life skills

Teen Travel 4th – 17th August

6 August 2024

Sunday 4th August

Arrival to the Capital

The first day of Teen Travel started early in London collecting all the travellers from both King’s Cross and Heathrow Airport. After checking into our home for the night the group ventured out to Buckingham Palace. They learnt some cool facts and history about the building. They then walked towards 10 Downing Street, enjoying the culture and atmosphere along the way. After all this walking the group decided it was time to get on the bus, however it was a split decision whether to sit at the front or the back. They arrived at Trafalgar Square and saw many cool street performers and looked at all the shops before heading to dinner in Chinatown. The whole group were very thirsty after all this walking, and were grateful to sit down for a little in the restaurant. Everyone enjoyed chatting and getting to know each other. They then headed back for their beds ready for an exciting day to Brighton tomorrow.

Monday, 5th August

London to Bath

Travellers woke up this morning ready for a full day! In the morning they had a look round the British Museum learning about different places throughout time, including Egypt and Greece. They then hopped on a train down to Brighton, and immediately headed out to their pier. The group was desperate to meet TikTok celebrities @brightonshellfish. Everyone was so excited to meet them. One of our travellers even gave them a token koala from Australia. It was definitely a highlight of the day. They then went on to explore Brighton pier, play some of the arcade games and get some balloon animals. After this the group went to have a dip in the sea (even though it was very cold) and had some well deserved fish and chips to end a wonderful day.

Tuesday, 6th August

Beauty in Bath

We started our day with a quick brioche breakfast in our room and headed out for our adventures! We looked for the morning market and found a few stalls open so had a look around!
We then headed back to our room and packed up quickly to head to the train station. We popped to Greggs to grab some supplies for our journey to bath! We each had many pasties and were very full. On the train we played a lovely game of “pig”, which Mia unfortunately lost. We then relaxed until we reached our destination of Bath! As soon as we arrived we headed straight to our beautiful apartment located in the heart of the city. We dropped off our bags and went for some retail therapy, exploring some of the shops. After this it was time for our visit to the Roman baths! Another fantastic Golden Ticket choice!! The history was very interesting, we learnt a lot about how the people used the baths, all of the things that were found there, many gem stone carvings and how people used to throw in coins and messages and curses on people to come true!
We then popped by a place where Bridgerton was filmed! The seamstress shop!
After this we defiantly were in need of a meal, so Cam and Mia whipped us up a fantastic taco bar, with all the meat and accompaniments you could need!!
It was delicious!
We’ve ended our evening relaxing and having cake and popcorn supplied by Mia and Cam and sweets supplied by the teens!
That’s all for today.
Over and out.

Wednesday 7th August

On Our Way to Cardiff

Teen travellers woke up in bath this morning and were greeted with a lovely breakfast made by Cam, with lots of scrambled eggs, avocados and pastries. It went down a treat. They then headed out for a fun shopping trip in bath, enjoying the shops and lively atmosphere. The group then hopped on a train to Cardiff, excited by the idea that they were leaving the country. They had lunch and played many card games throughout the journey. It was a quick turnaround in Cardiff and they headed straight out to the famous Cardiff Castle. They enjoyed climbing all the way to the top to see all of the city. At the bottom the group played some rather large board games and had fun challenging each other to chess, jenga and connect four. After a long day the group were exhausted and excited by the idea of Indian for dinner and headed for bed.

Thursday 8th August

Journey Onward: Cardiff to Manchester Express

Our teens woke up in Cardiff with a very English breakfast of scones with cream and jam. This of course brought up the age old argument of what goes first the cream or the jam? After saying goodbye to Cardiff the group got on a long train ready for Manchester. They bought lunch at Greggs and played many games to keep the long train fun and enjoyable including Pig, Cheat and Kems. There was a lot of signalling going on between each team. The group arrived in Manchester and marvelled at the busy atmosphere. They headed to their flat and got ready for an exciting escape room that was wizard theme. The group had only an hour to unlock the door and complete their wizard tasks which they successfully completed (with many hints). They then headed to the shops to prepare as the travellers were in charge of cooking for Mia and Cam. They cooked a delicious meal with Croque Monsieur, Swedish meatballs and an Aussie potatoe bake. For dessert they had a delicious Italian Salame di Cioccolato. Everyone went to bed happy and full ready for a Manchester adventure.

