was sick. So I felt bad for her when we came back and there was blaring music. The party space, unfortunately, was literally right below our room.
At this point, I had already accepted the fact that I wasn't going to get any sleep that night. But what happened next made me scared for my life the whole night:
After quickly getting ready for bed, Alyssa and I started making our beds for the night. Unfortunately, all of the bunk beds in our room were squeaky. Some were louder than others, but ours was the loudest and highest pitched. In addition, I was on the top bunk. Now, imagine this: I need to make my bed, on the top bunk, with a loud, squeaky bed frame. So it's no wonder that the bed would be moving around a lot as I tried to make my bed, and hence squeaking a lot. (If any of you have tried to make the bed of a top bunk, you would understand that it's a little harder than the bottom bunk.) It was hard not to squeak the bed!
I was just about finished when the sick girl, who was sleeping in the top bunk right across from me, made me want to pee my pants. Imagine the scene: the room is dark, the bass from the music pounding in your ears. The sick girl is laying down directly across from you with her laptop on her belly, the screen illuminating her face.
So just as I'm about to lay down, she slowly sits up (and I mean slowly, people!), the laptop screen casting shadows on her face in the scariest way possible, and just stares at me. At first, I was confused. Was she trying to figure out where all of the squeaking noises were coming from? No, she new exactly where the squeaking was coming from. And who was making them. After a few seconds of staring back in confusion, I realized that she wasn't staring: she was glaring. At me. Because I was squeaking the bed.
So I immediately froze, not wanting to move for fear that another squeak would cause her to come kill me. And with perfect timing, Alyssa (who was oblivious to the whole situation because a) she was on the bottom bunk and b) she didn't have her contacts on) decides to readjust herself, causing the bed to squeak again.
And yes, the sick girl is STILL glaring at me. It would have almost been better if she had said something; the tension was so thick, I have no idea how Alyssa could stay oblivious to the whole thing.
After a few more seconds of me staring like a deer in the headlights and sick girl successfully freaking me out with her glare, I slowly laid down, trying not to jostle the bed on the way. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as sick girl continued to glare at me for a few more seconds before slowly lowering herself down back onto her bed. And, lo and behold, she started squeaking HER bed as she readjusted herself and her laptop! I believe the whole encounter lasted about 10 seconds (maybe longer), but it was the longest 10 seconds of my life. :(
So there I am, trying to stay as still as possible so I don't squeak the bed, because I'm scared she's going to harm me in the dark of the night if I make another squeak. For the whole night, I would slowly readjust myself in order to prevent further squeaks, even though everyone else's beds were just as squeaky. The whole thing is extremely comical in retrospect, but at the time I was truly terrified for my life and hoping I would wake up the next morning alive.
In conclusion, I had almost no sleep that night. When the party finally ended at 2 am, I was able to get a couple hours of solid sleep. The rest of the night was broken sleep, with very little movement involved. Alyssa and I got up bright and early the next morning to check out of the hostel and set off for London. I was just glad I woke up alive.
Minus fearing for my life in the hostel, I had a really great time in Brighton. I would love to experience it during the summer when the pier is in full swing. :)
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Stay tuned for Part 2 when Alyssa and I travel to London!
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