Intention of the Trip
1. Money
Manchester is suprisingly a good alternative to London since hotels cost a lot less.
2. Entertainment
Manchester is a city full of activities of a very broad range. Considering all three of us have different interests, well served we will be.
3. Culture
We wish to discover new horizons. May it be language, gastronomy, art or more, we can't wait to enlarge our cultural baggage.
Day 1 - May 10th
For our first day, we left Montreal for Toronto at 5:40 PM. Once we got there, we had about 3 hours to eat at the Pearson airport (SUBWAY) and get to our next flight for London. We spent the night and slept on our second flight. Here was our schedule for the trip:
Day 2 - May 11th
We then arrived in Manchester. We took the train (54$) from the airport to our hotel, the Holiday Inn Express and checked in.
We then walked over to the Palace Theater to attend the King of Pop - The Legend Continues musical (75$). We saw the musicians that genuinely played with Michael Jackson, it was AWESOME!
We continued the day by getting lunch at Archie's - Burgers Shakes Waffles (15$). After that, we went back to the hotel to go swimming and burned some calories. We grabbed a sandwich (15$) in the hotel's machines for dinner then went straight to bed. You know, jet lag.
Day 3 - May 12th
The next morning, we woke up and went downstairs to eat breakfast (included in hotel price). We then went for a walk in All Saints Park (free).
We grabbed a hot dog and some churros (10$) at a food stand in the park. We saw the Manchester Aquatics Centre and since it was only 3$ (9$) per person we decided to go in and spent most of the afternoon there. We then went for dinner at Wasabi - Sushi & Noodle Bar (30$).
We watched some (bad) movies (Konga and The Terrornauts) back at the hotel then went to sleep.
Day 4 - May 13th
This day was museum day. We took the bus (12$ for the whole day) to the Museum of Science + Industry (free). We visited the Air and Space Hall and saw some great aircraft, cars and bikes that got industrial Manchester moving.
We ate lunch at the museum's bistro (21$) and got the Manchester traditional tart for desert (6$). It was very good we will surely try making one of our own back home.
After lunch, we took the bus to the Manchester Art Gallery (free). The paintings were beautiful.
We finished the day by going to The Alchemist. The food there was crazy. Mahélie chose chicken katsu curry, Joseph picked the chilli & rice and Geneviève ordered the blackened salmon.
Day 5 - May 14th
Breakfast in our bellies, we headed (bus for the day: 12$) to the Oxygen Freejumping Trampoline Park (37.80$). We had a lot of fun! We were impressed with the 150 connected trampolines, airbag, dodgeball, etc. There were a lot of kids but we still had a good time.
Mahélie almost killed that guy on the left with her amazing flip skills but everything was fine in the end. We ate at the park's café (15$). During the afternoon, we watched a professional trampolining show.
We headed back to the hotel and ordered some bacon pizza (25$) then went to the pool for a few hours, then went to sleep.
Day 6 - May 15th
After breakfast we went to the Escape Room (57$). We chose the Room 13 path. It was very hard and scary but it was so much fun. Here is the summary for Room 13:
"On the way home from a vacation with your family, your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere with no reception to call for help. Seeking shelter from the dark of night, you decide to check yourself and your family in to one of the rural hotels nearby. The elderly caretaker of the run-down hotel informs you that there are no other hotels within walking distance. After checking into one of the rooms, you find a series of rather supernatural things occurring within the room and you have been locked in from the outside. Complete the puzzles within the haunted room to figure out a way to escape within sixty minutes or suffer the wrath of the spirits you have angered."
Winners were given sausages and corn and other stuff on the grill. Of course, we won so we had the privilege to get a free lunch.
We got out of the room at around 3 PM so we weren't really hungry for dinner. Therefore, we only got ice cream around the hotel and headed back to the hotel for a little swim before sleep.
Day 7 - May 16th
In the morning, we visited (12$ for daily bus) the National Football Museum (9$ donation). It was kinda boring but the building was pretty.
We ate at the museum's bistro (23$). We shared pasta salad with some sweet tea and soda.
After lunch, we walked to the Manchester Cathedral which was close by. The organ was impressive.
We had a reservation at the The French for dinner (150$) with the famous cook Adam Reid. It was absolutely sublime. We were very happy and satisfied with our culinary experience. We saved up money on food the whole week to afford to go.
We went back to the hotel stomachs full and with a smile on our face. We went to bed and slept like babies until noon.
Day 8 - May 17th
We woke up at noon on day 8th. We decided to go eat at the Krispy Kreme for pancakes, donuts, waffles, etc. We then walked around the city to take some "Insta-goals" pictures.
We walked around the city for a few hours. Manchester was just such an amazing and beautiful place, we could've wander forever in those foreign streets. Sooner than later, dinner time arrived but after our luxurious dinner from the night before, we chose to go cheap that night. We went back to our hotel room and ordered some chicken wings (25$) while watching association football (...soccer).
After a good game of soccer- I mean association football, we went to bed.
day 9 - may 18th
We ate breakfast around 10 and decided to start the day with a fresh start with a little swim.
We skipped lunch. We then went to the Manchester Arndale mall (12$ for the bus) for a little shopping until dinner time. We bought some souvenirs for family, friends and ourselves (30$). We found a deli in the mall and bought some sandwiches for dinner (15$).
After our shopping spree, we went back to the hotel and slept until the exciting morning that was coming.
day 10 - may 19th
We were going back home that day. But. Before we did that, we planned a short trip to... London! Since our airport was already in London we decided to leave early and visit the city before taking the plane back to Canada. So we woke up at around 9 AM then ate breakfast before checking out. We took the train (56$) all the way to London. We ate dinner that was offered and included in the train and arrived at 1 PM. Our plane was at 7:30 PM so we still had quite some time to spare to visit London. We went to see Big Ben (duh.) and everything that was included in the tour (54$). After that we went and took pictures with the famous Queen's Guard and the red telephone booths.