Friday 9th August

A day in Manchester

Today our teens were sleepy and woke up a little later, ready for a long day in Manchester. They had a delicious home cooked breakfast made by Cam. There were eggs, bacon, sausages among many other things. They ventured out to meet the one and only Adventure Sam, ready to give us an amazing tour of the city. They first headed to the market store Afflecks, some girls got their torture told while the others shopped. They then headed to Piccadilly Gardens and looked round the space before hopping on a tram to Media City. This was an incredible experience and the teens engaged in a tense ping pong patch. Everyone headed to a late lunch at the food court feeling like they should be playing at the Paris Olympics. After this they sadly said goodbye to Sam and headed to some karaoke. There were some amazing performances including “Vampire” “I will survive” and “A Whole New World”. The group then had a quick dinner back at the house, played a small card tournament and then headed to bed, ready for the Lake District tomorrow.

Monday 12th August

Scotland Fringe

We started our day bright and early with sausages, eggs, mushrooms toast galore! Cooked by the famous Chef Cam!
After this we headed on the open top bus straight for our train. Along the way we said goodbye to Mia and thanked her for her time and helping us with our travels. After this the group headed to Edinburgh. As soon as we got off the train we were hit by all of the festivities of the fringe festival! Many new acts trying to secure new people to go to their gigs and lots of street performances. We headed straight to our accommodation, dropped off our bags and went straight to the Palace of Holyrood House. We were given our audio tour and looked around, we learnt many new things about the Royal Family who lived there among the years and visited the beautiful gardens.
After this we went in almost every tourist shop all looking for gifts for our families, some found mugs and magnets and even cow mugs!
After this we went back into the town to do our spooky ghost tour! We walked around learnt some facts about the Old Town in Edinburgh which was very cool.
To end our evening we enjoyed some authentic kebabs before getting the bus back!
We will now enjoy a big rest for our ongoing journey.
Over and out

Tuesday 13th August

Goodbye Edinburgh, Hello to Leeds

Today started with a sweet treat, and a visit from a kitty cat, before we started our journey from Edinburgh to Leeds.
The one and only Kenzie came to join us for the rest of Teen Travel, and we set off to our first mission of the day – a hike through the West Yorkshire countryside. After some beautiful views, we boarded a bus back to Leeds city centre to get some legendary Dixy Chicken for our dinner – delicious!
After a scenic picnic in the park. we headed back to the hotel for some competitive card games & well deserved rest.

Wednesday 14th August

Discovering Oxford

Our Wednesday began with a breakfast of brioche and our favorite – pain au chocolats! Then the travels began again! After a coach road-trip from Leeds to Oxford, we hit the bookshops. The girls treated themselves to some of the classics, before we headed to explore the sights of Oxford. Cam explained the historical significance of Oxford Graduation Hall, and we got a view of the great hall – an inspiration of the Harry Potter universe. Heading home, we had a hearty meal of homemade pasta bake and garlic bread, with a movie to top off the day!

Thursday 15th August

The Day We Met the Spud Man

Our Thursday started with a bus into Oxford and a train taking us to Tamsworth on a very special mission – to meet the Spud Man! As one of our travellers golden ticket, we feasted on jacket potatoes in the picturesque village square before heading to our next destination. This happened to be a traditional British sweet shop, and we went wild in Wyldes. Taking the recommendations of the lovely staff, our travellers treated themselves to some English candies. Our evening was then spent browsing the Oxford highstreet, and exploring the views it had to offer. With burgers for dinner, we went to bed with full bellies and happy memories.

Friday 16th August

London Looping

A sunny morning in Oxford began as we quickly boarded our train to London for a rollercoaster of a day – literally! Our group checked in the accommodation for the night before navigating our way to our next golden ticket destination… Thorpe Park!! We took on many sky-scraping coasters such as The Swarm, Rumba Rapids, and Nemesis. Fueled by churros galore, our travellers enjoyed the British heatwave in all its glory. After a long day of excitement, it was time to head back to the hostel for dinner and another movie night.

30 Day Challenge Blog

30 November 2020

What is the 30 Day Challenge for ALL?

Sam Ridgway, the founder of L&E, was challenged to 10 Adventures, 10 Life Skills and 10 Languages in 30 Days…Simple!

There were 2 main aims of the challenge:

  1. Raise vital funds and awareness for Save the Children who exist to help every child to reach their full potential. 

2. To inspire young people from all backgrounds and cultures to broaden their horizons, step out of their comfort zone and try something new.

