Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme

13 June 2016 – Monday

I left Blackburn for a five day coach holiday to Scarborough in Yorkshire on the northeast coast.

As the bus traveled across northern England I could only think of the horror that had occurred just the day before in my home of Orlando. As more information came forth the story just got more and more terrible. It was hard to juxtapose the beautiful countryside I was seeing with the thoughts of the horror and death that had gone on just twenty-four hours earlier in the States. #OrlandoStrong

The fair was not on while I was there but you can imagine this Simon & Garfunkel fan was humming the tune.  🙂 This destination was not one I had planned or was I even sure where it is! LOL For two months before I began my trip abroad I had been scouring the web trying to find something to Scotland (Isle of Skye perhaps), Snowdonia, Wales; Devon/Cornwall but really wasn’t finding anything that sounded like more than transportation and lodging. The fact that I was traveling alone presented another problem because there, as usual, was a fairly high supplemental fee for singles or I would have had to pay for a double… twice as much and I certainly wouldn’t be occupying two seats on the bus OR eating for two! heheh Sooo… I waited until I got to England and looked at some things there. I was also skeptical of booking on the web because I’ve heard too many stories of companies disappearing with the money, etc. I found this National Holiday coach holiday that was pretty reasonable. In my mind, however, I thought that a five day holiday would include more day trips from the destination hotel. This is what this trip was… Travel Monday, Tuesday – free day, Wednesday – excursion to village of Goathland and town of Whitby; Thursday – free day; Friday – travel day home.  That was $403… (note: two weeks after the UK voted to leave the EU, that trip would now be $360! That’s how much the Pound Sterling has declined!! Too bad my trip wasn’t a few weeks later because I’d have saved >20%!) OY! so anyway… it was still a pretty good deal. Four nights in a Victorian Era hotel that was very nice with a large room. Half board = breakfast and dinner. The service was buffet and high quality with something different each night.  When I look at $80 a day for a five day holiday in the UK that is really CHEAP! The biggest surprise was that in a hotel with perhaps 250 guests, I am quite certain that I was the YOUNGEST by at least 10-15 years and in many cases 20+. OK, I’m 64 so you do the math!!!  hahaha I met a lot of nice people but considering that most of my friends here are younger than me, this was very different! My table mates were a couple that were late 70’s and a widow who is at least 80. 🙂

ANYWAY… Scarborough is a very pretty seacoast town in Yorkshire. The Royal Hotel is a lovely hotel built in the late 19th century. The excursion to Goathland and Whitby was fun. It was maybe a 20-30 mile trip across the North Yorkshire Moors which are just beautiful.