Places You're Considering Seeing After Covid/Domestic or International.

I don't know about you, but, when my own restrictions are lifted and I'm allowed to go further than local, I'm feeling to travel, see places/go places.

Now, if my country was to lift restrictions, that doesn't mean other countries will, so I'm thinking about all the places I may be allowed to go to within my own borders if the borders are closed, that I'd like to see, may as well see them now while other places are closed, when I'm allowed to travel. - That's me, I'm in England, I'm in London but I think we replaced Tiers for a national Lockdown and Scotland are doing their own version of Lockdown stopping travel from England... So I'm in England; Lockdown isn't going to last forever, but where to go?

Travel in a world with Covid?

...
I travelled last year during a pandemic, the last year my British self could go to the EU under freedom of movement, this was when things were relaxing here and getting tense in Amsterdam, NL (where I went in the EU).
I left London after the 2nd Lockdown and landed in Amsterdam the same week the Dutch started to get strict with face masks.
Dutch landing forms for Covid, I saw 1 police check for masks and walked through it with a mask with my landing papers on my person if they needed to see them.
But I was following the news out there just before I went, and noticed that the week before they announced their face mask rule - So what happens in the UK; in England, isn't what happens else where; so to play it safe, I'm thinking, when lock down ends, England seems like a safe bet.

Where in England?
I'm in London, so not London, since to me, that's not travel travel, that's just going out.

I'm looking at/thinking about Whitby on the Yorkshire coast...
Get my Bram Stoker's Dracula on and hope to get some fresh air from a more tranquil pace of life seeing Whitby.







If I arrive for 10 am, I'm having a 12 hour travel time.

... If I arrive at 5 pm (lame if everything closes at 7)... then it's a 6 hour trip.

Even if I flew, it's 4 hours from the airport in Newcastle.
And an hour to get to the airport, and an hour to get the aeroplane from London to Newcastle..
If I fly I arrive at 4 pm, land at 11 am and leave the airport at Noon.

That's long, I wonder if going by land'll be funner since it's the same travel time for me.

....
It's so far, I may extend it with a day in Liverpool on my return somehow to check out Bold St. and Liverpool.

- That's how far Whitby is for me; It's got me thinking, things I could also see if I detour to them on my way home.






...

Where are you planning to go after Covid?

 

In England my first trip will be down to Cornwall to see an old friend and maybe get in a few castles.
I've already been to St Michael's Mount and Tintagel so maybe...

Pendennis, a bit modern for me being 16th century but nice looking and well preserved.


Restormel, much better, late 13th century and unusual design. Proper medieval motte and bailey.


Launcester, proper early one, first built in timber around 1068 and replaced in stone by 1240. A bit in ruins but very atmospheric.

 

Upon further research for Whitby;
Coach

Spoiler

2 Changes

• 
  LONDON VICTORIA Coach Station
  National Express
  Service: 561
  Departs: 08:00
• 
  LEEDS Coach Station, Dyer Street
  Arrives: 12:30

Change Coach

• 
  LEEDS Coach Station, Dyer Street
  Yorkshire Coastliner
  Service: 843
  Departs: 13:45
• 
  2" class="nx-journey-info-modal-arrival-date-description ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px;">Show calling points
• 
  Sat 17 Apr 2021
  Malton
  Arrives: 15:39

Change Coach

• 
  Malton
  Yorkshire Coastliner
  Service: 840
  Departs: 16:15
• 
  2" class="nx-journey-info-modal-arrival-date-description ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px;">Show calling points
• 
  Whitby
  Arrives: 17:40

Which means leaving at 6:50 am to get to the coach station at 7:30 am for the 8 am coach...
£68.20 --
Coming home would be leave Whitby at 12:00 noon and arrive back at Victoria Coach Station at 10:50 pm.
The only upside to this would be coming home at night, but would mean killing 2 hours in Whitby if checkout's at 10 am.

Train

Spoiler

09:13
15:36 - 4 changes.

09:13
Thornton Heath
26m

09:39
London Victoria
Take the Tube from London Victoria to London Kings Cross

10:25
London Kings Cross
2h 6m
12:31
York



8m transfer time



12:39
York
49m
13:28
Thornaby



26m transfer time



13:54
Thornaby
1h 42m

15:36
Whitby

It's a short walk to this train station and another short walk from the train station in Whitby to the hotel.
Huge bonus. So I'd leave my house at 9 am for that 9: 13 am train.

4 changes though.
Train leaves Whitby coming home at 8:45 am back in Thornton Heath by 3 pm.
...
Or I could make it 5 changes via East Croydon and catch a later train and have an extra day in Whitby (I'm sure I'd find something to do) and left at 4 pm and arrived back in Thornton Heath by 11 pm for £153.05

Flight (turns out there's a better airport for Whitby than my initial thought of going up to Newcastle which was killed by a 4 hour trip from that airport to Whitby making it the same journey time... Teeside International MME (I've never heard of it but it's an hour away from Whitby and they've got a flight from Heathrow so, I'm considering it.

