Do you ever get that need and that feeling of desperation to escape the city? Of course you do...you would be stupid to not think that! Well, that's the feeling that sparked my most recent day of travel. It had been a few weeks since I had the chance to escape London for the day. I know, it's only a few weeks, but a few weeks in one of the busiest cities requires regular R&R. I came over here to explore dammit. And while London is a great place to explore, I was craving fresh air and a more quiet environment. It was the perfect opportunity to do another day trip.
There are still so many places in the U.K. I want to see, but what I desperately wanted to see, was the sea. Woah. That hurts my brain.
Where did I go? Canterbury and Dover...South East England, both in the county of Kent. I'd previously been to Dover before, but only to travel to France. Canterbury...look, it was not on my list of places to go, but it came highly recommended. When I was chatting to my mum about doing a day trip, she suggested I book a tour. I booked through Viator, I paid £67 and off I went.
If I'm going to be honest (which I always am, so why would I start the sentence off like that, but I'm going to keep it there anyway), I was not particularly keen on the whole "tour guide" situation. I mean, come on, I live here now, why should I do a tour? I guess that's the question I really want to answer. I feel like most expats tend to explore without booking a tour. Perhaps because it's quite a pricey thing to do. But once you factor in entrance costs (which were part of my tour price), it probably works out the same. While it was fantastic to be taken to these two locations, unfortunately, the tour guide offered little insight or information as to the locations we were going to. A few facts here and there, but basically, she was more of a "Okay, so here's a map, this is where we are now and this is where we need to meet at this time. I'd recommend seeing this, but you can do what you want. Have fun!" This approach is totally fine for me, but what about the others on the tour who don't live in the country and this is there one and only chance to visit this particular area? I also cringed when we arrived in Canterbury and she whipped out a red flag...I had never been a tour where there needed to be a flag and I was hoping to avoid that situation for the rest of my life.
I think if anyone is planning on doing a day trip out of London through a tour company, I personally believe it's only worth paying for a tour if you are going to multiple locations - for instance, a tour to Stonehenge, Bath and Stratford-upon-Avon. But then again, when you live here, why do you need to condense those places into one day? I think with the locations I went to, half a day in each was enough. Would I recommend booking this through a tour company? No. You could pay just a bit less and get all the same inclusions and it will be a quicker trip (trains don't usually involve peak hour traffic).
Anyway, that's somewhat of a mini review of my trip. To see more, head on over to my YouTube channel and check out my video on the day. Otherwise, enjoy some of my snaps!
Being near the ocean again was amazing. The last time I was at the beach was with my sister at the Gold Coast just before I left. I know it's only been almost 4 months, but, Sundays at the Gold Coast were a regular/almost weekly occurrence. Four months is a long time to be away from something that is usually just a part of your life. It really sunk in that seeing the ocean was something I now have to treasure...well, at least for the next 2 years.
I was so lucky this day! France was so clear and so close! Only on the best of days are you able to see France. The weather turned it on for me, perfect for photos.
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