Bristol? Why are you going to *Bristol*?

When I first began planning my trip to Europe, I had a few people ask me why in the world I was going to Bristol rather than London or something. My answer was that it was the closest airport to the people who were putting me up the majority of my stay. Now that I’ve spent a little time here, I have some things to add to that.

Bristol is a pretty damn cool city. Honestly, I avoided planning to go places like Paris and London mainly due to their popularity and expense. I didn’t come here to be a tourist, I came here to see the world and facilitate personal growth by mainly being in another place and another culture. The touristy bits have been a fun part of the trip but not my main motivation.

The music culture is rich here, with Massive Attack and Portishead both hailing from these parts. If that doesn’t indicate why someone might want to come here, I’m not sure what else to say about that.

Bristol is a city of street art, music, squatters, artists and young people. It mirrors Seattle in many of the meaningful ways, including being enviroconscious and seeming to attract good intentioned, progressive thinking people, and the weather.

My couchsurfing experiment here has been a great success. Leila, Lucy and Louise are all very cool laid back girls and the house has tons of room. The first day I came here they had a small party and made more food than a heard of elephants could eat, which we’ve all been working at since. I had a lot of fun meeting some new people who were all really entertained by my story and getting strandedhad interesting backgrounds and fun stuff going on. Nice group.

Later in the evening, a few of us decided to hit a pub for a pint. We went to where the clubbers go to work off their long weekends – a place called The Pipe and Slippers. Tall glasses, lots of people, mixed music, indoor-outdoor, worked for me. A Jamaican guy gave me a dready thumbs up, and there was much hat swapping. After closing the place down, we decided to find another rather than go home.

Turned out we ended up at basically a rave, which really isn’t my thing any more. The kids in Bristol take their partying seriously. I hung out for an hour or so and then made my way back to the house.

My schedule in Seattle has been ridiculously full since Jan of 2007 when I started school. That is changing as of this trip. It’s been productive and a good change of pace to have a lot going on lately, and now I want time to meander places again. Not to mention more than one day off a month.

Today I borrowed Leilas second bike and biked around Bristol, to the city center, along the harbor, Clifton and the University. It was enjoyable and another indication that I may in fact be a directional ninja. This evening Lou taught me the basics of playing cello, a life-long dream of mine, and I spent as much time as my hands would allow practicing by ear and playing badly. It’s a gorgeous instrument that I’ve always had an affinity for but never actually played. Tomorrow I plan to check out the thrift stores, the first I’ve seen since being across the pond, and maybe head over to Portishead since.. well, why not.

My trip is winding down into a fitting and satisfying conclusion. Many lessons have been learned, knowledge gained and people met. Feels like I’ve cracked something open almost, some kind of travel kinship thing. I’ve definitely met a lot of like-minded people and become more comfortable traveling, maneuvering foreign places, and most importantly, being by my self.