CARDIFF, WALES!!! Days 32-34

Another fabulous weekend. But I’ve come to realize that what makes these trips so great are the people I’m going with. We get along so well together. We have so much fun and laugh so hard. Sure, Cardiff is a great city, but the true credit to my happiness goes to my travel companions.

I got up at 4:30AM on Friday and met everyone at Amy’s flat to catch a taxi into town. We got on the bus to London, (AND YAY! WE EACH HAD A SEAT TO OURSELVES!), and arrived around 7:30AM. Grabbed a small breakfast then got back on a bus to Cardiff. Once again, the bus was empty, so we were all able to sleep for the four-hour trip.

Once we arrived (around 12:30), we wanted to find our hostel to check in and drop off our stuff. We wandered through the city and made our way to a starbucks to ask for directions. Just imagine, you’re sitting in starbucks and 7 people come strolling through the store with their rolly suitcases, asking the cashier for information. Haha, we got some looks.

So after a ten minute walk, we made it to brightly colored building. Now this was the first time I’d ever actually stayed in a hostel, and to be honest, I was a bit apprehensive of the cleanliness and safety that it would provide. But I loved it. The staff was great; the rooms were clean; and most importantly, it was cheap!

So we settled in and then headed back to the front desk to ask about local attractions. We bought this great package from our hostel directly for 23 Pounds. It included: entry to the castle, a Cardiff Double-Decker Bus tour, a tour of the monstrous rugby stadium, a hostel T-shirt, and a drink in the hostel’s bar. So we pretty much scored.

We were starving, so we went to this great tapas bar for dinner. We all shared a meal-deal where we could each pick out three different items from the menu. I got fried brie, mozzarella and tomato salad, and some potato thing. SO GOOD.

After our fabulous meal, we took the tour of the huge rugby stadium. It’s the biggest in the world and it was pretty darn cool. Venues like that are really intriguing to me. After our tour, we went shopping then headed back to the hostel to take a quick nap.

We rested for about an hour and a half, and then decided to begin our epic evening. We played drinking games upstairs in our room to pregame and save money. So much fun. Then we headed to the sister hostel’s bar and used our free drink coupon and met some other travelers.

Then we walked in the freezing cold to the first nightclub of the evening. Only stayed for about 25 minutes but had a great time. Then we went to Oceana, a beautiful club with five different dance areas, each playing different music. We danced for hours. It was the perfect night.

We finished it by grabbing some cheesy chips (FF) and jumping into a taxi back to the hostel. No really, our night could not have been better.

Saturday, we didn’t actually wake up until 11ish. Ate our free breakfast, then headed out to the castle. (We made a detour to subway on the way.) The castle was really nice, but pretty small. The fortress was the best part of it. The stairs were so steep; I have no idea how people don’t slip and fall to their death there every day. But we survived. And jumped on the bus to Cardiff Bay.

We sat on the top and attempted to listen to the bus tour guide speak about Cardiff and the sights we were going by. But his thick Welsh accent and his old-man mumbling made it virtually impossible. Not to mention the rushing wind distracting us, by threatening to give us frost bite. I’m not kidding; it was so stinking cold, my upper-body was completely numb. But it was still worth it, as Cardiff Bay was lovely. Tons of restaurants, unfortunately not as much shopping; but we walked around outside for about an hour then caught the bus back.

We shopped in Cardiff instead and then headed to an Irish restaurant for dinner. I got a Rump Steak and half a rack of BBQ ribs for only 5.99! My steak was awful, but the ribs were delicious. And the atmosphere there was a lot of fun.

After dinner, we went back to the hostel for another nap. We rested for about an hour or so, then went down to our hostel bar for a few drinks. Our bartender, Huw, was wonderful. He played the guitar and sang old 90’s songs for us while we met our fellow hostel travelers. We met this crazy, hilarious guy named Brad from Australia. I loved Brad, but he was probably on something… While having a nice conversation with Amy, he suddenly asked, “Hey… umm, will you still be here if I take a 5 minute walk real quick?” Haha… then he darted away. Whatever he was on, they were definitely uppers.

So Brad, Alex, Amy, Stephanie, Laura, Lucy, and I went out to this really fancy bar and Demi headed up to bed. And this bar was awesome. Sure the cover was 5P, but it was worth it. We shared a bottle of wine, danced a bit, then, because of our exhaustion, we headed home.

Sunday, we went to a great pebble-stone beach about 20 minutes outside of Cardiff. It was in a town called Panerth(sp?). We walked around on the pier and ate a delicious meal of cheesy chips and cheesy pizza. And ice cream for dessert of course. It was the perfect day.

When we got back, we were really tired of walking, so we went and saw the movie, Couples Retreat. The movie itself wasn’t all that great, but the movie theatre was awesome. It was a five-story, sky-scraper movie theatre. Cool huh?
Afterwards, we got our luggage, said bye to Huw, then caught our 6:30 bus back to London. We had an hour lay-over and grabbed food at the rail station right by our bus. I had a three-course meal from McDonalds for 3Pounds. Woo! Then we got back on the bus to Canterbury and got home around 1:30AM. What a wonderful weekend!