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Why did I Choose Whitby?
Because, I have never fallen as quickly or thoroughly in love with a place, since first visiting Puerto Viejo over a decade ago. Sunset over Whitby Rail Station, January 2025 I hopped off the train and strode purposefully toward the pier,toward my lodgings for the next four days. The seaside resort town was awash with the amber glow of sunset, and I had minutes to spare before oranges gave way to purples, then blues, then black in the night sky. 50 meters from the station, I turned around, grinning at the world and snapped my first photograp…
England 2025: Friendly Recommendations
I can recommend joining an online group that feeds your passion, and befriending at least one group member; asking them questions and sharing messages (not in a weird way). I can recommend cultivating a real friendship with this person, and growing to share your life's challenges and triumphs with this friend. I can recommend planning to visit your new friend whenever you visit their country, and perhaps have to cancel if one of you gets sick. I can recommend maintaining the friendship, speaking via text or phone for the next year or so be…
England 2025: One Great Night in Whitby
I Found the Buck Inn After another beautiful North Yorkshire day of photography, walking,and making humorous videos to send to friends via WhatsApp, I opted to skip dinner at my pub and grab something light. After my fruit and nuts tea, at about 5 or 6pm, I sauntered down the road to find that many pubs were closed of a Monday...but not the Buck Inn. Inside was a nice mix of folks, women, men, younger and older—all drinking age. I grabbed a pint of Guinness and an open seat toward the back of the pub, to write up the details of my day. Withi…
Reminiscing on Blood Pudding
Spending the last couple weeks in the UK, I have had multiple opportunities to have all or some of the full English breakfast. As I've sat with knife and fork poised, I heard many native diners order their fry ups without this particular delicacy, "full English, no black pudding..." time and again. Perhaps they also know how the sausage is made? Indeed, when I was a child in Antigua, I was witness to the life cycle of the common blood pudding (or black pudding, for those of a finer constitution). My grandparents had a…
England 2025: Manchester
Technically it's Day 3 I caught the train from Euston Station in London, to meet Emma at Manchester Picadilly, for an epic day out. We planned to eat in at the world-mentioned Kingfisher chippy in the Northern Quarter, then take a self-guided street art tour. If you don’t know about the Manchester art scene, it is filthy with tags, graffiti art, slaps, mosaics, and full-on building height murals. While it’s not the City of Angels, it is not to be missed! We grabbed me a fish n chips platter…still a meal too big for me to finish (and I ke…
England 2025: Getting to Whitby
On the North Yorkshire Coast Okay, why do they call it the Transpenine Express , since it hits every single stop between Manchester, and where I want to be. I’ve had to swap trains at Middlesboro, just to ensure that I go to every dale, ware, and kil before reaching my final destination. Perhaps rebrand it as the Transpenine Omnibus? Just a thought. Besides having lost phone service for the last 8 stops of the journey, it is magnificently beautiful to travel by train, in a warm sunny winter, through the dales and up to the coast. The Boro had …
England 2025: My Favorite Italian
Good Fare Italian Restaurant I awoke to another day pregnant with possibilities, in a newly renovated room on the 4th floor of the President Hotel (I need to find somewhere else to stay one day...ha. this is my 5th time!). Anyway, I'll admit to taking an early morning nap after breakfast. That was probably all of my jet lag, which was pretty mild this year. When I finally made it out--feeling like I've thwarted jet lag--I strolled through Camdentown and hit three of my favorite places: (1) the Mind charity shop, (2) the art supplies …
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