Brandon O'Brien

Sunday, August 25, 2013 @ 7:54 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 60

The weather was calling for rain all day so I was planning on just working all day. I got up around 8, ate and then saw that the rain had stopped and it was just a typical British overcast day. To take advantage of the promising weather, I packed my rain jacket, made a sandwich for lunch with an apple and orange and set off to the coast.

The Brighton Pier is only a 5 minute walk from the hostel and I came to that first. I walked out to the end but it was still too early for anything really to be happening. There were a lot of arcades and fair style games (knock down glasses, throw rings over coke bottles, etc).

After walking the pier I set off west and walked along the promenade for about 3 miles. The beach is completely different than it was up in Newquay. Here it's all smoothed rocks and there isn't any kind of cliffs. I stopped and had lunch then turned around and made my way back.

By now people were out and about and the promenade was starting to fill up. On the way back to the hostel I made a little detour and went though an area filled with restaurants, cafes and shops all on small streets. I found a place that does haircuts and beard trimming so I'll head there tomorrow. It's about time to get things trimmed up.

I came back to the hostel and did a little work and read for a bit before dinner. It's a "bank holiday" weekend so everyone has Monday off so I'm not sure if that means more people will be out tonight or not. I might head out and get a drink or two before calling it a night. Tomorrow I'm either going to check out some of the free museums (although I'm sure they'll be super busy) or I'll head east along the coast. It looked like there were some cliffs farther to the east along the ocean and I kinda want to check them out.

Teaser photos:

Brighton Pier

Storage units along the beachfront

Donut looking sculpture

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Tags: daily journal, england, brighton

Posted from: England

Saturday, August 24, 2013 @ 6:25 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 59

I got up at 5:30am this morning, ate some muffins for breakfast, then went over to the bus station. I was on a Megabus from Newquay to London. We didn't actually get into London until 2:30 (an hour late). That was a long time to be on a bus. I took a nap in the morning then read most of the rest of the way.

Fortunately my bus to Brighton didn't leave until 3:00 so I was able to make that. I got down to Brighton in the rain and checked into my hostel. My room has 15 beds (5 bunks with 3 beds each). My bed is right by the door too. I have a feeling it's going to be a long night of door slamming.

I ran over to Aldi to get some stuff for dinner and lunches for the next week. I'll probably make dinner soon (pesto ravioli, pasta sauce and some bread). It looks like the rain might be stopping. If it does, I'll head out and walk around a bit to stretch my legs.

Tags: daily journal, england, brighton

Posted from: England

Friday, August 23, 2013 @ 9:21 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 58

Today was my last day in Newquay and it ended up raining pretty much all day. Instead of being able to get out and enjoy the beach one more time I pretty much just hung out at the hostel all day.

My bus tomorrow leaves at 6:15am so I'm going to get up around 5:30 to get ready and head to the bus station. I'm trying to get as much organized and packed tonight as I can so when the morning comes I can pick up and go.

Tomorrow the bus from Newquay arrives in London at 1:30pm, then I catch another bus down to Brighton around 3pm.

It's been nice to stay in one place for a while and really get a chance to relax but I'm looking forward to seeing a new city and getting the chance to see some new sights.

Tags: daily journal, england, newquay

Posted from: England

Thursday, August 22, 2013 @ 7:54 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 57

I got up this morning and went for a run. I actually used my phone to track my run and it came to 6.5 miles, although the GPS signal wasn't too great so the actual distance is probably a little bit more. After the run I came back to the hostel, ate lunch, relaxed for a bit then went out and read in a park near the beach for a while.

It was another beautiful day today so being outside was my goal. Tomorrow is calling for rain which is a shame since it's going to be my last day here in Newquay.

For dinner I was trying to finish up odds and ends I had here at the hostel so I made some potatoes with onion and then bought some soup and threw the rest of my peas in there. It ended up being a really delicious dinner.

I'm going to head out and walk around town a little bit now since it's still really nice out. I'll probably get some ice cream or something too while I'm out.

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Tags: daily journal, england, newquay

Posted from: England

Wednesday, August 21, 2013 @ 9:35 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 56

Again, not much new to report on today. I got up, ate, then went to the beach to read for a while. It was low tide so I found a rock outcropping to sit on and read and enjoy the afternoon. Eventually families came around and kids started running around and playing on the rocks I was reading at so I ate a sandwich I had packed and then went to some benches above the beach.

I read there for a while and finally finished my book. It was Lee Child's 61 Hours book featuring Jack Reacher. It was a pretty quick read and was entertaining enough. I'm still not 100% sure what my next book should be but there's a Neil Stevenson book in the little bookshelf that I might take up.

Some new people showed up today so we were just chilling down in the lounge area drinking some beers and hanging out. I'll probably go back down there for a little while after finishing this blog post and my journal.

Tomorrow will probably be more of the same... run in the morning then go to the beach and read in the afternoon. It's been beautiful here and sitting out enjoying the nice weather by the beach is definitely not a bad way to be spending some time.