Spoiler

08:50 am - 10:05 am 1hr 15min non stop LHR - MME
/
05:55 pm - 07:10 pm 1hr 15min non stop MME - LHR

For £149.00

BUT...

It's £70 (each way so, £140) in minicabs or Uber between MME and Whitby.

Allowing for 90 minutes for a domestic flight... and 'blimey, 1hr 44mins to get to the airport from mine, I'm leaving at 05:20 am to get to the airport at 07:20 am and I'd arrive in Whitby at around 11 am but will spend just over £300 in travel (factoring TFL travel card getting me to and from LHR).

 

It's where Bram Stoker went to work on Dracula, I've read Dracula, and most of what I enjoyed about that story was its London locations hitting close to home to me here, however, that said, Whitby still has this cool Gothic looking ruins 'Whitby Abbey' and a spot where Bram Stoker used to sit, which is cool enough for me, beside, it seems a good as a place as any to visit.




And then there's this



And it even played home to Amazon's The Grand Tour for a little while.



...
Whitby.

I want to go for the Dracula stuff, but the Simply Red video's an added bonus to me.

 

I know this might seem silly, but I have no experience traveling abroad and I don't know the first thing about it. So I'm trying to set up a mini vacation by going somewhere else stateside, possibly with my partner. Like go to the other side of the US, go to some park, and just spend a couple of days camping or hiking or something.

 

I think it's down to Covid restrictions where you are on how far you can travel, and I guess it would be unconstitutional to stop people's passage in the whole of the US for someone in America.
If you're allowed into another country or not, if the borders are or aren't open, if you're under lock down with travel restrictions, and that finally gets lifted/ends, and you're confined to somewhere or not, is what it comes to down to; I feel personally, that Scotland may be open to me coming in from England, but there's no guarantee, and as for travelling overseas this year, I don't think that's going to happen since other countries are in their own lock down with spikes of Covid as we're coming out of ours.

 

I rang this hotel in Whitby I wanted but wasn't on the price comparison websites because of Covid and them not being open yet, and they were indeed open for when I wanted to travel; but we got to talking, the hotel is a national hotel but the person I spoke with knew the area and the hotel I wanted and we got to talking, seems like a nice place...

He said, if he was taking the train or bus up from London to Whitby, he'd stop off sommewhere and do it in 2 days, suggested somewhere but then I asked 'York', and reasoned with him that I could take the train up in 2 hours from King's Cross to York, so York it is... Turns out staying in York is okay enough, but then I'd most likely have to repeat this on the way home, so, very quickly this idea of parting my journey up was gone and I no longer wanted a room in York.. but he reminded me of the bus company, telling me that the coach company can get me from York to Whitby in 2 hours.
For £15 (staff was at home during this hotel's closure but he still helped me) so he told me, take the train to York, then for £15, take the coach from York to Whitby and be there in like 4 hours, then he theorised that doing that you could leave in the morning and be there for the afternoon...
So I thanked him for his time today and advice.

And sure enough, he was right.

I can take the train up to York and the coach from York to Whitby.

Spoiler

That's one train to Victoria, the Underground from Victoria to King's Cross and the King's Cross to York train.

3 changes on the train.

Then in York I can take the coach from York to Malton, change coach, and get the Coach from Malton to Whitby.

1 change on the coach.

Now, there's only 2 coaches out per day that can do this for me and the first one leaves York at 9:20 am (so I'm not going to make that one).. Therefore, it has to be the 3:20 pm coach out of York to Malton to change there for Whitby - so that means arrive in York for 14:30 pm, which means leave my local train station at 10:30 am and arrive in Whitby at 17:40 with an hour to kill in York.

Now I'm going to have to work out the same for a rtn trip, but in theory, it's cheaper and easier.

Only downside, I don't like having a 6 minute window to change coaches in Malton and, Malton being the only place out of all of this that I've not even heard of before.
Never been to: York, Malton or Whitby before, so me doing any of this past King's Cross will be a first for me if I went that way and taking the coach from York.

 

Loads to see in York.
Castle, medieval city walls, Jorvik Viking centre, national railway museum, York Minster.

 

For me it isn't about places - I want to see people! During this covid period, my mother has died and my older brother had a stroke. I haven't been able to see any of my family - so any travel will be all about going to see them. And please know that I don't mean to disrespect your thread or your desire to see places - so many people are the same. I just don't have that same desire. If I were told that I had one year to live, I wouldn't have any desire to travel and see things - just be with those I love.

 

Really sorry to hear about your Mum and brother.
Yeah I know what you mean, I've probably only seen half a dozen friends in the last year.
I'm most looking forward to being able to put my juggling convention on so I can see all my old friends again.

 

I hope that happens for you VERY soon!!!

 

September, all going well.

 

I don't doubt, but I have a life in Thornton Heath to get back to and, adding one extra day felt wrong little lone the possibility of two.


I'm still deciding on Bus, Rail or Air for Whitby though, but it seems I'm not into taking any days off of spending time in Whitby or adding any additional days away from home and breaking up my journey for it.

 

I tweeked the idea of train and bus and got this to for now... just under 6 hours, with no waiting around anywhere.

 

They should project a funny face onto that castle, make some weird googly eyes and the staircase like a tongue spread out.
Maybe the doorway could be the face and the two surrounding walls could be like hands, and it's making a funny face at you, sticking it's tongue out at you too, give it clown makeup perhaps.

Or, someone surrendering and their arms are up and that staircase could be the mouth, open, gasping out of shock, IDK about that on a castle, IDK about a clown too, but, that door way, those stairs, that wall, there is a picture / face that could be used for a light projected spectacle.

I was going to say paint it but, old historical building and whatnot, so, project it, maybe best seen at night, IDK, but, yeah.

Or a lion's bottom, and the the staircase could be the tail, so it would look like there's a huge lion perched at the top of the hill, but you could only see it from the back of it

 

That's just castlephobic man.

 

I've went ahead and booked 2 nights Whitby this year.

 

I've booked Amesbury for Stonehenge this year.
I figure, I'd like the 2 mile hike better than the bus from Salisbury, so went for Amesbury.

 

Nice. I've never seen the Amesbury stone circle.
I should see Stonehenge from the road on the way to Cornwall.

 

I'm only going for the world heritage one (Stonehenge) at equinox first hike through somewhere with livestock danger.
Any other landmarks in the area are serving as navigation tools as I've never been before, 3 nights in Amesbury I figure should be fine to sleep off any equinox adventure after the event. It's all open to the public for that event bonus, can touch the stones too, bonus. (I wanted to go before I learned that).

Cornwall was on my mind for another first (to see Cornwall), I was looking at Land's End and basing myself at The Land's End Hotel in the county - going off and seeing beaches and towns for shopping and eating and coming back to The Land's End Hotel for that Atlantic Ocean view; but maybe one day, as I opted for the equinox instead and I don't want to try and find Cornish Ice Cream in Christmas peek season if I spent Chirtsmas at The Land's End Hotel.

 

I think it's a 4 mile hike and I was lied to, IDK, but should be fun if I don't get lost or trampled on.

 

My sister wanted me to visit... I didn't have the heart to tell her that
a) I'm not taking a vaccine and without a vaccine you're not leaving the country...(as decided by the Airline execs)
b) international travel is likely to become extremely expensive as it is one of the highest uses of oil....and we have long gone past peak oil.

 

I'm honestly wondering if I should cancel Amesbury because I fear the place is a dud and I'd probably have a better time doing equinox from mine and taking the train to Salisbury and the Solstice Bus to the site for equinox and coming home in the morning.
The hike to Stonehenge seems fun basing myself in Amesbury though and I was getting all excited about it, and getting to see Amesbury, until I looked Amesbury up and the town is a reminder of why I love London so much.
I just, really didn't feel Amesbury from anything I've found; so I may cancel since part of the fun of this trip was seeing the place too.
The place makes my skin crawl, so I may or may not cancel Amesbury and bucket list it from mine for that one/still wondering on that one; I've got a while to decide before it's too late though, so, I'd hold on to my reservation in case something changes my mind, but, I might just take the Stonehenge Solstice Bus from Salisbury and back for that one and spend all night at Stonehenge coming in from mine that day and coming home in the morning... I still know what time I have to be there, so, that could be done.

 

I wasn't feeling Amesbury for Stonehenge this year so I cancelled that booking and extended my time up North being based out of Whitby so I can do everything I want to do and give myself time to rest and explore surrounding areas like Robin Hood's Bay.

 

On a random whim decided I remember another place in England I've not yet been that I'd like to go/see and, rather than just assuming I will see it one day and leaving it at that, I've booked 2 nights in Cambridge this Summer.

A part of me hopes Sir Isaac's tree is still there and that I'd be able to sit under it and light one up/have a doobie relaxing on the tree of knowledge; I doubt it's possible but, I'll work out what to do now I've booked, and it really was on a whim, finding a deal and a place I liked after searching it for the first time and liking its transport links from London. Now I've got a Cambridge trip to plan and I'm knocking it off my bucket list in the 'Things I Assume My Eyes'd See Anyway' section using 2021's difficulty with overseas travel and price hiking PRC Tests with Covid as the perfect opportunity to see the country/Cambridge in my year I'm dubbing 'Year of the Staycation' anyway.

Now I've seen Oxford, knocked that one off my list one summer's afternoon/evening years ago on a day trip once, so it seems fitting I see Cambridge too (and why not) as I've always wanted to see Cambridge too (as far as cities/places on Earth go), at some point - I've also been punting in Oxford and see the same activity as a tour in Cambridge so, that's a possibility.