The White Cliffs of Dover – Dover, England (Internet File Photo – Not My Photo)
When travelling it’s best to stay open to change. Especially when you travel like us—full-time and without much of a plan. It’s finally time to cross over the channel to the Continent and we leave Birmingham, England Thursday morning. Our original plan was to go to Harwich Port on the coast and take a ferry to Holland (Rotterdam). As we researched this option more fully we found we couldn’t get to Harwich Port by bus and to go by train was difficult, expensive and convoluted. The second option was to go through London and cross to Belgium. London is about the size of New York City (over 8-million residents).
Giant’s Causeway – Atlantic Coast of Northern Ireland
We really, really dislike (hate) big cities—and London sounds absolutely appalling to us (crowds, outrageous prices and chaos). Resigning ourselves to this option Joel discovered a third option: travel from Birmingham to the small town of Dover (of White Cliffs of Dover fame)—current population is only 30-thousand. Perfect. It’s about a seven hour trip by bus including a one hour layover in London to change buses: Birmingham > London = 3 hours, London = 1 hour, London > Dover = 3 hours. 30-thousand versus 8-million is a no-brainer for us so we’re off to Dover on Thursday.
The River Tay with Saint Mathew’s Church of Scotland – Perth, Scotland
Joel found us a great place to stay for £27 GBP pp per night: private twin room with private bath and free in-room WiFi and Continental breakfast. In London that price barely got us a bunk bed in 12-person mixed dorm with shared bath (and no breakfast). Our lodging in Dover is within walking distance of the beach (a real plus in our book) and the White Cliffs of Dover. We booked a one week stay with an optional second week—it sounds like an ideal place to hunker down for a while before crossing to France. The ferry leaves from Dover to Calais, France and I think it’s about a four-hour transit.
Conwy Castle (Circa 1283) – North Wales
We’ll have to study various travel options going forward but I think the general direction of travel will be England > France > Belgium > Holland > Germany > Poland and then down through Eastern Europe. Eastern Europe, as defined by the United Nations Statistics Division, includes the countries of: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, and Slovakia, as well as the republics of Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine. We would also love to visit Italy, Spain and Portugal and maybe cross over to Morocco in Africa for a short visit.
Minster and Parish Church of Saint Peter-at-Leeds – Leeds, England
We’ll have to see if we can do all that on our budget (avoiding the big tourist cities might make it possible). I think we can save a lot of money travelling in Eastern Europe (as opposed to Western Europe) but we’ll have to wait and see if that’s true once we actually get there. For some reason I’m fixated on trekking through Romania with its mysterious Eastern Carpathian Mountains—maybe it’s the whole Count Dracula Transylvania thing. Anyway, just speculating on some of these travel destinations has my travel juices flowing again. We’ll have been in the United Kingdom for seven months by the time we leave.
Stephen F. Dennstedt
Field Notes: Using the old travel cliché the United Kingdom has been amazing. We arrived in Dublin, Ireland (the Irish Republic) from Iceland in December and spent Christmas and New Year 2018 there. Leaving Dublin we toured the rest of southern Ireland before moving up to Northern Ireland and Scotland. We’ve also spent a considerable amount of time travelling through England and even into Wales. The United Kingdom is not inexpensive and has taxed our travel budget mightily but we wouldn’t have missed it for the world. As the adventure continues we’re anxious to explore the Continent. SFD
Expat Journal: Postcards from the Edge 
If you haven’t been to Portugal, check out my post about our recent trip. I think you would enjoy Cascais and the Algarve!
Thank you, I will do that.
You are going to LOVE Dover — it offers an unbeatable combination of history and natural beauty. Can’t wait to see it again, but this time through your eyes.
Excellent. Glad to hear that … guess we made a good choice.
What an amazing experience you’re having! I’ve been lucky enough to spend time in southern Ireland and England over the years but the geologist in me is dying to visit Dover as well as Giant’s Causeway. I hope you enjoy your stay!
I do also have to add that I highly suggest a pass through Italy at the end of your trip. I’d be happy to make some economical suggestions should you need any (especially in Tuscany). Happy travels!
We would LOVE to visit parts of Italy if we can do so economically. Would appreciate any suggestions and tips you might have.
Train travel isn’t too costly, especially if you get at Eurail pass. My husband and I would always look up affittacamere – basically families renting out extra rooms which generally provide you breakfast. We stayed at some for as little as €50-60/day.
BTW, if you’re really into geology the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile South America is AMAZING. It’s like Mars. If you’re interested enter “Atacama” into the search box on the righthand toolbar and there are 3 or 4 posts (with photos0 from our time there.
I have heard of it! One of my TAs in college was doing her research there an it is definitely on my list! I will most definitely go and check out your posts. Thanks for the suggestion!
In Dover you can see the remains of one of two remaining Roman lighthouses. A church near the castle was built round it. Sad that you didn’t get to see London – it’s definitely crowded, and expensive to find a hotel in, but can be done cheaply as so many of the museums etc are free.
In years past the big cities might have appealed more, but today we prefer smaller venues as a rule. I know most everyone loves London, Rome, Paris, Chicago and New York but give us the small villages and towns every time (and the more primitive the better). Some of our best experiences have been in the jungles of Yucatan, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and the Amazon. Basic and primitive but full of life lived close. Thank you for taking the time to comment.