30 Day Schedule

Day 1: Yoga

Completed my first life-skill challenge today! YOGA!! The lovely Harriet was my expert instructor and put me through my paces. Made me realise how un-flexible I am! A little stiff now but actually may try to keep it going as I’m not getting any younger!! 😜

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Day 2: Wild Swimming

This wasn’t planned at all! Having a lovely dog walk with Rosie on the beach getting myself prepared for my language lesson later in the afternoon when an idea struck me! WILD SWIM! Only problem was…I didn’t have any trunks or a towel!. Oh well…I managed to protect my modesty and went for it! Very invigorating but very, very, very cold!! Literally took my breath away! First adventure completed! Language lesson delayed till another day!

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Day 3: Spanish

Today was an incredibly wet & rainy day so the perfect day for an indoor activity. My lovely 82 year old Father used to be a French and Spanish teacher but for some reason I have never learnt any Spanish my whole life. He agreed to give me a Spanish lesson and it was amazing. I am so lucky to have such a great Dad who embraces all challenges including modern technology!! Only a few glitches…😂

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Day 4: Ukulele

Enjoyed today’s session. It was very frustrating and I will certainly blame the quality of my my instrument but all in all I definitely learnt some chords and will be able to bring out the ukulele at campfires etc. (if only to pass it very quickly to someone who can actually play!!) Thank you Andy for the tutorial! 👍 (ps. remember to tune your ukulele and to know whether you’re doing it for left handed or right handed! 🤦‍♂️)

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Day 5: GPS Art Run

An interesting challenge today. A friend mentioned the idea of GPS Art and how you can draw shapes with the route you run with your running app. It was fun planning the shape and putting it into action. It was an early start but worth it in the end. Pacific Spirit Park is an incredible temperate Rainforest near where we will live and was the perfect setting!! 🏃🌲 Day 5 done…what’s in store tomorrow!!? 🤔 Ps. I have some quite exciting challenges planned in the coming days/weeks but still need some more ideas to fill my schedule!?🤔

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Day 6: Arabic

Today I had the privilege of learning Arabic from my wife, Randa’s mum. She was very patient and very kind. There’s some very difficult pronunciations and I apologise for some of the inaccuracies!😂 Enjoy! PS. Keep the ideas coming…really enjoyed some of the ideas so far! 👍

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Day 7: Singing

What an amazing opportunity to have a singing lesson with an amazing professional like Kathy! (However I think I may have blown it!!😂) Thank you so much to Kathy for giving your time to teach me. I will have definitely been one of the harder students to get a note out of but, nonetheless I really enjoyed it and feel that now I have a technique I have no excuse for the sounds coming out of my mouth! 🤦‍♂️😂 

I really recommend everyone to get a voice/singing teacher. It really makes you concentrate on certain things that will help throughout your life.

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Day 8: Boating

I had a lot of fun today. My friend Mark treated me to a ride in his boat and even luckier I got to drive it! It’s a very different feeling to driving a car and the waves were certainly causing a few bumps! So much fun!

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Day 9: Roller Blading

Oh my Gosh! I am NOT a natural skater/blader! Coupled with my tallness and fear of falling there is an incredible awkwardness when I have wheels or blades on my feet! However, I didn’t do as badly as I thought and really enjoyed the sunshine along the famous Vancouver Sea Wall!

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Day 10: Sign Language

Sign Language has been on the list of things to learn for a long time. I was very lucky for Katie to agree to teach my some BSL (British Sign Language). The expressive(ness) of the language is so fantastic. I loved Katie’s passion for it and I have promised myself that I must carry on learning and if nothing else try to remember the alphabet by heart.

Katie mentions the Alphabet cards you can download from the National Children’s Deaf Society website

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Day 11: Tree Climbing

Find a tree, climb a tree, have a coffee up a tree – simple huh!?

Who’d have thought it would be so hard to find a tree to climb IN A FOREST!!?? Well it was! Try as I might I could find an appropriate tree to climb for a long time but eventually found one on my next outing with outstanding view. All in all it was a successful challenge but just reminded me that even the best laid plans can come unstuck sometimes! 😂

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Day 12: Japanese

Thank you so much to Mitsue for giving me her time to teach me some Japanese. It’s such a beautiful and polite language. I know I didn’t do it quite the justice it deserved but nonetheless I enjoyed learning and certainly will try to remember the basics!

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Day 13: Cooking

Very fortunate to have Dan from Nourish Cookery School give me a lesson on how to make Japanese dumplings, gyoza! They were very yummy! 😋🥟

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Day 14: Snow Day

Yesterday I heard the exciting news that our local mountain (Cypress) was due open early for the ski season. Every year I get incredibly excited by this news and this year (with everything that has gone on) I was even more excited than normal! Just being in the mountains with snow and trees around me is my special place! I decided not to go up the lifts as it was pretty busy and the season is long but I had a lovely hike and ski down and even made myself a coffee with my little stove! Fantastic day!

