It’s 10:00am and I sit writing this as a passenger on what feels like the wrong side of the vehicle to me. 

One thing about me, I’m not the biggest car fan.  This is a completely self inflicted trauma but a stressor nonetheless. It’s a wonderful thing that I have a boyfriend who thoroughly enjoys driving 😉 ! 

So, we’re currently in a car where the steering wheel is on the right, we are driving on the left side of the road, and I keep pressing that imaginary break pedal at my feet. My guy has unlimited patience when it comes to my squeals and attempts to direct him. Overall, he’s killing it! 

The biggest challenge has been the roundabouts… there could be two exits, there could even be 8. I can’t really put into words how stressful it is hearing your GPS saying you’re coming up on one. However, after adding 30 minutes to our ETA with four separate roundabout mistakes, I think we’ve finally nailed it(I say we lightly). 

Let me give a quick recap to where we are right now! I said goodbye to sweet Harri and took a four hour train ride from Swansea to Manchester where my boyfriend had met me at the station. He’s doing somewhat the same things as I am right now but started his house/pet sitting in Spain and will continue in France after we’ve done our Scotland exploration. 

I already felt so much more confident and comfortable walking around with him by my side. I think after we split off again it’ll be much easier to keep that energy but it is just nice to be figuring something out with someone else. 

We had a couple days in Manchester before getting our rental car. The main thing on the docket was a Caamp concert which was awesome!! I believe they write such lovely love songs and hearing them with my lover was special. If you have the time, I’d recommend giving a listen to Strawberries or Of Love and Life-my two favorite songs from them that they actually didn’t play…but still a great show!! 

Manchester is actually a VERY cool city! There is so much going on and so much to see. A proper city with endless food and entertainment options. I had one of the best sandwiches of my life from a hole in the wall in an alleyway next to a brothel and would wait an hour for it a million times over again. There are tons of vendors on the street selling hot cups of corn that hit so hard in the cool rainy weather and we got lost(3 times) in one of the biggest most complicated malls I’ve ever been in. 

One of my biggest pet peeves is people not knowing basic sidewalk walking etiquette and boy did I struggle with this in Manchester. Especially as someone who walks pretty fast, it baffles me how spatially unaware others are but at the same time it gives me time to stop and redirect my thinking. I am in a cool and new place and am in no particular rush to get anywhere. There is no reason to be getting all worked up about just walking down the street. So, with a few shoulder checks and thought redirection I stomped that pet peeve down a good bit. 

On football Sunday we searched for a pub that would be playing the American games. I think people here find our version of football kind of silly and a bar that we thought would be playing the games (mainly because they advertised it…) just had tables of people staring at our faces of disappointment at the screens filled with nothing but soccer. We did eventually find the best spot but my night got worse as my fantasy team  fumbled (literally:/) yet I digress. 

Overall, I think Manchester is a really cool spot that I would totally recommend and return to. Now I’ve got a little over a week with my man and we get to drive all of Scotland hitting some of my dream spots. I’m loving it out here and feeling so grateful. 

The universe loves us❤️