The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (yes, all of that is the official name) is the sovereign state formed by England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and some other small islands. While we normally refer as Britain, it is important to note that Britain is just the island that contains the first three countries mentioned before.
The United Kingdom is an awesome territory to travel, with so many incredible and really different cities spread in a not so big land. It is really simple to move from one city to another by using the railway system, and also you can find low-cost flights between major cities and to/from continental Europe. What is more, the Capital, London, is one of the most connected cities in the entire world, with direct flights to all five continents plus a train that goes underwater to Brussels and Paris.
As we mentioned London, it is important to know that, while it is probably the first city you will be visiting in the UK, it does not contain the real gist of Great Britain. London is in my podium for favourite cities in the world (not sure the order in that podium), but it is so cosmopolitan that I always think of it as somewhere that goes far beyond the land in which it is located. I´ve had the chance to visit London 3 times. First time as part of a one month train journey through UK and Ireland, and then two other times with first time visitors –last time with the co-owner of this blog.
I already mentioned that I took a one month train journey through the islands. I will go into detail about those places in singular posts shortly, but I wanted to state some of the reasons why the UK is one the places I like the most.
As a kid, I studied some British culture while learning English as a second language in Argentina, so I´ve been always interested in seeing what I have learned, and when I did it, I could only realise I loved it. This has influence in most of my favourite’s places in the world such as Australia, Hong Kong or Singapore (so it was impossible not to like the UK).
What is more, world story from the XIX and XX centuries was my favourite in school, and, as you can imagine, huge amount of that history happened directly or indirectly in the UK (Industrial Revolution, Invasions, War Declarations, Amazing inventions etc). It is also impossible to avoid mentioning the impact in sports. They invented football! (as well as Rugby, Tennis, Golf, Hockey, Cricket and many of the most popular sports in the world).
One more detail, I love British Pubs! You can´t get tired of visiting those in the UK, and clearly locals do not get tired either.
If you want to see where all of the above started, prepare your journey through the UK. We will include here our posts helping, and will try to provide advice on how to save at least a little, because the rumour is true. UK is expensive. Exceptional and expensive. Yes, while I write this, I am dreaming about going back there.