Jae Marie’s Journeys: A Day Trip to Manchester

As our month long break approaches, we are slowly but surely booking flights, train rides, and hostels. So far, our program is taking us on a trip around France for a week. We’re going to Paris, Montpellier, Nice, and a few other small towns. After that, we’re on our own for 3 weeks. We’ve booked Barcelona, Rome, and are looking into Greece and London. The flights aren’t too bad, but the hostels are going to cost us. On top of that, there is shopping to be done (for souvenirs of course) and food to eat, as well as places to visit while we are in these cities.

Booking flights and hostels

We are also looking into visiting Amsterdam on one of our future free weekends to meet up with a friend from back home who is also studying abroad. As much as it pains me to spend more money, we keep getting reminded that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. While we don’t know where we will end up, I’m sure we will document and keep you posted.

In the meantime, we’re traveling locally. Saturday was Valentine’s Day, and my roommate and I headed out on our first self-scheduled trip to Manchester. We visited their famous Chinatown, which was only about 4 blocks of restaurants, tiny grocery stores and lanterns lining the streets. After visiting the cathedral and a few other cool looking places for photos, we decided we had seen enough and sat down to a lunch at an Italian restaurant. Since being here, we noticed that people think we are lesbian lovers, and going to a restaurant together on Valentine’s Day only led us deeper down that road of misconception.

So authentic

A few weeks ago, we had met two guys who lived in Manchester. Coincidentally, we had been planning on visiting there with our student union. When we told them, we exchanged snapchat names to keep in touch. When we visited, we met up with them at a random fast food place, where they led us to McDonald’s to sit down and eat. After they left they’re random garbage from another establishment on the table in McDonalds, they showed us around the city. By showed us around, I mean they took us to the mall so they could buy a pair of Ralph Lauren socks and a polo for a grand total of 75 USD.

My roommates identity is being held somewhat private here, mostly because I’m a terrible photo taker.

After trying to convince us they played soccer with Beckham back in the day and were friends with Snoop Dogg (aka they went to one of his concerts) it was time to get back on the bus home.

3 hours later, we made it back to Newcastle (without an unnecessary rest stop this time, unlike the trip there). After a quick nap, we were rested for our night out. Besides the annoying guy who thought it was stomp the yard, the group of guys who tried to occupy the same space as my roommate, and the man who decided to stand on his head, it turned out ok. The worst part was calling 3 cabs before we finally got in one that someone didn’t take from us.

Of course we can’t forget our old Albanian acquaintances who were concerned that we didn’t have Valentines. My roommate quickly assured them that our “boyfriends back home” had that covered.

Its never a dull moment with J and J in Newcastle or in Manchester apparently.