When I was teased for having never been to the Great Britain, being an English major in the university myself, I laughed and looked back at those days in the 1980s. I studied and lived in a different city from my hometown on a monthly budget of RMB50yuan (roughly US$17 then). Even travelling for leisure to a different place in China was a luxury, let alone an immersion experience in England! That was something beyond the wildest of imaginations. Things have changed tremendously over the last decades, during which time many impossibilities have turned into realities. With my first airplane experience at the age of 25, now I am even nicknamed a world traveller by many friends.
Now I'm finally about to set out for my first trip to the Great Britain to fill in that shameful blank space on my world map of arrivals. As I sketched out the planned route for a three-week stay as shown below, the stunning landscapes, rich cultural heritage and profoundly intriguing history all jumped out to promise me one of the most exciting discoveries in life.
(More detailed itinerary and planning tips will be posted in the Travel section of this website shortly.)