So, why Yorkshire? First, it is in Great Britain, second, I have never been that far up north of England. And Third, I read in a book called "Icons of England" about a very nice train track that goes from London to York with wonderful sights. Three good reasons, so I started planning.
Whenever I travel - and I do not do it very often - I start to map it out. How to get there, what to do there, what books to buy there, what to eat there. I do take planes, but I don't really like planes. So I decided to skip planes and find alternative ways of travelling.
I might have mentioned a book called: the idle traveller and that is about slow travelling. That idea appealed to me, as I found our world is getting to fast. Maybe I am just getting slower, though I am not yet pensioners age, so maybe not. At any rate, I decided to slow down the few travels I intend to do. Therefore taking the train was the first idea. Taking the Eurostar that would mean. So travelling to Brussels and from there to London. OR, travelling to Calais and then take the ferry to Dover and the train from there.
In the end I decided to take the train to Rotterdam, then the ferry to Hull and from there take the National Express, which seems to be a bus, to Gargrave, where my B&B is. So, the "to" is cleared.
The "What to do there" I decided to leave open. There are a lot of things to do, like travelling on a steam train, visit the Yorkshire Dales, take the Herriot-Country in, visit Bradford, where J.B. Priestley is from, maybe even see the Bronte-Museum, though I am not a Bronte-fan.
Then go to Harrogate and York and Cleckheaton. A lot to do for three days, but these are just the options.
Why Cleckheaton you ask? Because of a book by Dame Agatha, called "Passenger to Frankfurt". Not only did that remind me of "The Prisoner of Zenda", it had a great-aunt in it, called "Mathilda Cleckheaton" and I loved that character. So when I found the name on the map of Yorkshire I thought, that would be a nice idea. Giggleswick sounds like an interesting place. If you just take the name alone.
At any rate: I will go to York, on the last day, because I want to take the train I wrote about. I don't think the sights will be any less nice, if you travel from York to London.
Now Yorkshire I will have for four days and then I travel on to??? Yes, you guessed it, to London. I decided to have my birthday there this year. So I will take three nights there and I will have them in a four star hotel near Waterloo station. I looked at a lot of four star and five star hotels and finally decided on this, because I liked the look of it, so there it is. And there are songs about Waterloo..
Just to keep the musical theme on track. I had written this text very much earlier, but - as so often - had some technical problems. At any rate, I got there finally and so let's go on about travel.
What I like about holidays is being on the go, once I arrive, I do not always seem to know what to do with myself. This is completely unrelated to wether I travel alone or with others. Personally, I prefer travelling alone, as I can then just do or not do, as I please. Take this arrival problem: what would I like to do? Have a shower and put the kettle on. Then unpack or not, watch the TV-Program of the country I am in, just BE. Maybe just sit on the bed, fiddle with the stuff in the room, look around and once I did that - providing it is not late at night - going for a stroll, getting my bearings.
All this can be done with another person of course, but then you have to discuss who takes the shower first, who next, whether the TV will be switched on (which can become a problem, if you don*t agree in that point), whether you go out or not and if you do, where you go and what you do.
Even with the most compatible person you have to at least grunt your ideas and then find out, if that is agreeable or not and if the latter, what the other person would prefer. YES! I know, all this is not really a problem, you just talk it out and act accordingly, I never said, it is not possible. I am just trying to convey, that I prefer to just do or don't as I please, without discussing it.
Also I have the - for others - annoying habit of going somewhere and on the way there deciding to do something entirely else. So I do that. One can't do that to others. I wouldn't like it, if the shoe was on the other foot. So I can only do that alone.
Before traveling you have to find the hotel and the mode of travel, as I described and that can be trouble as well. The company might not like the hotel you fell in love with or would prefer to fly, as that is faster and would take less time off the holiday or would not like to fly or take the train, but take a very cheap bus, with no conveniences but the low price. No luxury, only the cheapest acomodation for a longer stay or to have more money for museums.
Once there he/she/it might prefer to take long walks, see all churches or museums or spend the whole holiday on the beach roasting or swimming and not seeing anything else at all. At the same time not willing to do that alone, but expecting the company to stay on the beach as well.
OR, if a tour is o.k., than not on ones own, but in a guided tour, in German of course, why bother to take the english tour in England (I prefer England or Great Britain for travel).
You see, I have given this some thought and come to a conclusion: I myself am not an easy travel-companion. I like my experiences just so. And I like to change my plans a lot, not do something I wanted, but doing something else instead or nothing but having tea at a nice place, spend time in a library or bookshop or a fun museum or any other fun place. Just sit and read somewhere, just traveling around in a bus, or sit in my hotel-room and read. That's not easy for others and so, to prevent trouble for both sides, I started traveling by myself and am very happy about it.
A funny thing, I always experience, once I tell my holiday plans is: Who do you travel with. And my answer evolved into: With myself... Which causes the question: All alone? And I say, of course...
Doing things all alone is for most people a horrible thought. Being alone somewhere, doing things alone. And this does not concern danger at all. Now: I do not go, where I know it to be dangerous or not wise for a woman to travel alone. And I don't go out late at night. I don't like it here, why should I bother in my holidays? Any other danger might meet me at home as well as abroad. So, that's no problem. And at home I like to be by myself as well, usually one has 6 days out of seven filled mostly with people. I think that too much. So I looked forward to four days of peace and only really got 2. One I let go for some shopping, but I didn't really have to chat to anyone or be with anyone. The other was taken from me by my family who can not share my enjoyment in being alone and since they think I can't be happy, they cajole me into meetings. It makes them happy and I am expected to be happy as well. I am not.
And on this happy note, let me say good bye. I shall write more about travels. Be afraid. Be very afraid, as Johnny English once said.
Which reminds me, that I liked Rowan Atkinson best as the Black Adder. VERY WITTY!!
And in Keepin Mum as well... :-)
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen