the ski trip that wasn't, part three: final destination

[Part one]
[Part two]

We woke up around 9 am (with no traces of hangovers, another sign that those shots were barely alcoholic), packed our belongings, and headed out to find food. We stopped at a cafe that served breakfast all day, and I ordered a traditional English breakfast because I hadn't tried it yet. And jeez, is that a lot of food! And it's very fried and greasy and heavy. Not bad, but definitely not something I can do every day. Or, you know, year.

After very substantially breaking our fast, we walked back to the station and hopped a train to Portsmouth. We only stayed long enough to look around near the train station a bit, then got on a ferry to the Isle of Wight.

fortressy thing on the coast, seen from the ferry

The island was much bigger than we thought it was, and everything closed at 4pm. Seeing as we didn't get there until 2:30, this meant that we didn't have time to see Needles Park or the Dinosaur Museum. Heartbreaking. But we were all about spontaneity this trip, so we went to Sandown instead to walk along the beach and eat lunch/dinner (I think we decided it was Lunner?).

"1, 2, 3, everyone turn around!"

Sandown beach and cliffs

Seriously guys, no loitering. DEFINITELY.

We ate fish and chips on picnic tables with a gorgeous ocean view, and then trained the seagulls to snatch thrown chips out of the air, because Victoria didn't finish her food. I did, and it was my second huge fried meal of the day. (I felt so weighted down after all the heavy grease, so I went to the grocery store today and bought nothing but fruit and veg for a major detox. Seriously, America is known to be the fat, greasy, fried food capital of the world, but I have been eating so much more unhealthily here. Why isn't everyone 300 pounds in Britain?)

We had been thinking about going to Winchester and Salisbury, and maybe even stopping by Stonehenge, but we didn't have the time because no one had enough stuff to stay an extra day. So this marked the end of our impromptu journey to the coast. It was unexpected, and it wasn't a different country, but it ended up being such a good time. And I spent less money than I would have in Norway.

But since I didn't get to leave the UK last weekend, I signed up for a trip to Bruges and Amsterdam this weekend. And it's through a legit travel company, so there's no chance of it being canceled. Should be a blast.