Why England Is An UNATTRACTIVE Place To Travel Around
I have been lucky enough to spend many months out of England on multiple occasions and sure I’m happy for a few days when I’m back, but never for a long period. The UK will always be ‘home’ and somewhere that I grew up, but definitely somewhere I will not stay my whole life.
From an outsider’s perspective, England seems sophisticated, grand and in love with the royals, but it’s a stark reality from what is often thought. Cold and rainy weather and people with funny accents are true and is a great novelty when you come for a few days, but when you live here, it becomes a bit annoying and with the weather, very depressing, causing bad ‘seasonal depression’ during the colder months.
I do see the pull of visiting places like London for the city life, the Lake District for nature or Cornwall for the seaside surf towns and they are a great part of the country. Each city has its own features, like from the tourist’s point of view they will visit The Beetles stuff in Liverpool, Old Trafford in Manchester and local friendly pubs in Leeds.
There is something for everyone in England and the UK but I do feel like you need a car to reach remote places, whereas I feel this isn’t an issue abroad. We do have efficient trains but are overpriced, constant strikes and always delayed (writing this on a delayed train), which adds to the frustration of travelling. We do have bus systems which are cheap but does take double the time of trains and are pretty low quality for a first world country but are a good alternative.
If you do England right at the perfect time it can be really special, but can easily not be so fun…
I have a few a few tips if you plan a trip to England with just some things you MAY want to bear in mind:
- It takes a certain person to come outside of summer — Summer is by far the best time of the year in the UK — everyone lives for it. Talking about summer, planning for summer, saving for summer holidays, people are obsessed. The main part of this is due to the fact October to April is pretty unpleasant with the weather, things being closed and lack of sunlight hours.
There are certain things that are not too affected by the season, like city hopping and visiting during festive seasons as not too much is outside, but will obviously be better in the sun and warmth. Places are less touristy as well but there is a reason for this — nobody wants to go to these places.
- seasonal depression — If you work a typical 9–5 job during winter months, you will wake up and get back home in darkness as people will often not see sunlight for days on end. This leads to national depression and people not being too friendly towards each other.
London is notorious for being unfriendly and you don’t dare talk to a stranger on the London Underground! London is full of business people just trying to get on with their own business and don’t wanna help. Of course, this isn’t everyone and in tourist areas, this is less of a problem but going along the Thames or around Tower Bridge, unfriendly people are everywhere.
- expensive — In fairness, this isn’t just an English issue but you have to have your money up to visit here. If you're looking for a cheap city break, then London isn’t the best place for this. The touristy things are horrifically overpriced, especially food, but this is all over western Europe.
There are ways around this, like eating cheap, like meal deals (a classic British cuisine) and visiting the free attractions as there are plenty of free things to see everywhere you go. If you're looking for a proper English experience like going to local pubs, eating at a local place etc, this will really run up your expenses.
- lack of adventure — It feels like anything mildly ‘adventurous’ is never that adventurous. You need a permit or to pay for everything, always have to sign something, and constantly being told you’re not allowed to do what you want to do becomes very boring whereas other countries and cultures embrace fear.
It’s not always a bad thing to be cautious about dangerous adventures but it is ALL the time where some of the time, you want to live life in the danger zone. Even for things like wild camping and sleeping in your car, there will be someone telling you that you’re not allowed to do that.
- questionable food choice — Britain is not renowned for having the best cuisine compared to Spanish tapas, French baguette or Italian pizza. Sure, fish and chips on the beach and a full English does slap, but it isn’t as encapsulating as our European neighbours.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t visit the UK, I just think I would be disappointed if I came to London in February and only did the mainstream tourist things. Again, the countryside is a big pull of the UK which I do believe is slightly different compared to other western European countries, like Cornwall or the Peak District.
That’s it for now, any questions, fire away!