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Day 15: Malay

Can’t quite believe I’m halfway through! 5 adventures, 5 life skills and 5 languages completed!

Loved learning Malay with Heng. He had gone to some effort to prepare and make it as easy as possible for me to learn and so I’m ever so grateful. Terima kasih, Heng!

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Day 16: Turkish

Thank you so much to Eylem for teaching me some Turkish. I visited Istanbul a few years ago and had the most wonderful time. I would even go as far as to say it’s one of my most favourite cities. Where East meets West! So, I’m excited to go back and be able to use my new found skills. It’s a very interesting language and quite phonetic which makes it easier than other languages. I also loved the body language that is unique to Turkey.

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Day 17: Card Skills

Who could imagine shuffling cards could be so difficult!? I’ve always loved magic tricks and playing card games but been slightly embarrassed by the fact I can’t even do a basic shuffle never mind anything fancy!

I decided to something about it! 🤦‍♂️

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Day 18: Den Building

🌲🏕🌲A great life-skill preparing for my adventure in a couple of days when I get to sleep out in my construction! 

⚠️Beware of the coyotes!!🐕😱😜

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Day 19: Norwegian

 This was quite a special language lesson. 

Randa and I met a lovely couple (Hans, from Norway and Zoe from Canada) 15 years ago in South Africa on a wine tasting tour. We hit it off straight away and had a really fun day together but haven’t seen them since. 

Through the power of social media we’ve stayed in touch and amazingly Hans got in touch to offer to give me a Norwegian lesson. They now actually live in Canada as well so we will definitely see more of them sooner or later. Thank you again to Hans! 🙏

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Day 20: Sleep Out

This was a tough one for lots of reasons. As well as to Save the Children please consider donating to Covenant House Vancouver who help young people who experience homelessness. https://www.covenanthousebc.org/ways-to-give/

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Day 21: Pig Latin (Kids Secret Language)

Pig Latin (Kids Secret Language). What a brilliant teacher 9 year old Libby is! I learnt so much! She is sooo amazing at Pig Latin! Wow! 😃👏

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Day 22: Foraging (for mushrooms)

I was incredibly fortunate today. Chef Robin Kort from Swallow Tail Culinary Adventures gave me a personal guide to foraging mushrooms. Her knowledge and passion is so infectious and I learnt so much! 🌲🍄

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Day 23: Kayaking

I took a trip down False Creek, Vancouver. 🛶

Loved seeing things that I hadn’t noticed before. I think waterways are such a great way to travel and see things from a different perspective. Also, it’s so quiet in a kayak so you have a great chance to see cool wildlife…I got lucky with a little friend!🦭

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Day 24: Art Class

Day 24: Art Class (with my amazing Mum!).She taught me some cool watercolour techniques and produced an amazing snowy scene in minutes! 🤗Thanks to Dad for his stellar video work (not wobbly at all!! 😳😅)

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Day 25: Skate Skiing

I’m definitely not a natural Skate Skier!! ⛸⛷😩 Thought it would be similar to downhill skiing but it isn’t! Ended up having quite a bit of fun though! 😜😃👍

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Day 26: Welsh

Thank you to my very good friend, Aled for teaching me some Welsh.🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 I even got to hear the proper pronunciation of the longest place name in Europe – Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch!!😅

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Day 27: Ice Hockey

Thank you so much to Coach Emily and Norbert for taking me to try out ice hockey for the first time. 🏒 It’s the national sport and obsession of Canada so it’s an essential life skill to have and I can tell you I was a little nervous! 😅

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Day 28: Mountain Biking

North Shore Mountain Biking is famous worldwide and having lived here now for over 3 years I decided it was time to try it out…I wasn’t dissapointed! Awesome!😃 Thank you, James for being my guide!🏔 🚵‍♀️ 🏔

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Day 29: Luganda 

Thank you so much to Phyllis Kisa from Kampala, Uganda. Phyllis is a surgeon who we met during her year in BC Children’s Hospital. It was also lovely to meet little Adrien – what a sweetie! 🤗

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Day 30: Sea to Sky Triathlon

THE FINAL ADVENTURE!!! 🙌🙌 

From my home to the “Peak of Vancouver” Grouse Mountain by Kayak, Bike and Foot! Thank you to Dave for being expert guide up the BCMC! 🙏

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Podcast Ep 2: Free Cake for Cutting Emissions and Social Media

7 October 2020

In the Learn and Experience Podcast this episode…

Sam, Mike and Julie work out what’s making a strange sound in California, talk about the amazing plant life in Papua New Guinea and find why you get free cake in Finland for cutting down your CO2 Emissions. All in The L&E Podcast.

