Dakota Schneider – 9
On October sixth, I started my long journey to England. I left from the Philadelphia airport and was on a flight for 8 hours from Pennsylvania to England. This was my moms and my first time ever being on an airplane and we were so nervous. We arrived in England at around 8 in the morning BST. The purpose of this trip was to see the sights of the Beatles. Ever since my mom was a kid, she has loved the Beatles and I was basically born into it. I can not remember a time when the Beatles were not in my life.
Once we arrived in England, we went to the Harry Potter studio and stayed there for around 5 hours. There was so much to see and do. We got butterbeer, butterbeer ice cream, food, and some Harry Potter merch. After that, we went to a welcome dinner since we were on a tour while in England.
Our first official day of the trip started very early in the morning and we spent the whole day seeing all kinds of stuff. For example, we saw John Lennon’s home, Brian Epstein’s house, Paul McCartney’s house, Abbey road, and then some small locations like Indica gallery and a club that was popular in the 60’s. We grabbed some dinner and headed to the London Eye. It was beautiful, and we got to see the entire city from that angle including Big Ben.
On our second day, we headed to Chiswick where the Beatles filmed their music video, Paperback Writer. We got to go inside as well as in the garden where they filmed and took pictures. After that, we headed to the Beatles apartments that were featured in their movie, Help! We grabbed some lunch where the Beatles filmed for their movie Help! We met a gentleman by the name of Tony Bramwell who used to work with the Beatles from when they first formed to when they split. He told us lots of interesting facts about the Beatles that only he would know.
On our third day, we headed to Liverpool which was about a four hour drive from London. Personally, I think Liverpool is much more exciting than London. On our way to Liverpool we stopped at a few places. We stopped at a bakery for a quick lunch and a place called Friar Park. Friar Park was very popular with George Harrison and his ex-wife, Pattie. Then, we got to our hotel which was called the Hard Days Night hotel. We walked around Matthew street which has tons of Beatles related restaurants, shops, bars, and Beatles museums. One club there is called the Cavern Club. Although it is not the original Cavern Club, the Beatles originally started off playing there.
The fourth day, my mom and I walked to a Beatles museum on Matthew street which had so many interesting artifacts. Later that day we went to John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s childhood homes which was one of my favorite places we visited. It was so cool to be able to step foot into the childhood homes of two musical geniuses. Then, we got some dinner and went to a pub to hang out with the people within our group.
On our fifth day, which was my personal favorite, we saw one of the coolest things in Beatles history. We went to the Casbah Coffee Club which has been around for many years. This was the earliest place the Beatles played in. All of the ceilings and some walls were painted by the actual members of the Beatles. There were even carvings in the wall that John put there in the 60’s. Then, we went to the Beatles Story which is a museum in Liverpool. We saw the Beatles statue and went to the Fab 4 cafe which was all Beatles themed.
On our last day, we went to Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields which was another one of my favorite sights we saw. We also saw George Harrison’s childhood home and a mural painted of Ringo Starr.
For my first time traveling, this was one of my favorite trips I have ever taken. I absolutely loved seeing all the places my mom and I have dreamed of going to. I would definitely travel again. For Beatles fans, Liverpool is the place to go.
