scared traveler

Edinburgh pt 2

andywu217 — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 02:04:00 GMT

After a couple of nights of staying out, its finally time to cruise around on my own for a bit. I woke up this Sunday morning and spent some time grocery shopping for meals to cook around. I was able to walk up to arthur’s seat a bit but there was too much fog near the top so I felt no point in going up that far. I actually did visit a small coffee shop called Brewlab who actually made really good iced coffees. It was super cozy and purposely had spaces for people to work on their laptops! I really enjoyed the atmosphere and it was quite relaxing for a Sunday! That night I spent a lot of time working on projects and keeping in touch with people through emails and updated my photo journal to the Sunday. During this time I was also able to visit Edinburgh castle and got to see the sword and crown that the queen would use when she knighted people! There was also a huge cannon which I think hydraulically requires too much work! I was able to learn a lot about the different types of soldiers that Scotland employed to fight for Britain including the dragoons! Pretty crazy to see also the evolution from sword to gun over time for the horsemen! I was also able to climb Arnold’s seat today as the view was quite clear! Once I got to the top the views of Edinburgh were completely 360! Even though it was quite misty, it was a gorgeous view from all sides and the fact that the sea was showing was amazing! The climb wasn’t too bad on the way up and the paths were well marked. Definitely spent some more time today walking around and looking around the park enjoying the hills and the sights from all different elevations! I loved the fact that this park could let you walk around for hours without making it to the top of the attraction. I spent the night catching up with people and working on my affiliate website. The next day I woke up and went to a different hostel, that had much better wifi! The hostel was on the new town side so I was able to walk up and down the shopping area and then found a book store which gave me some new ideas on some books to read during my travels. Newtown was mainly a shopping area but I did get to spend 30 minutes in the museum looking at Scottish art! It looks like the effects of impressionism and the era’s we learned in school effected all parts of Europe as well. I had a relaxing night of working and watching a jagerbomb train happen in the bar next to the hostel! Was great and thank god I got to the laundry first, there were at least 8 to 9 people waiting. It took forever! I finally enjoyed a football game with some fries and a burger! On the day I was leaving Edinburgh, the weather got so much better! Oh wells there is always next time! Onto Glasgow!

Check out my pictures of this trip at http://wuberlife.com/blog/

Edinburgh Pt 1

andywu217 — Sun, 12 Jun 2016 02:48:00 GMT

When leaving glenridding, it was a quiet morning, pretty much spent the day resting a lot! I was able to walk around the lake and eat with the peacefulness. I was able to try some English proper tea and a broccoli and cheddar cheese soup. The proper tea was very good after a 2 minute brew, with milk and sugar. The soup was disgusting as it barely had any flavor! I was able to complete another 5 months on my photo journal which takes me to honorable mentions include Annie Brown & Jerry Yang’s weddings, and Tiffany Yang my cliff diving partner! From Glenridding I observed some castle ruins in Penrith, pretty lame and then had a Mcdonalds burger which was absolutely disgusting. It is even worse than in America which is very surprising! Loved the train ride to Edinburgh and met some cool roommates James and Victoria who we went out to have a beer at a bar! First time I got drunk in Europe! I also did a free walking tour where I got to see the Greyfriar cemetery, tom riddle’s grave, and the torture house in the church area. Very funny to learn that shitface actually came from people who were drunk in the morning but hung around rich people’s houses where they threw shit onto the ground but were drunk. Also visited the Scottish museum today and learned that James Watt is from Scotland, he ruined so many days in college. Scottish people have actually been under British parliament since 1707, and also don’t have a last name Campbell in Scotland. Also did a Whisky tour which I learned about the amount of angel share lost during the years of aging the Whisky. Also learned that butter is different in many different areas of the world depending on the dairy quality of what people eat! At night we ended up eating some great food at Kebab Helal, very cheap and a lot of food especially the super fresh Nan bread that we got! I ended up eating food with Renee and Robyn who were Canadians traveling around the world! At night we went to a bar called Panda & Son’s which was like a speakeasy but super posh. Totally felt underdressed there but were able to take Whisky Shots for 6$ so much cheaper than America. Robyn and I actually went to find the Brazilian dance club but we had some amazing conversation on the way back! She totally reminds me of myself with all that energy for one person! She reminded me that sometimes we just need a little something different, and that I should just keep going on the trip! Not going to lie,its so freaking exhausting to keep changing places. I have been averaging 9.2 miles a day walking and 15 on a day of hiking. My advice to myself, is to rest every 7 or 8 days!