Tags: daily journal, england, newquay

Posted from: England

Tuesday, August 20, 2013 @ 9:30 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 55

I got up around 8:30 this morning, ate, changed and then went for a run. I changed up my route this time and ran the opposite direction I had been. I got back and did a little work, ate lunch and then waited around for everyone to get ready to go to the beach. No one was really motivated so I ended up reading at the hostel until around 6 when we finally got together to head to the beach.

It's Mark's last night here so he surfed a little bit while the rest of us chilled under the little gazebo overlooking a really nice sunset.

Being in the same location for a long time means you kinda run out of new things to do on a daily basis which is why my journal entries are getting shorter and shorter the longer I stay in one place.

Teaser photos:

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Tags: daily journal, england, newquay

Posted from: England

Monday, August 19, 2013 @ 7:54 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 54

Not too much to report today. I went down to the beach and read for a couple hours, walked around the coast a bit and then read some more. It was a beautiful day so I wanted to spend as much time outside as I could.

My bread ended up being moldy so I couldn't make toast for breakfast or a sandwich for lunch so I just ended up having grapes and an apple for breakfast. For lunch I had a doner kebab and for dinner I got some fresh cod and cooked that with butter, garlic, lemon and onion and had it with some peas. As soon as I finished dinner, Kyle came back with a ton of food from his work so I had half a sausage panini.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do later tonight. It sounds like people are planning on going out, which I might join in if they don't wait too late to start.

Teaser photos:

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Tags: daily journal, england, newquay

Posted from: England

Sunday, August 18, 2013 @ 9:18 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 53

I got up this morning to some beautiful weather. Last night I told myself I'd get up and run if it was nice so I ate, changed into my running gear and set off toward the coast to run. I went down to Watergate Bay again for another 8 mile run.

When I got back, Ryan and Luke were talking about going down to the beach for the afternoon. I ate and then when they were ready we went down to Great Western beach with a big gazebo, a raft and a frisbee.

The weather looked a little gloomy and we got rained on after setting up the gazebo, but the rain only lasted a little while and then it ended up being beautiful. We got there at low tide and as the day went on the beach shrunk and shrunk as high tide came in. The waves were really big today and when I got in, it felt like I was on the Atlantic side of Florida with the big waves.

We relaxed on the beach and threw the frisbee around for a while before heading back to the hostel. I showered and changed and then went in search of food. ASDA and Sainsbury's were both closed on Sunday so I ended up getting some cheap Chinese food.

We've just been chilling at the hostel watching movies and having a few drinks. I'm not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow. I need to get in touch with the hostels in Brighton and make sure I can get the weekly rates.

Teaser photos:

Great Western Beach

Great Western Beach

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Tags: daily journal, newquay, england

Posted from: England

Saturday, August 17, 2013 @ 9:06 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 52

I knew today was supposed to be a rainy nasty day so I didn't set an alarm this morning. Because of it being a little darker outside and no alarm being set, I actually slept in until 11am... the latest I've slept in at least a couple years.

After eating lunch I worked on figuring out where I'm heading to next. I booked buses to Brighton. I've heard it's a pretty cool town and it will give me another area of England to visit that I've never been before. I'm still waiting to hear back from one of the hostels about their weekly rate, but the plan is to stay there for about 9 days.

Other than that I've just been relaxing here reading and doing a little work. I'm getting a little antsy now so I'll probably head out to the grocery and get something for breakfast so I don't have to worry about that in the morning.

Depending on how the weather behaves, I'm planning on doing a run in the morning to make up for being absolutely lazy today.

Tags: daily journal, england, newquay

Posted from: England

Friday, August 16, 2013 @ 7:20 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 51

It started off a little gloomy but I ate breakfast, made a sandwich and then headed to the southwest along the coast. It started to clear up and turned into a really nice day. I brought my book and stopped several times along the walk to read for a while.

After about 1:00 it started to warm up pretty good so I headed back to the hostel and got some Cornish Ice Cream along the way. It's supposed to taste different due to the cream being used but I thought it tasted like normal ice cream. Still good, but nothing too different.

When I got back to the hostel I read for a while longer and answered a few emails then Mark asked if I wanted to do a BBQ for the hostel tonight. It sounded good to me so we headed off to Aldi and bought a bunch of food.

We made some chicken, burgers, sausage, meat skewers, peas and home fries. There was a ton of food and everyone enjoyed it.

The weather tomorrow is supposed to be crappy so I'll probably just chill here at the hostel and do some work. I booked another few nights here so I'll be staying through next Friday. Newquay is cool and I figure I'd rather just stay here and chill than jump back on a train or bus. After that I'll head down to Brighton and see what it's like there before heading into mainland Europe.

Teaser photos:

Newquay coast

Newquay coast

Newquay coast

Newquay coast

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Tags: daily journal, england, newquay

Posted from: England