A Trip Across the Pond : Brighton

As per our usual Saturday routine, Gabel and I picked a destination and went exploring on Saturday. This time we chose Brighton, a city known for being vibrant, eclectic, and full of life. Gabel and I had been offered jobs here as well but they only had full time work, while we really wanted to start of supplying first to get used to things.

Brighton was everything we thought it would be which was unfortunate because after walking around for a few minutes I could tell I would way rather be living in that city than Southampton. Not that I don't like Southampton - I do. But Brighton is basically the coolest city I've ever seen/been to.

We took the 9:33 train Saturday morning and it's an hour and forty five minute train ride so naturally Gabel slept the whole way. I swear that girl gets most of her sleep from travelling. I laugh so hard when I think of our different attitudes to travelling.

Me: yippee long train ride, Gabel and I can plan our next trip and figure out our Halloween costumes
Gabel (five seconds after being on a moving vehicle): k peace I'm sleeping

Hahaha super funny. She can literally sleep anywhere at anytime. Anyways, we got to Brighton at 11:18 and right away it looked cooler. And there were TONS of people. The train we took was packed to the point where there were people standing which I hadn't seen before. The train station reminded me of a playoff hockey game back home. People were chanting and screaming. We actually googled if there was an event going on that weekend but it turned out to be just a regular Saturday in Brighton.

Our first stop was through the streets of downtown to the Royal Pavilion. It's so neat. One minute you're on the busiest bustling street in the heart of downtown and then suddenly you make one turn and you're in the pavilion gardens and it's like you've stepped onto another planet. The gardens are so lush and beautiful, filled with flowers and palm trees. And the pavilion itself is like nothing I've ever seen. It looks like an extravagant palace for a sultan in Malaysia or Brunei or something. That coupled with the palm trees and the fact that there was someone playing a sitar, honestly made it feel like we were in another country. Such a stunning sight to see.

Next we went down to the water. Brighton is located right on the ocean like Southampton is but Southampton doesnt have many beaches. Brighton is allllll beach. The beach stretched out for miles!! And it's a pebble beach. The city is literally right behind the beach and it's so beautiful I couldn't believe it. We went into the Sea Life Aquarium there and had a blast. The architecture on the inside of the aquarium is very gothic and each archway was illuminated in a different colour light. There were tons of tanks carrying the neatest creatures. There's interactive rock pools where you can touch starfish and crabs. Our favourite was definitely the large aquarium though. From up top you can just see the sharks and massive sea turtles swimming around. We had lots of fun looking into the massive tank until we realized.. we could go through it!! Underneath there is a tunnel that goes through the aquarium and you walk through it and sharks and turtles are literally swimming above your head. It's like actually being in the water. We stayed in that tunnel forever because Gabel is obsessed with turtles and I am fascinated by sharks. Very cool.

After the aquarium we were starving so we headed to the famous Brighton pier for lunch. The pier is a must see for anyone visiting Brighton. It has every type of food imaginable, candy, an arcade, rides, three bars, tons of free deck chairs for suntanning, games, piercings, tattoos, restaurants, etc. We treated ourselves to lunch and treats and then set out to complete the Brighton Pier Scavenger Hunt.
It's called 10 Things To Do On The Brighton Pier and here's the list:

1) Glide around the carousel like Mary Poppins
2) Eat a bag of doughnuts without licking the sugar off your lips
3) Eat fish n chips in the "spiritual home" of fish n chips
4) Climb to the top of Helter Skelter to see the Isle of Wight
5) Sit Back and Relax looking out to sea in the deck chairs
6) Have a birds eye view of Brighton Pier from 38 metres in the air with the Super Booster before swinging through the air at 60mph
7) Stick your head through the photo boards for a funny photo
8) Sing karaoke in the world famous Glitter Ball Bar
9) Win a giant cuddly toy on the Hook a Duck and Tin Can Alley
10) Take home a Brighton Pier Candy Rock.

We managed to all the things except for #6. And we kind of stretched #8. But still! We did the Brighton Pier Scavenger Hunt and it was fun.

After the pier and exploring the beach we went to The Lanes which is a famous shopping district downtown. The stores are all super close together so you can barely even walk two people across between them. And the stores are all very posh, unique, funky boutiques. We are too poor to buy anything (well actually Gabel bought a hair scrunchie!) but it was fun to walk around and window shop. I almost bought a big headpiece to wear for my wedding (so exciting!) but in the end it wasn't exactly what I wanted so I figured I'd wait for my trip to London.

Then we trained home and hung out at night. Brighton was definitely worth the visit and when people come to visit me, I'd love to take them there. Here's some pics from the day:

The Royal Pavilion