“Because unlike some other Robin Hoods, I can speak with an English accent.” – Cary Elwes
Full disclosure, this is being written while sitting in a ruin bar in Budapest drinking pálinka (a Hungarian liquor that Trent is convinced tastes like fig and dish-soap, Skol!). You’ve been warned. The quote “Write drunk. Edit sober.” has never been more true for us than while traveling. It’s hard to get up the gumption to wax poetic about your travels when there is so much to see, so much to do. This is especially true for me (Michele). I’m a shit writer when I’m clear headed and I’m a shit editor in terms of grammar and spelling when I’m not. I’m constantly reminded of this by one Simon Little and his pristine golden pen. This is your one mention buddy so drink it up 😉
This post is actually about our travels in England and should most definitely be 
read with an English accent. England was a breath of fresh air, new blood, a leaf turned over, and any other idiom you can come up with. Initially, we had booked arrangements to Amsterdam, but then caught wind of a music festival in London featuring one of our favorites, Sylvan Esso. Errrrrrrr (tire squeals for those slow on the uptake). Reroute. We headed for London and all its glory, and it was a great call. The festival was what we needed. They had a large mass yoga sessions in the early morning, which was a great way to ground myself for the day. (Eyeroll) No really, it was refreshing, except the photographers roaming the mats made it hard to 
stay focused on my breathing. Don’t take my photo dude! My hammies are tight and this downward dog looks more like a bloated bear crawl. Trent is not enlightened in the ways of the yogi, Namaste. The highlight was being front and center (literally) to see Sylvan Esso. Apparently, the word has not quite gotten out yet in England with regard to their being awesome. First Brexit now not knowing Sylvan Esso? Tough year for the U.K. Food trucks are ubiquitous at music festivals, this one did have some names that rival some of the best ever. Some notable mentions were Buddah Bowl, Wrapper’s Delight (Trent’s pick for food truck name of the year) and the mac-daddy of all mac n’ cheese trucks, Mac to the Future. Along with Sylvan Esso, we saw Foals, Bonobo, RYX, Maggie Rogers and Laura Marling. It was glorious. Except the one carnival ride we decided we had large enough balls to ride. It left us both on the verge of puking. Never. Again.
In London we stayed in Hackney Wick, an area formally known as the most dangerous area of London before a recent gentrification. They were known for knife attacks (yikes!). Additionally, a few days before our trip (hotel already booked and pre-paid), a series of acid attacks where teenagers had thrown corrosive acid on strangers had occurred. Don’t worry family. Perps were arrested and all was well. After we got there we saw it was a bit of unneeded worry. It was a neat neighborhood, boasting copious hipster shops and healthy eateries. The first night we went to a formal vintage dress shop that at night doubled as a bar with metal bands playing upstairs. Definitely our speed. We splurged for a show in the West End of London for the musical Kinky Boots. Go see this if it comes by you, it was awesome. Great story, cool choreography (jazz hands everyone!), and amazing music. In the following days, there was more exploration of local yoga classes and runs through Victoria Park. Well done London.
“Balls to the wall. 60% of the time.” – fellow travel lover, Debbie Marshall
This bit of advice couldn’t have come at a better time. Thanks Debbie! T-shirts are currently being printed.
Needing to slow it down, we headed to the quirky seaside town of Margate. According to Instagram, we missed Jim Sturgess by only a few days. Damn. We spent time at Dreamland, a retro amusement park nestled on the shore. 
Quite strange but cool. They had a DJ performing in the middle of the park, casino machines intermixed with the ski-ball and kiddie games, and appeared to be a local hangout of sorts. A notable mention here was the Big Slippy, a large, very large at that slide. We rode it, tied in our finish and sprinted back up the stairs to ride it again. The competitive spirit in both of us wanted to cross the finish line first. Forget ties. There can only be one winner. It was Trent, his screaming of “Inertia!” as his girth bolted down the slide was remembered in Dreamland for minutes, maybe even hours. We had our own French-themed apartment with a sea view, situated above a highly-recommended cocktail bar, The Glass Jar. Here we enjoyed the best martinis in the whole world and our patriotic bartender indulged us in a Royal family Q&A. Side note: the country seems to be split on the importance or love for that matter of the Royal family.
One day in Margate, we rented bikes and rode to Broadstairs and Ramsgate, two nearby towns along the coast of southeastern England, stopping along the way to breathe in the sea air and take photos of cool stuff. Side Note: the thing about bikes… they don’t always work the way you’d expect them to. Half way into a trip, Trent’s front breaks went into a permanent lock, making his ride feel more like a grueling workout at SoulCycle 
then a casual coastline cruise. My bike came equipped with a constant ringing bell and SHREIKING breaks. No one liked me. We sat on the beach in Broadstairs, lunching on ice cream and sandwiches. It should be noted that the bravado of seagulls in Broadstairs is quite remarkable. They were practically walking on us and biting our hands to get our food. Trent lost a sandwich mid-bite when one particular guy swooped in and snatched it from his hands. It was kind of awesome.
You had to hand it to the gulls.
In Margate we did quite a bit of relaxing. We enjoyed an arcade, a GoT rerun marathon (we haven’t started the last season so no spoilers PLEASE!), yummy 
Thai take-out, the Shell Grotto and the funniest sounding squawking bird to wake us up each day at the early hour of 11 am. Speaking of the Shell Grotto, if you someday find yourself in Margate it’s worth the $5 admission and then some. It’s a bizarre underground cave completely covered in incredibly intricate and ornate designs made only with shells. Hundreds of thousands of shells. The best part is, they have no idea who made it or why. Possibly the next Dan Brown mystery? Yes please.
Before leaving England we took a train to Westcliff for a night, where we finally did some much-needed laundry. It’s interesting how when you travel your threshold for clean vs. dirty changes dramatically. I mean, turning things inside out is a completely acceptable way to have a fresh pair of undies or socks. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. All in all, we really enjoyed England, the small bit of it that we saw. We had so many recommendations from locals to see other regions of England, but our time and budget is somewhat limited. With this year is full of travel, it may not be the absolute peak our explorations, but it was exactly what we needed. We fully intend to get back to see more of the UK including Ireland and Scotland. In the meantime, we still crave the heat and we continue to slowly make our way to more tropical climates. Stay tuned, our adventures in Budapest, Croatia and an Italian wedding sailing off the Amalfi coast are to follow!
Things we are currently feeling shameful for:
1. Feeling less than interested in Sweden :-/
2. Too many waffles in Belgium
3. Growing distaste for all children while traveling
Things recently lost: Chromecast
# of texts waking us up at 2:00 AM because timezones are hard: Countless.
(Click images below to enlarge)