Saturday, July 27, 2013 @ 6:10 PM in 2013 Europe
Day 31
My plan yesterday was to stay at the hostel in Llanberis another couple nights so I could do more hiking and exploring in Snowdonia. Unfortunately when I inquired about vacancies at the hostel, they said they were completely booked. They called a few of the other hostels within bus distance and they were also all booked. Bummer.
Anything even remotely close to Snowdonia was completely booked (even the hostel I stayed at in Llandudno). I think everyone was taking advantage of the nice weather and heading to the parks. Lesson learned: If you're going somewhere awesome and it's near a weekend and you have nowhere else to be, book through the weekend!
What I had to do was head to Birmingham, England (the nearest biggest city within a day's travel). Since Llanberis was so remote, getting anywhere else on my prior list of destinations simply wasn't going to happen. I figured stationing myself in a large city will make it easier to plan my next move.
When I left Llanberis today, it was absolutely gorgeous outside! The weather was perfect for hiking, which made leaving even worse. I had to take two buses to get to Porthmadog, Wales and then I jumped on the train to Birmingham.
I bought my train ticket last night but there wasn't a ticket agent or ticket machine at the Porthmadog station, so not knowing what to do I got on the train. The ticket inspector on the train didn't know what to do with my confirmation number so he told me get off at a specific station where I could collect my ticket.
The train was hot and crowded. Eventually after 2 hours we made it to the station where I could get my ticket. I jumped off and got the ticket. When I got back on I actually had a seat I could sit at. Fortunately it was a little cooler where I sat down.
After another two and a half hours I made it to the bustling city of Birmingham. It's always quite the change going from a small rural town to a huge city. All the traffic and people and noise is not something I particularly enjoy.
I passed a huge open air market on my way to the hostel. I planned on getting something fresh there to cook with for dinner. After checking into the hostel, I went back to the market just in time for them to shut everything down. I was able to get some red peppers but that was it.
I just ran into two german guys who I hung out with for a night in Llanberis so we'll meet up for a few beers after we all eat. I think tomorrow I'll just hang out and get some work done. I've been needing to spend a day doing a real work session so this might be the time to do it.
Tags: daily journal, england, birmingham
Posted from: England