Social Media is the Big Discussion, we visit India in the Fact or Fiction Adventure and our Youth Spotlight is on an inspiring 16 year old from Northern Ireland who has won a major literary prize.  Julie teaches us a new life skill – changing a 13 amp plug! 

AROUND THE WORLD IN 6 STORIES:

  • USA: The Giant Orange Wheezing Kazoo
  • Papua New Guinea: Plantlife
  • Finland: Free Cake for cutting CO2 emissions
  • Australia: Aboriginal Artist Prize Winner
  • Switzerland: Gold found on Train
  • Thailand: Oldest Hippo

THE BIG DISCUSSION:

  • Social Media

FACT or FICTION:

  • India

YOUTH SPOTLIGHT:

  • Dara McAnulty (Nature Author)

LIFE-SKILLS

  • Changing a plug

LANGUAGE CORNER

  • The many pronunciations of “OUGH”

What is The L&E Podcast?

The Learn and Experience Podcast explores and makes sense of the world we live in through Adventure, Life-Skills and Language.

Join Sam, Mike and Julie bi-weekly (Wednesdays) with a fast paced, informative and fun show with an emphasis on learning and experiencing.

We’d love to know what you think about our podcast!  Please rate and review and most importantly subscribe if you haven’t already done so.

Learn and Experience have been bringing the world’s youth together since 2009 through adventure, life skills and language.

L&E Teen Travel: UK Tour 6th – 20th August

7 August 2017

Days 1 – 3

Hello everyone, first of all we want to introduce ourselves. We are a group of 4, 3 girls and 1 boy (poor boy). Hello, my name is Emile and I live in South of France. I’m 15 and my hobbies are athletics and music. Hi, I am Emy and I am fifteen. I am from Toulon, this is in the south of France, my hobby is ballet. Hi, I’m Silvia and I’m fifteen, I’m from Milan, in Italy. My favourite hobby is volleyball. Hi there, my name is Jipke I’m sixteen years old and I’m from Munich, but I’m Dutch, my hobby is singing. 

The first day we met, we were all so excited and nervous to find out who we would be spending the next two weeks with. We met at Heathrow Airport and when we had all arrived Julie drove to our first place – L&E South Camp which is at Forres Sandle Manor school in Fordingbridge. The mood in the car was awkward, because everybody was shy to speak and we all we’re very tired. Julie helped the mood by singing loudly! We arrived at the school an hour and a half later and we met the others from summer camp. After a BBQ we planned our fist trip which was to Poole the next day.

The next day (Monday) we planned to take the bus to Poole to go kayaking, but it wasn’t that easy as we thought! We missed our first bus, and while we were waiting for the next bus we thought we could grab some coffees. One thing guys, never grab coffee while you are waiting for the bus, trust us its not funny if you miss two busses in a row! (Hahahaha). The kayaking was funny but so exhausting. When we arrived back from kayaking we made vegetable curry in one of the kitchens in the school, hmm so yummy.

We spent one more night at school so we could make some plans for the next few days. Right now we’re on the train to Cardiff and later on we are going to the trampoline park in Cardiff!

Days 4-6

n our last blog we said that we were going to go to the trampoline park and that we did! We booked 1 and a half hours but after 10 minutes we were all so exhausted!! We were taught how to ‘wall walk’ by one of the instructors which was very cool.

The next day we went to Cardiff castle and took a photo with the Welsh flag. As Jipi jumped onto Silvia’s back for the photo her phone fell out of her pocket and the screen cracked…..she learned a valuable lesson that day! We then went to walk back to the hostel to collect our bags as we had a train booked…unfortunately Julie suddenly remembered that the train was earlier than she thought so we had to run!!! Luckily we got there in the end and thought it was now time for us to properly take over all the planning!

The train to Liverpool took 4 hours so after dropping our bags off at the hostel we wanted to take a walk. Our hostel was right next to Albert Dock and luckily for us there was a theme park there. We all (apart from Julie who looked after our bags) went on some of the rides then we ate fish and chips and watched the amazing sunset.

The next day we went shopping in the city centre and bought some key items including a notebook to put our expenses in, a pen and most importantly, a toothbrush for Jipi! We then went to the amazing Beatles museum where we learned all about how the Beatles got together, their history and what happened to each of them after the band broke up. We also bought some presents for our families! It was a quick bus trip to Manchester where we ate dinner in an American style restaurant – lots of burgers and milkshakes!