Check out pictures for my travels at http://wuberlife.com/blog/

Helvellyn June 2016

andywu217 — Sat, 11 Jun 2016 03:12:00 GMT

Crazy day as I woke up at 6:00 am in the morning to catch a train to Penrith to ride a bus to Glenridding due to me reading a bus schedule wrong. The ride on the bus was actually magnificent as it cruised along Ullswater lake in the different villages. This area is just so peaceful and has so much to offer as a great getaway for the weekend. The crazy days reminds me of backpacking in South America when I slept on a bus on the way to a different city instead of proper lodging. When I got to Glenridding, I found that my hostel was actually 1 mile into the trail to Helvellyn peak which was a tough hike with all of my gear. The receptionist at YHA hostel was so helpful and showed me a map of the hiking trail even though the information center informed me that some people had almost died hiking the trail yesterday. The trail reminded me of a half Mt. Baldy trail especially with the different type of terrains that was on the mountain. Finally got to the top and was proud of meself for using my selfie stick for the first time. Thank god it didn’t thunderstorm as the weather had predicted. I had just gotten there about 2 hours before the actual storm hit the top of the peak. The hiking trail was a very clear path halfway up and then had a gorgeous lake that you could swim in if you wanted to! Back at the hostel, I totally forgot to order dinner with the reception so I ended up drinking Cumberland beer and eating “crisps” (potato chips) for dinner. Fiona was such a nice person for offering me some pasta that she and Aki were making! I am so thankful for them and hope to repay the kindness one day. I also met a guy named Ed that was biking all around Europe who had been to multiple different countries in Europe. It was really cool to watch the difference between Scottish and English people jest about their rivalry and Brexit! Fiona mentioned that I should eat a haggis, nips, and tatties in Scotland. We proceeded to talk for the entire night about a bunch of different topics including crazy boyfriend stories of Aki, the life of teaching for Fiona (she is moving to the country side), and the full English breakfast that I must try from Ed. Also learned what a stag night and hen party were which I might join one if I see it! Aki presented an interesting argument on equality and getting out of poverty, Europe has a very different way of looking at the world where people deserve items. Coming from a place where I was taught you don’t deserve anything, you should always work for anything you want in lif, it’s a very interesting argument. When Fiona says the word “um” it sounds so sexy, I don’t know why maybe it is that Scottish accent but it is amazing what an accent does to people’s ears. Also learned what black metal was which was a bit depressing to me. The night was very enjoyable I really liked being able to sit around a table and talk to strangers for hours!

Check out pictures for my travels at http://wuberlife.com/blog/

Lake Windermere June 2016

andywu217 — Thu, 9 Jun 2016 07:08:00 GMT

Today was crazy as I left the hostel a bit early to make sure I got to my train. The train was delayed but I found these cool waiting stools. Essentially its just a diagonal stool that you lean on but don't really stool. Great learning experience for waiting on trains and also the public transit system is awesome. Despite missing my connections the train company automatically verified the route for me though I finally arrived at my destination 3 hours late! I was able to complete 6 months of my photo journal as I waited though so that was a plus. Some honorable mentions that made it into my photo journal, Annie Brown, Jun Wakayashabi, Jenga Lee, Tony Chai, Victoria Tang! After finding the hostel I was able to take the ferry across the biggest lake in England. Even though it was slightly cloudy the views were amazing especially at the pace of the ferry boat. Breathtaking mountains surround all sides of the lake :)!! When I got to Amberside it was very small cozy town. I really like the feel as it reminded me of work sometimes where everyone was willing to help you get around. I actually got lost and 2 strangers helped me back into the town which was a blessing. My boat's last trip would have been at 5:40pm so thank god I got there right at 5:39 pm with the help of others. The town had a very cute stream with a cute overpass, definitely loved the vibe. On the ferry back to Winderemere I almost passed out on the boat but the sun came out which got me even better pictures.

