At last I am back to the odd keyboard in the land of our ancient lords across the pond. And here I sit in the house of the family of my friend, my path lit by the passion for adventure and the impetuousness of youth. I am punctual and well; with both on my side, this should prove to be a fantastic journey.

David and ChristieLanding perfectly on time at Manchester airport, I disembarked to find all my luggage accounted for thankfully. I made my way to the train station after asking information and found tickets to Colwyn Bay which is where Dave’s (Christie’s fiancee) family lives. I asked about hostel discounts and rail passes and ended up only getting a young person discount which costs £20 but you get a third off for every ticket which will eventually pay off. I exchanged my money to find that everything was immediately halfed! This is going to be an expensive trip. The prices are still the same so when a meal costs £6 it really costs $12! Yikes.

Anyway, got to Colwyn Bay by train and took the taxi to the address Christie had give me, only cost me 3 quid. Once there, I met all the family and we went back in the garden where the Sherrys have been building a little pond and gazebo that are quite nice and well built. They’re putting me up in my own room, so that’s really nice before I spend most nights in packed rooms of smelly backpackers.

I got to see Shauna and Christie and Christie’s mom again and it was quite nice to have the reunion. We stayed back in the garden and talked for a while. Then the kids, meaning Shauna, Christie, Dave, and I decided to go to the beach which wasn’t far off from here. We stopped by Gill’s (a family friend) where Christie’s aunt, uncle and cousins are staying. We picked up the two kids, Erin and Kyle and all went to the beach. It was no CA beach but the water was really nice. Gotta love the Atlantic.

We walked out really far cause it was quite shallow and played with the jellyfish (found to be nonstingy by experiment) and sandskimmers. Threw some frisby, some rugby, good times.

We then went out to dinner and had some really good food, came back to the house and drank wine and talked a bit longer and then the adults went to bed and the kids stayed up, built a fire and hung out some more before going to bed. It’s been a full and good day and I seem to be all caught up with my circadian rhythms.

I should go though, still here at the Sherrys and we’re about to go out to the market. Oh btw, I approve of Dave, the dart playing, rugby throwing, smoking welshman that he is. He seems a good guy.

Okay traveling and nontraveling buddies! It’s time for another wonderful episode of Zach’s Travels!

This time, I’m taking a delightful jaunt of an adventure into the back country of Great Britain, including Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. This is the least I’ve ever planned for a trip. I don’t even know exactly where I’m going or how I’m going to get there. I’ll just go from place to place and see where the wind doth take me. Sounds like fun!

My flight leaves the morning of the 7th and then the real fun begins. I hope you’ll all enjoy coming along with me on this virtual tour of Great Britian.

Man, I sound like an afterschool special or something.