We arrived at London Gatwick airport from Prague at close to mid-night on Friday and immediately boarded the train to Burgess Hill. We would be staying at my old friend Vishal and Shivani’s place. Vishal was there at the station at half past midnight. Being a small town everything is close to the station and hence his house was no exception. It was right across so it was no problem for him to come across and receive us. I was meeting him after three years. It felt truly great to meet them and their super cute daughter Ishi who was still awake at that late hour (thanks to an irritating cough which woke her up). We chatted till late catching up on old times and got thoroughly pampered by Shivani during dinner and the early morning breakfast where we had some delicious egg and potato sandwiches where the bread was fried in butter. So with a full stomach we set off for Brighton keeping our backpacks behind which we would be collecting on our way back before we proceed to London en route to Hull (to meet Asmi’s sister Arshia).

We arrived at Brighton at around noon and were welcomed by disappointing weather with the sun well behind the clouds and chilly wind forcing us to keep our jackets on. We walked straight from the station towards the beach during which we got a glimpse of the lively town. It was a small town buzzing with people and busy enough to have double-decker buses running (I guess that’s common in British towns as I noticed the double-decker buses in Hull as well). We reached the beach while still under a cloud cover and the crowd not in big numbers. It was not a sandy beach but a pebbled one so it would be difficult to walk barefoot. As we walked and settled at a place, out came the sun and changed the entire atmosphere. The crowd poured in and the jackets were off. Soon it was time to roll your jeans and walk towards the water. I tried for a while but could hardly stand bare-foot on those pebbles leave alone walking so I put on my shoes and just lay down on the beach to soak in the sun. The crowd grew exponentially in no time and it turned from warm to hot just what you want on a beach. We had to catch the train to Hull the evening so we had one eye on the watch but we just would not feel like getting up. After a round of beach-side fish-n-chips and beer we thought we would now walk back to the station but the weather was too good for us to do that. So we lazed around, walked all over and finally reached the station at around 6 PM.

We could hardly believe it was that late but these long day-light hours are always misleading. We met Vishal at the Burgess Hill station and after collecting our bags when we went to the counter to purchase the tickets we were told that we should just forget going to Hull that evening. The last train from London Kings Cross would depart in 45 minutes and no ways would it be possible for us to reach there in that time. This was on the cards after our sun-bathing in Brighton and we had no option but to stay back at Vishal’s place for the night. Vishal looked up the net and booked our tickets for the next day early morning at 9 and we informed Arshia accordingly. The evening was spent in a relaxed manner walking around the calm and serene Burgess Hill which took all but 20 minutes followed by Dominos Pizza for dinner and playing with Ishi.

The next morning we got ready in the most disciplined manner as we could not afford to miss the train again (Arshia would have been furious). We reached London Bridge station and took the Underground to Kings Cross from where we boarded the train to Doncaster. We would change trains at Doncaster and take the train to Hull. We reached Hull at around 1:30 and walked to Arshia’s place. It was another round of pampering, this time by Arshia as we had a sumptuous lunch following which I could no longer keep my eye lids apart and dozed off on the sofa.

I woke up after a lengthy four-hour sleep. It was still day-light so the ladies took me around the town. Hull is located in East Yorkshire with Leeds being the closest city and Manchester too not very far. Being Sunday evening, there was not a soul on the streets and all the shops were shut. The town square looked as if there was a strike. We walked towards the harbour. On the way we saw the Guildhall and the Hull City Hall among other prominent buildings. The overall look of the town gave me a feel of Williamstown in South Melbourne and also a bit of Amsterdam. In fact there is a ferry service from Hull to Amsterdam. We had dinner planned with Arshia’s friends in Hull (who are now our family friends as well) and they (Ishan and his mom Devjani aunty) picked up from the station. We went to a nearly place called Beverly for an Italian dinner where we were joined by Meghna, Farhat and Romit uncle (Ishan’s father) followed by desserts at Ishan’s place.

The next morning our train was booked at around half past noon so we woke up early and hit the town. We had great English breakfast at the harbour side. It was extremely cold and windy so we had to sit indoors after which I took a walk towards the harbour and ladies walked across to the nearby mall, the Prince’s Quay shopping centre built over Prince’s dock. Arshia dropped us off at the station after which she went for work. We followed the same route via Doncaster and reached London Kings Cross at around 4 PM. We bought our tickets to Luton airport and also an Underground ticket as I wanted to visit Oxford Circus. We walked on Oxford Street where I visited the huge Selfridges mall. I happened to bump into Anil Kapoor in the mall while taking a leak. It was time by then and we had to take the train to Luton airport. There was some confusion as we disembarked in Luton station and not the airport parkway. Without taking any chances we took a cab sharing with an Indian student from Prague and boarded the Wizzair flight without any further hiccups.