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Somewhere To Belong

Belongs somewhere doesn’t always mean a particular place

The past couple of months haven’t really seen much travel for me and Wandering Beeb. We have been moving house and as anyone who has been through that experience knows, it takes up lots of time and almost all of your money! After lots of sorting and box carrying, we decided we needed some time out and a bit of time away from the house-moving world.

We jumped in the car and took off to Formby beach and squirrel park . We chose Formby because it’s fairly easy for us to get to, has a beautifully clean beach and has a lovely forest area nearby.

After lots of busy weekends, it was so nice to stroll through the forest area. We’d picked a beautiful day (that one sunny day that the U.K. gets each year!) and the sun was streaming down through the trees. We were keeping our eyes pealed for squirrels but we didn’t spot a single one, despite the forest’s name! We did spot millions of magpies though, so that might have provided an explanation as to where all of the squirrels had gone.

Looking up at the tree line, we were struck by how much they resembled the trees in Zion National Park. This led us on to a lengthy discussion about Zion and what we’d enjoyed there – making us reflect on our experiences. Although it wasn’t quite the same (no waterfall to walk underneath and certainly not as hot!), it had a similar calming effect on the both of us.

We’d arrived in Formby stressed out and worked up, but looking at the trees and taking time to appreciate our surroundings instantly made us feel far more relaxed.

As we strolled along the beach, the sun bouncing off the sea and the calm sound of the waves made us take a breathe and slow down for a second amongst the hustle and bustle of daily life. Jumping over the pools of water and slushing through the wet sand, our shoes became drenched and our socks were soggy, but our smiles were much wider than when we first got out of the car.

Before this trip, I was getting ready to write a post for last week’s photo challenge on my place in the world. I probably would have picked Yosemite as my place in the world – however, our visit to Formby made me realise, it’s not a specific place where I feel at home. Instead, it’s being somewhere in nature: tall trees, water, sunshine and good people are what I need to feel at home, the actual location doesn’t matter.

10 Top Tips for Visiting Alcatraz

10 tips to improve your visit to Alcatraz

Alcatraz is iconic. Everyone knows of the maximum high security prison just off the San Francisco coast. For this week’s post we wanted to share with you our tips to get the most out of your visit:

1. Planning Your Trip

I can’t stress this enough – book well in advance! On our trip, we’d been keeping an eye on tickets and they were selling out weeks in advance. In fact, the first time we visited San Francisco we didn’t manage to get any tickets. Granted, this was in peak summer time, but I have heard that other people have experienced a similar challenge at less busy points of the season.

Our tip is to get online as soon as you know when you will be in San Francisco and book those tickets – the earlier the better to make sure that you get your selected slot.

2. Get The Right Ticket

Although there is only one company that runs trips to the island and the prison (it’s classed as a National Park), you can buy tickets from more than one place. Be warned, these are often ticket resale sites who add their own costs on top. There are also tours around Alcatraz which do exactly that: take you around the island without allowing you to get off the boat – pretty disappointing if you were expecting a trip into the prison. To make sure you get the right ticket, visit: Alcatraz Cruises.

3. Take ID

Make sure that the person booking the tickets brings their ID with them, or at least a photocopy of it. You won’t be allowed to take the tour without it.

4. Allow Enough Time

Anyone who knows me is fully aware that I am late for everything. Wandering Beeb likes to be on time. It’s a struggle. For a trip like this, you don’t want to leave too little time and end up missing something interesting.

We walked up from Fisherman’s Wharf to Pier 33 where the crossing to Alcatraz takes place. It’s much further than we thought and there were queues to pass security. Make sure you get there with enough time to navigate security and finish up your drinks / food before you board the boat, or you might find that you don’t even make it to the island.

Making your way around the prison, the grounds and the island takes far longer than you think – if you have other things planned in for your day after returning from Alcatraz, make sure you have left enough time to see everything and visit all the different parts of the prison and grounds. Official tour guides recommend at least 3 hours to see everything.

5. When To Go

The day trip is far less busy (although a trip at any time of day is fairly crowded) and you get some beautiful views on the way to the island – however, for us, the evening trip wins hands down. Although you don’t get the same views on the sea crossing as you would in the day time, seeing the island rise out of the murky darkness on the night trip is one sight that sets the scene for the rest of the prison and you don’t want to miss it!

6. Take A Coat

“But it’s a sunny day” I hear you shout. It doesn’t matter! On our visit, I had the same thought and just took a light jumper. Big mistake – I froze my way around the island and was glad of the small amount of warmth to be found in my dodgy hotel room (that’s another story) at the end of the day.

It gets incredibly chilly once you are out on the water and evening trips are down right cold. The combination of open sea, winds and damp buildings mean that wrapping up warm is a must.

7. Let Staff Know in Advance of Mobility Needs

Alcatraz island is very steep. If you have mobility needs, let the staff know in advance as they have some limited transport to help people get about from A to B.

8. Take The Tour Option

The audio tour adds a huge amount to the experience of the prison – with sound effects of clanging cells, stories of the prisoners housed at Alcatraz and insight into the perspective of the guards, it gives a very detailed insight into life in the prison. It’s also fun to watch other visitors randomly pointing at things the audio has mentioned and making faces at some of the horrible stories being told. That might just be me though – I’m a total people watcher (but not in a creepy way, I promise).