Today I also found out there is no transportation to my destination of Glenridding tomorrow, which is sad, I don't want to hire a Taxi as that might be super expensive! Time to go research if I can make it there tomorrow!

Check out pictures for my travels at http://wuberlife.com/blog/

Manchester United June 2016

andywu217 — Tue, 7 Jun 2016 01:26:00 GMT

Today I got to see the wonderful Manchester United stadium. Never have I even had an interest in soccer, but I decided to see the stadium to immerse myself in the culture that defines itself here in Europe! Football has quite a history spanning back to the early 1900s! Manchester United actually has had alot of famous players and a awesome coach that led them to winning a title for the last 26 years starting before 2013. The football team also has an intense youth program which I thought was amazing, they actually recruit very young soccer players (between 14-17 years old) and train them for years to be on the official team one day. Thats almost like a super nice paid atheltic scholarship for young players with talent. Totally dope! The stadium tour was great as you got to go to the changing rooms of both the home and away teams! It felt like you were actually a player with others there! Also got to sit in the VIP section where the nice chairs and felt like governor of the city! MU also had a very sad tragedy in the older days when many of there players got lost in a plane crash caring the Busby's. Other than that its amazing to watch the one or two goals that get scored during a soccer game. It truly made me appreciate the sport more than I thought.

I remember a bit about the city today, its actually alot like San Francisco realkly hipster! There were a bunch of areas that had alot of graffiti art even though it was a nice area. The city downtown near the Town Hall was having an October fest in June which means they start really really early in this drinking festivities. The city itself also had a weird china town that consisted of a chinese Arch but the stores didn't seem as authentic. I did buy bread at one of the chinese bakeries it was pretty expensive considered to 85 degrees back home in California. They had a gay district and a bunch of high end mall development which was really awesome! National football musuem was cool as I learned alot about how the game was played.

Check out pictures for my travels at http://wuberlife.com/blog/

Manchester, UK June 2016

andywu217 — Mon, 6 Jun 2016 23:13:00 GMT

Over the last day I have finally hit Manchester my first destination! Was really scared coming off of the plane and didn't even realize how to get from the airport to where my hostel is! Finally found the hostel and checked in with alot of patience. Upon entering my room there were 2 girls Ashleigh and Jessica who were really cool. They took me to a pub called Wetherspoon and you can bring kids into a place where there is a bunch of people drink beer! The beer was only like 1 pound more as an addition to the meal! I learned a bunch of language differences between the UK and US. For example, a jumper is a sweatshirt, a trainer are shoes, rubbish bins are trash cans, and last but not least sidewalkds are called paths. Also no one in manchester obeys the traffic laws, I almost got hit by a tram while walking around! Proper hamburgers in England are not worth it! Every hamburger join kept talking about proper hamburgers and turns out thats just a normal term that they use in the UK. United states hamburgers are so much better! Was able to walk through a variety of musuems, on the second day including the manchester cathedral, peoples history musuem, musuem of science and industry, john rylands library, and visit the picadally gardens! Manchester Cathedral had this intense detailed design on the wood work. It was a smaller cathedral but the archtitecture never ceases to amaze me. The MOSI had the first ever train station ever built in the world. Was absolutely surprising how much thought they had put into the first train station. Also the power room had a bunch of old school engines, and being the engineer i took to understood all the gear and also found a big ass steam engine. Love that engineer life! John Ryland library also had a bad ass reading room, could you imagine having these in college? Freaking dope and felt like I went to school at Hogwarts. I also met a girl called Vanessa and Clara today who were in town for a variety of reasons! Vanessa was from singapore and she was traveling while she was studying in England. Clara is here on a work placement from France! They showed me a bunch of travel pics and where they have been which got me more pumped! Time to keep going on this adventure! Traveling is not as scary as I thought, going to still work on my personal goals of keeping in touch with people in general. Try to learn more about people's lives and open my eyes more. My other include keep workingn on my affiliate website and develop that online income to support my travels!

Check out pictures for my travels at http://wuberlife.com/blog/