renée’s travels, part three: day trips around england

Jun 9

Taking day trips from London to other parts of England have honestly been one of my favorite things to do and most affordable ways to get some travel in! I’ve gotten to check out a few places, but have an ever-growing list of places I still need to visit and hoping I can do a lot of it this summer. Since London is such a large, central city, there is so much transportation going in and out of London to all areas of England and beyond. (Actually, there’s so much to see in London too because it has 32 boroughs!) There are several train companies with trains leaving several times a day, all day to various cities for tickets sometimes as low as £20 or £10 roundtrip. When I’ve had some free/open days, I have literally just woken up, thought about where might be nice to check out today, got a train ticket and went. It can seem like a big deal to go visit these other cities but its similar to taking the Metro-North from Manhattan to Stamford, taking the Commuter Rail from Boston from to Providence, or taking the MARC from DC to Baltimore. A lot of places are within a 1-2 hour ride making it really easy to get a day trip out of it.

I’ve sometimes visited cities unexpectedly because there may have been an event there that I’ve wanted to attend so I just made a day trip out of that too. Usually, I’ll try get in a meal or two at a local eatery, check out some local shops and bookstores, go by any popular areas or waterfronts (I particularly like cities near the water), walk around the neighborhoods, try do a quick visit to a museum or activity if its free or low-cost, and then of course, usually try to take a peek into the main library there. I try to get a lot in and do a lot of walking. Of course, it’s great to know I can easily come back to these cities with a simple train ride, but I also try to make the most of my time while I’m there in case I don’t end up visiting again or for a long time. Plus, I have a long list of new places to get to before I would want to actively revisit places I’ve been!

Anyway, below are some quick recaps and photos from some of my day trips around England!

I’ll be visiting Manchester and Birmingham in June for specific events so I won’t have a lot of open time there but those are ones I know I have to go back to this summer. Some of the other cities I’m hoping to get to next are (in no particular order): Cambridge, Oxford, Bristol, Margate, Canterbury, Stonehenge, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, Bath, and truly so much more. If you happen to have any favorites or recommendations for those places or other areas around England, please do let me know!

Also, if you’d like to sponsor a day trip for me, I would be more than grateful for it! See here for the ways you can send financial blessings. ✨

BRIGHTON, UK

This was one of the first on my list that I really wanted to visit. In preparing to come to London, I had been watching Paige Mariah’s YouTube channel (she moved from Chicago to London for graduate school in 2019 and has been here since) and she had a video about visiting Brighton. Once I saw that and saw it was on the water, I had to make the visit.

You can tell it’s definitely a fun summer spot for British folks to go to with the piers, shopping, casinos, food, arcades, carnival games, and so much more. I went in the Fall so much more chilly-er vibe but I actually love visiting waterfronts/beaches in the winter. However, note that it’s a rock beach so don’t expect to feel the sand in your toes.

I picked up some fish and chips, laid out my picnic blanket to eat on the beach (while trying to deter the seagulls), checked out all that was on the pier, played some arcade games which I hadn’t done in forever so that was fun, did some walking around Brighton, stopped in Primark and Poundland for some shopping, and then headed home. But one of the best parts was catching the starling birds formations at sunset! I had no idea it was even a thing in general, let alone in Brighton but it was truly so beautiful. I mean, just look at this video to get an idea of how cool it looks! It really was a lovely day.

SOUTHAMPTON, UK

This was definitely a trip that only happened because there was a film I wanted to see (Hostile) and when I came across it, I had already missed the London screening so the next one available I could go to was the one in Southampton so I figured why not! And wow, what an informative and lovely trip.

As many times as I have watched the movie Titanic, I actually had no idea that Southampton was the port of departure for the ship. I also never thought about the impact its sinking would leave on the entire community of Southampton. There were hundreds of friends, neighbors, children, partners, and community members from Southampton that went to work on the “unsinkable” ship and unfortunately never came back. It was heartbreaking to learn of this but I’m so grateful that this city has committed to telling its story and keeping the memories of its community alive.

After visiting the SeaCity Museum and learning about all this, I also did a lot of walking around Southampton and as noted, I love being by the water so I quickly found my way there. I also got to see the ruins of old city walls, get a sense of everyday life there, check out the shopping and busy areas, walk through the parks, and also got to find the perfect cozy spot to have dinner at the Maritimo Lounge (highly recommend!). I ended the day with the reason I visited and got to see a screening of the powerful film, Hostile, which tells the story of the people suffering from the ‘hostile environment’ the UK has been creating for immigrants and those most vulnerable. It is based in the UK but is honestly relatable to the US and so many other places. There was a Q&A and afterwards, I got to talk to the Director and suggested they submit to RoxFilm - which they did and got accepted! So if you’re in the US, you’ll be able to watch this film online from June 27th to July 2nd - see more details here!

AROUND LONDON

As mentioned, London has 32 boroughs! Which is also to say that London is actually really big. What we may know as “London” when we make visits is usually the “City of London” which is its own borough too. That said, there’s lots to explore around here too and some boroughs are also an hour away by the Tube or bus for me so it makes its own day trip as well. Anyway, I thought it would be fitting to include some photos from a few of the farther boroughs I’ve visited such as Greenwich, Ilford, and Finchley.

For more general/closer to central London photos, visit the gallery page here!