One other thing to be aware of: if you take the evening tour, you get a few extras in comparison to the day trip. Extra information on the island from your captain and a couple of extra trip options (such as the hospital or other prison floors). We visited the hospital and this was, without a doubt, the most creepy part of the whole trip.

9. Remember Your Camera

Obviously you’ll want to get those important Insta snaps of the inside of the prison, but don’t forget to turn your camera around on the boat ride to/ from the island.

The boat journey is a great place to grab some photos of the San Francisco coastline that you might otherwise miss.

10. Catch The Slamming Of The Cells

The calls of “Rack ’em” echoed down the halls, fading away to nothing. Silence followed. Then, breaking the stillness, came the sound of the cell doors slamming shut in unison. It was chilling and by far the best part of the visit to Alcatraz.

The slamming of the cells really brings home the isolation and loneliness of the prison like nothing else on the tour. Make sure you find out if the tour slot you are booking on will feature the cells closing, as it really brings the experience to life.

What areas of Alcatraz did you find the most interesting? Did we miss a tip? Let us know in the comments.

Zombie Girl & Wandering Beeb xx

The Ruin Pubs of Budapest

The oldest ruin pub in Budapest – Szimpla Kert

We were sat on plastic, flip down seats, made out of an old theatre chair, screwed into a heavily graffitied wall. We’d made our way through the open-roofed maze of rooms and the sound of the music had faded a little, although the base could still be felt through the floor. We had headed down to Szimpla Kert, the original ruin pub in Budapest and it was certainly living up to it’s hype!

Ruin pubs make use of the run down, derelict spaces in Budapest, creating unique settings full of mis-matched furniture and creatively placed oddities. There is quite an interesting history to the ruin pubs, you can read more here: https://theculturetrip.com/europe/hungary/articles/a-brief-history-of-budapests-ruin-bars/

Originally we had found what we thought to be Szimpla Kert and weren’t as impressed. After being told “Don’t turn left out of your hotel, not safe” by the taxi driver, we were understandably a little cautious! Therefore, when we went hunting, we’d found somewhere that proclaimed itself as ‘the original ruin pub’ and thought that we had reached our destination. We were somewhat unimpressed and couldn’t really understand what all the fuss was about. It quickly became clear that the small, narrow pub we were in was not the one we had set out to find and, after getting lost a couple of times, we found Szimpla Kert. Entering into the bar and taking a seat, we started to understand why it had come with such high recommendations.

Across the way from where we were sitting, there was an old car seat being used as theatre seating, in front of a projector screen showing films against a graffiti-ladened wall. Looking upwards, the court-yard between the two external walls was joined together by netting, flags and awnings, creating a market place type feel, enhanced by the rhythmic, yet unrecognisable, baseline supplied by a DJ who was strategically placed behind a wall of metal fencing and potted plants.

The vibe was that of a relaxed house party, groups of people sat chatting, people dancing, some playing with a prop or two (in this case a couple of bike wheels mounted on the walls) and others making use of the wall space to add their own graffiti to the blank spaces between other visitor’s scribbles. The eclectic mix of art and furniture matched the range of nationalities gathered in the bar, each bringing a little of their own culture to the shared experience. Each taking a little piece of the culture of the ruin pubs home in their heart.

http://en.szimpla.hu/

Becoming an S.H.I.E.L.D Agent With Marvel in Vegas.

A visit to the Avengers Marvel S.T.A.T.I.O.N in Vegas

For this week’s post, I could have gone one of two ways: tell you all about our visit to Alcatraz or jump on the Marvel bandwagon and share our experience of the Marvel station in Vegas. Take a quick guess which one I picked?! Don’t worry, I will post on Alcatraz soon, but for now, let’s discuss all things Marvel.

We ended up at the Marvel Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N one red- hot day, looking for some shade. Billed as an ‘interactive and educational visit’ I’m not ashamed to say that I was quite happy to brave the large numbers of kids in attendance to get to see some Marvel kit. We were given headphones at the entrance and this provided us with an audio commentary throughout the exhibition, interacting with the exhibits and guiding us round.

We spent some time being ‘initiated’ as S.H.I.E.L.D agents (kids generally seemed to love this bit) and then we were off, exploring The Avenger’s exhibitions. There were the usual costumes and props on display, but the stand out features for me were Banner’s lab, Thor’s hammer and of course, Stark’s array of Iron Man suits.

Banner’s lab was a hazard-filled area which the Hulk had recently busted his way through. With a huge Hulk hand and a screen which allowed you to control the Hulk’s movements (Hulk Smash!!!), it was one of the more interactive areas of the exhibit.

Although Mjölnir (Thor’s hammer) wasn’t a huge part of the exhibition, it was a great photo opportunity, with everyone trying to get that perfect shot. Spoiler alert: neither me nor Wandering Beeb were worthy enough to be able to able to lift it – it was worth a try!

The best part of the exhibit if you are a Tony Stark / Iron Man fan was the collection of Iron Man suits, fabulously displayed in a circular exhibit, just like in the films. The Hulkbuster suit was also a feature and wow that thing is huge!

Littered throughout the experience were interactive and video game opportunities and the Marvel Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N is well worth a visit for the casual fan and super fan alike. If you can tear yourself away from the other attractions in Vegas, the nightlife on the Strip, stunning hotels and the beautiful weather, it’s a good place to spend a couple of hours.

The Marvel Avenger’s S.T.A.T.I.O.N is located in Treasure Island and costs around £24 per adult ticket. There are often 2 for 1 offers to be found – particularly if you are a guest at Treasure Island.