We have named our group ‘Dudeacorns’, our name was going to be ‘Unicorns’ but we then we decided that ‘Dudeacorn’ was better – its like dudes and unicorns together.

Days 7-9

Here we are again. In our last Vlog we were in Manchester. Now we are writing the blog in the car, waiting for our laundry to be finished. Car? Yes we are sitting in a car. We rented the car in Manchester, we opted for a bigger car so we would all fit with our bags!

During the day we went on the “highest” building in Manchester which was in a hotel, we walked in even though we weren’t staying in the hotel just for fun to see the view of Manchester. After that we visited the science museum and then we went to a shopping centre to eat something before going to the pick up the rental car.

Julie drove us all the way to the Lake District, where there wasn’t signal and Wi-fi : the adventure ! In the morning, after a good sleep and a brunch in Windermere, we went to Treetop Trek where we had a good fun into the trees! No chill time: just after the Treetop, we had to go to Newcastle for a night in a hostel as we couldn’t find any other place to stay that night, and thanks to Silvia who spoke Italian with the receptionist we got a discount!

The next morning we drove to Glasgow, where we bought somethings that we need for the camping such as sleeping bags and food, then we had some time to relax. In the morning we then had a amazing real Scottish breakfast which included black pudding…..some of us liked it…some of us didn’t. We then drove to Edinburgh to give back the car and to check in to our new accommodation – a campsite….lets hope it doesn’t rain tonight!

We are all very excited about the Edinburgh Fringe…lots to see and do!!!!

Days 10 – 12

So, we finished our laundry and drove to Edinburgh to leave our bags at the campsite then we went to give back the car in the city. In the month of August the Edinburgh festival is on which includes the Fringe which is the worlds leading arts festival, suffice to say Edinburgh is VERY busy during this time. In the afternoon we looked at what shows were on, there are hundreds to choose from so it is very hard to choose! We managed to watch 3 shows, the first one was about superheroes, wired but funny. The second show was a guy talking about funny things he sees & hears when he is travelling around the world, again weird but funny. The last show of the day was a magicshow! The guy was super funny, we absolutely loved it and we managed to get a picture with him after his show! It was raining very hard this night so when we got back to the campsite it was straight to bed.

The next day, we went to the city by bus and we walked up Arthur’s Seat which was very cool. Arthur’s Seat is an ancient volcano which looks over the whole city and beyond. We were very lucky as not only was the sun shining but there was a piper at the top of the mountain – there were lots of tourists taking photos with him as he played some traditional Scottish music. We then walked back down and headed into the town to have some time in Princes Street gardens in the sun. We then found another show to go to, it was really funny despite it wasn’t quite what we expected. In the evening we walked around the main street to find the bus stop and while we were waiting we saw the fireworks that came from the Castle where the Military Tattoo was happening – very cool! The next morning, we took the bus to the train station where we left to go to London!

After arriving at the English capital, we took the famous underground and stopped at Queensway station where our hostel was situated. After we unpacked our bags, we bought some food to make in the hostel, the one microwave in the hostel is going to be very busy for the next four days!

Days 13-14

We awoke after a very good nights sleep on Thursday morning – our beds were especially comfortable after our camping expedition! After some relaxation we made a plan for London to ensure we did everything we wanted to do over the next 3 days. First on our agenda was 221b Baker Street – Sherlock Holmes’ house. There is a very cool shop under the house which we went into and had a look around – we also managed to get a photograph with the ‘police officer’ who was standing outside (not sure if he was a real police officer!). It was then onto Camden Market to have a look around all the weird and wonderful stalls. After some tattoos (henna) and some Dutch pancakes we made the short walk to Amy Winhouse’s house were we sat in the little park across from where she used to live and chatted for a while. It was then back to our hostel where we watched a movie in the common room.

The next day we headed straight to the London Dungeon – this amazing experience takes you through the history of London where you meet such characters as Sweeney Todd, Jack the Ripper, Guy Fawkes and Mrs Lovett. There was a very big rain-storm just as we came out of the attraction but as always it cleared and we headed to the m&m store (not the Eminem store Julie!) to check it out. After this we then travelled back to go on the London Eye. The views were amazing and due to the storms the sky was very atmospheric. We were all very tired after our big day so we headed back to the hostel via Nando’s where we got some dinner.

