SPRING BREAK! Part 2(c): Cardiff

The final leg of Becca and my Spring Break adventure included a stop in Cardiff, Wales. I have just always thought Wales was interesting, so I wanted to see what it was all about, and since Cardiff is the capital it seemed like a good city to start. Plus we found out that Cardiff is home to the Doctor Who Experience so that just made it all better. 

Pretty cool hostel

We started off our first day by checking out of our London hotel and catching our bus to Cardiff. We got to Cardiff about 1pm and then attempted to find our hostel. I had written out directions on my phone, but we couldn't really find any street signs. We decided to stop by somewhere that had wifi and used Google Maps. We eventually made our way there, checked in, and got settled. The hostel was super cool. It had a little bar area that had some day beds and couches to relax on, as well as a movie theater in the basement. We hung out here for a while attempting to figure out what to do. Eventually we decided to just explore. We found our way to the Cardiff Castle, but since it was going to close in a half an hour didn't pay to go around it. We also went into a couple of really interesting shops that we passed on our way to the City Hall and a natural history museum. We found the museum and went in, but unfortunately, ten minutes after we got there they started to close so we had to leave. It was already 5 by this point so we decided to meander a bit around the city center and went into the mall to get some food. Becca and I were a bit apathetic at this point because the weather was not the best and we had had such an amazing time in London. We also were really missing home and were really not feeling like doing much. We decided to head back to the hostel and just hang out a bit. We went into the common area and decided to watch some Doctor Who before going to the experience the next day. It was a great decision, and helped our mood quite a bit. Then we headed off to bed. 

We found a random Dalek!

Cardiff Castle

Day two started off with a pretty bad shower but turned out to be an awesome day. We asked for directions to Cardiff Bay, got a map, then started to walk to the Doctor Who Experience. Once we got to Cardiff Bay we discovered that it was the location of a rift in time and space which was pretty important in Doctor Who. Becca and I were pretty excited and fangirled a bit before continuing our walk. We made it to The Doctor Who experience and were a little disappointed to find out they were out of the package ticket and that they don't do student discounts during the holidays so we could have bought the special deal online in advance, oh well. We started off the tour with a really exciting little bit where you help the Doctor get the TARDIS back (by flying it!!!) and are attacked by Daleks, only to be then rescued by the Doctor. Then you enter into an area filled with props, sets, and costumes that have been used on the show for the past 50 years. All of the regenerations of the Doctor's costumes are lined up, which was pretty neat. They also have the full TARDIS control room used by Nine and Ten with a loop of Ten's regeneration, which was heartbreaking and a little mean. We then ventured upstairs to see more costumes and information about a lot of the villains that are seen on the show. This is where we got to see our favorite companion's famous outfits. We spent quite a bit of time int he experience, then decided it was time to continue exploring the Bay area. We got our souvenirs and left. We were hungry by this point and stopped by a really cool place located on a ship. It was a pretty good lunch, and we overheard some people talking about what else there was to do in the area. We heard them say something about Techniquest being somewhere they could take someone so we decided to check it out. We meandered our way there, stopping to get ice cream on the way. We made it to this Techniquest and the price was only 4 pounds so we decided it sounded like fun. It turns out its meant for mostly school aged children and the guys we overheard were probably teachers. There were quite a few school groups there but that didn't stop us from displaying our inner child and having a blast with all of the hands on things. It was actually a lot of fun and totally worth the money we spent. We were absolutely fascinated by all of the stuff in there, which is saying something. After we were done there we slowly made our way back to our hostel to pick up our bags and catch our really long bus back to Glasgow. We got back kinda early, so we hung out in the bar area and got some snacks for the road before leaving. 

My favorite companion!

Where we ate lunch

The RIFT

Hipster ice cream shot

Even though it was a pretty miserable bus ride (3 hours to London, then 9 hours over night to Glasgow) the rest of the trip really made it worth it. I had an amazing time getting to travel around for spring break and i got to see so many things. However, I only had a day back in Glasgow before I left again, this time on my own. And it was far from relaxing, but I'll talk more about that in my next post.