England – Titanic Trip Pt. 1

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We had successfully navigated our first flight, made our connecting flight, landed in England, and realized we’d only forgotten one thing. In all, we were pretty proud of what we’d accomplished. With the first journey finished, we could now relax a little because my cousin had generously hired a car to pick us up at the airport and drive us the couple of hours to Mildenhall, England, where they lived.

From the minute our plane touched down, we had the absolute feeling that at any second, our parents would jump out of nowhere and start screaming, “What are you doing here?! Go home right now!” It was a strange feeling to be on our own in a foreign country at the ages of 23 and 24. We were actual babies!! We were so excited and terrified all at once, which was why we were so happy to be staying with family. They gave us a jumping point and allowed us to have the time to learn how to navigate a new country. This had its perks, but it also had a downside, which leads us to Lesson 1 of this trip.

Just because you’re on vacation doesn’t mean others are.

My cousin’s husband was working while we were visiting. We all wanted to go sightseeing together but needed to wait for him to get home from work, and by then, some of the things we wanted to see were closed for the day. Did it ruin our trip? Absolutely not. But it was something none of us really considered. Don’t ask us how we didn’t think of it, but it totally slipped our minds. Regardless, we still got to see some really neat things and had lots of time together.

Mildenhall and Ely

Mildenhall, England holds some family history for me (Lydia). My Dad’s Dad was stationed at the same base, and their family (Grampa, Grama, my dad, and his three siblings) lived in Mildenhall while they were in England. My cousin (on my dad’s side) took us around and showed us where Grampa worked along with a few other sites. We saw the place where my aunt had her first kiss (*GASP*), and we ate at Bird in Hand, where my dad and his family ate frequently. It was fascinating to walk in their footsteps.

We also saw Ely Cathedral while we were there. It was the first true cathedral Billy or I had been in and it was beyond impressive. It is a huge place. We were lucky enough to visit while the choir was practicing. If you ever have the chance, go listen. The acoustics are brilliant and it was so beautiful to hear. The only thing that we didn’t get to do there that we really wanted to was to go on the tower tours (although we might get the chance in 2020 on our honeymoon!).

London in less than 24 hours

Ever wondered how much of London one can see in under 24 hours? We can tell you! We were hoping to stay a bit longer but could only pay for 24 hours of parking at the train station. That meant we had to get to London, see a bunch of stuff, and get back before the car was towed. Adventure time!

The train was the first one Billy and I had been on and it was nice to have my cousin with us, especially when we got to London. We are small-town folk, people! This was all so new to us and we were so scared of screwing up. We had a minimal amount of money and we didn’t want to accidentally waste it.

After checking into our hotel room, we walked to the West End. There was something about the streets of London that called to me. It was as if they were ingrained in me. I knew where I was going without ever having been there, and I loved it. We made our way to the Palace Theatre and saw Singing in the Rain. It was PHENOMENAL. Simply phenomenal. We walked back to our hotel at around midnight and happened to pass by Buckingham Palace, quiet and sleeping. Again, phenomenal. We made it back to our hotel, had a late-night snack of tuna cucumber sandwiches (another first for us), and got some rest.

London: Hours 12-23

The next morning, we popped into a little cafe for a full English breakfast and then used the passes we bought for the Big Bus Tours. This was a great way to see the city. There are so many places to hop on/off and we drove by quite a few sites we wanted to at least glimpse during our quick visit. One of these sites was the London Eye. Of the two of us, one has an incredible fear of Ferris wheels…it’s me, Lydia. This thing was massive and, surprisingly, not terrifying at all. The views were enough to blow my fears out of the water and were definitely worth it for us. Looking at London from the top of the Eye was truly spectacular and a one-of-a-kind way to see such a historic city.

We spent the rest of the day sightseeing on the bus. We were determined to sit on the open-air second level so that we could see unobstructed. Absolutely freezing up there, we enjoyed every second. Afterward, we bought a few souvenirs to commemorate our time in London and in England as a whole and then caught our train out of town. The next day, Billy and I would be heading out to Southampton. My cousin saw us off at the train station, and just like that, we were on our own.

Southampton and Winchester

Our journey to Southampton was easy and uneventful. After our first-ever solo train experience, we caught a taxi and then checked into The Star Hotel. This was the first of many hotels over our travels that was a winding maze up to our room. It was perfect. We dropped off our bags, amused the locals by using the word y’all (Seriously. They called people from the back and made us ask again, “Do y’all have a place we can store our bags?”), and then set out to view the town. Being the place that Titanic sailed from, there are many Titanic memorials and I wanted to see as many as possible. We spent our first day strolling through parks and solemnly viewing what memorials we could find. There was a huge true-to-size painted outline of Titanic in the main park we visited, and for a good hour, we walked the ‘deck’ of the ship and tried to imagine walking the real thing.

Planning was something we didn’t really do on this trip, so we had a few days to do whatever we pleased. On one of those days, we hopped a train to Winchester. Billy really wanted to see the huge round table in the Great Hall, so see it we did! The table hangs high on the wall and is impressive to behold. Its diameter is 18 feet and it is made of 121 pieces of oak. Standing underneath it, Billy is dwarfed. After admiring it for a while, we took in the rest of the hall and then had lunch in town.

Winding down

The rest of our time in England was calm. We took a ferry out to the Isle of Wight and got lost for an afternoon. We ended up in the residential area and strolled through, looking at houses and Land Rovers. In Southampton, we saw more Titanic sites, the memorial to the pilgrims that sailed to America (yes, THE pilgrims), and on our last day, saw this gem in our hotel lobby.

I (Lydia) am related to ol’ Ben Franklin (he’s a great-who-knows-how-many uncle according to my aunt who’s done a ton of family history research), and the hotel had a Titanic connection. Unfortunately, the photo and telegram were being reframed when we were there. We didn’t get to see them, but it was still neat to know about.

The next morning, 8 April 2012, we packed our bags and went down to the docks to board our ship. As we bid farewell to England, the true Titanic part of our journey was about to begin.
Cheers,
Lydia and Billy

The above photos are from the timeline sidewalk in Southampton. Along the sidewalk are plaques detailing major events in the city’s history.