On our last full day in London we decided to rent some bikes so we could cycle around some of the Royal parks of London. Our hostel is right beside Hyde Park so we saw Kensington Palace on our way to get our bikes. We cycled through Hyde Park in the sunshine and then down Constitution Hill all the way to Buckingham Palace. The Queen was in her residence that day….how do we know, because the Royal Standard was flying from the flagpole. We then took our bikes back and grabbed some lunch as we wanted to visit Oxford Street and Harrods before the day was over. Harrods was amazing, we headed straight for the Toy Store which did not disappoint. We played with electronic footballs, giant Frisbees, remote control cars, drum kits, pianos and fake snow…just goes to show, you’re never too old for toys!!!

We decided it would be a good idea to pack before we headed out for our last dinner. Our room is very small so we took turns in packing our bags. We agreed upon an Indian restaurant for our last meal and luckily there was a nice restaurant not far from our hostel. We ordered some mocktails and chatted about our trip – it seems that Liverpool and Edinburgh were the favourite cities. We ate tapas style so we could all try each of the curries, some were spicier than others but we loved them, especially the peshwari naan!

The next morning some of us made it to breakfast and some were lucky enough to get breakfast in bed!! We had to get the underground to Heathrow but on the way we dropped Silvia off as she was staying in London to meet her parents. We waved goodbye to her on the platform…it was just like in the movies! The rest of us then went to the airport where we said our last goodbyes. What an amazing trip!

New Forest – Poole – Salisbury – Cardiff – Liverpool – Manchester – Lake District – Newcastle – Glasgow – Edinburgh – London.

The End.


UK Tour Diary: 9th – 23rd July

13 July 2017

DAY 1 & 2

We are the first group of Teen Travel 2017. We are a group of five including the travel mentor, Julie. We all have different nationalities, Luzia is Portuguese, Annalisa is Italian, Rose is French, Josephine is German and Julie (travel mentor) is Scottish.

We have the goal of going to London, Cardiff and Edinburgh but we also want to go to Belfast and Brighton. To achieve this goal we have a budget and we have to book and find everything by ourselves.

Planning our trip!

Planning our trip!

After arriving at Aysgarth School on Sunday we met the other Teen Travellers and spent one night at the school. The next day Julie gave us some information and then left us alone to decide what we would do. We all agreed that we would go to London that afternoon. We asked the Camp manager Sarah to give us a lift to Northallerton train station around 1pm so we could catch our train. We jumped on the train and after some naps we arrived in London at Kingscross Station. We had to get to our London accommodation so we bought oyster cards so we could go on the underground. We reached our accommodation we looked for somewhere to eat and found an Italian restaurant nearby. We were all very tired and after trying to watch a movie we all fell asleep.

On Tuesday we all woke up at half past eight and we got a very good breakfast made by Josephine and Annalisa. After that we all worked a little bit to find places to go and a bike tour for Wednesday afternoon. At 12pm we arrived at The London Dungeon which we all enjoyed a lot, after this amazing experience we had lunch and we went to the London Eye.

The London Eye

The London Eye

In the evening we went shopping and we finished our day with a really nice dinner in Chinatown with one of the tutors from two years ago. Izzy.

We spent some more time back at the accommodation researching things to do for the rest of our trip then we all went to bed as we were tired from the day!

Luzia (15 years old, Portugal)

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Days 3 & 4

On Wednesday morning after another lovely breakfast, we went to 221b Baker Street (Sherlock Holmes’s house) then we went to go to Madame Tussauds where we waited 2h30 to get in! We only stayed 20 minutes because we needed to get to Queensway’s tube station by 3.15pm to do a bike tour. The bike tour lasted 4 hours and we visited the Royal gardens of London. In the evening, we wanted a traditional meal so we went into a pub to get fish & chips where Mike (who also works for L&E) joined us.

Meeting the Royal family

Meeting the Royal family

4 Sherlocks!

4 Sherlocks!

Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace

Today was our last day in London, the hostel was booked until 10am but the train for Brighton was at 12:20 so during that time, we went to Poundland and visited the neighbourhood before leaving for the train station. Once we got there, we caught our train for Brighton which lasted an hour. Our accommodation is situated nearby the train station so it took us only five minutes to get there.

Teen Travellers

Teen Travellers

Once we were settled, we left to get lunch in a noodle place that was really good. All those journeys were really tiring so we rested for an hour before heading to the beach where rented a paddle board, we all swam and had a shot on the board. We all then went to Brighton Pier where Luzia and I went on roller coasters! Tonight, we might go to the beach for dinner and seeing the sunset.

Rose (15 years old, France).

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Paddle Boarding

Paddle Boarding

Brighton Pier

Brighton Pier

Days 5 & 6

Friday morning we had a real English breakfast with scrambled eggs and toast. After this good start we got the train to our next stop: Cardiff. After a good journey we arrived at Cardiff and went to our accommodation where we would sleep one night. After a short phase of planning we explored Cardiff. In the evening we went to a music and drink festival at Cardiff bay. There were many countries represented which offered their food. In addition to the food was there a live band and almost everyone danced. Before we went back to our accommodation we enjoyed the good weather and evening to took some pictures and had a great view at the bay. We went all quickly in our bed because we were all very tired.

Cardiff Station

Cardiff Station

Cardiff!

Cardiff!

This morning we had our free breakfast and after Julie got the car which we booked to come from Cardiff to Edinburgh we started our long journey (± 7h). During this Julie noticed that we had made a mistake: Edinburgh is not Edinburg. The mistake we made was booking a hostel in Edinburg which is in Texas and not in Scotland were we actually wanted to go. So we called booking.com and talked to a customer service adviser – the woman cancelled our booking and we didn’t need to pay anything! We then had to find somewhere to stay for tonight and we found it in Glasgow. After we arrived in Glasgow we decided to cook this evening. Annalisa cooked for us very good spaghetti carbonara, which we all enjoyed.

Josephine (16 years old, Germany)

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Jumping Teen Travellers

Jumping Teen Travellers

Glasgow!

Glasgow!

Day 7 & 8

We left our accommodation in Glasgow by 12:00, then we visited George square to listen to a Scottish live band. Then we took the car and drove to Tesco to buy sleeping bags and roll mats for our Scottish camping adventure. We then drove to Edinburgh. Once we got to our hostel, we left our bags and we went to Arthur’s seat and walked along the Royal Mile before having dinner. Then we went back to the hostel and we did laundry (finally!).

Royal Mile - Edinburgh

Royal Mile – Edinburgh

In the morning we had free time, so we went shopping on Princes Street, then we had a picnic in Princes Street Garden’s where we chilled for about 3 hours in the Scottish sun. Once we were all really relaxed after that, we went to Edinburgh castle and had a little more of free time before going to Calton Hill and getting back to Prince’s garden to end our last night in this wonderful city.

Annalisa (aged 16, Italy)

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Scottish Dancing?

Scottish Dancing?

Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Days 9 & 10

Every member of the team takes a turn to write the blog….including the Travel Mentor! After another good night sleep in Edinburgh we woke up very excited about the next part of our adventure. This adventure started with a train ride to a small town called Alloa where my father picked us up and took us all back to my house in Dollar. We then ate some lunch and started to plan our journey. After Annalisa saw a picture of the Isle of Skye last week she, and all the other travellers, have been very keen to make the journey up north to travel around the island. I dug out my old tent and left the Teen Travellers to it! It’s always good to practice putting up a tent before you reach a campsite, it is very embarrassing if you realise you don’t have everything you need with an audience of campers watching you. The Teen Travellers struck a great deal with my parents to rent the family car and kindly asked me if I would drive them, I agreed, but only on the understanding they would buy me coffee whenever I wanted! We packed the (large) car and hit the road with the sun still shining. We headed straight for the Isle of Skye and the 5-hour drive was simply stunning. We stopped occasionally to take some pictures of the beautiful lochs and to stretch our legs. It was getting near dinner-time so we got some supplies in Fort William and found a lovely spot to eat next to some grazing horses with the amazing Ben Nevis as our backdrop, it was very picturesque. We hit the road again after calling a campsite to book in for that night, it wasn’t quite on the Isle of Skye but it was soon to get dark and although the Teen’s had practiced putting up the tent, it is somewhat more tricky in the dark. We arrived just before sunset and the tent was up in a matter of minutes’ – this left us with just enough time to climb a small hill to watch the sun go down.

 

After a dry, yet windy night the Teens were excited to get to The Isle of Skye. We had breakfast and took down the tent before it blew away and hit the road again. The girls wanted to visit the famous Fairy Pools, which are in the west of Skye so we headed straight there. The Fairy Pools did not disappoint – they comprise of a natural waterfall where the water flows down creating pools in which the water is crystal clear. The girls ate lunch perched on a rock and then explored the pools. The pools are a popular place to go swimming and although it was a warm day, ‘Scottish’ warm isn’t the same as normal warm! We hit the road again, this time to Dunvegan where we would camp for the last time. The girls were very tired after all the driving so they set up camp and rested for a while before dinner. We then headed to the local supermarket where we bought a very random, yet lovely selection of food for a picnic. Our campsite is right on the Dunvegan Loch so we sat outside and filled our bellies next to the water. The girls played Uno in their tent not worrying about the rain that was moving in…it’s going to be a very wet night!

Julie (Travel Mentor, Scotland)