Contiki England & Scotland – Days 1 & 2: London & Liverpool

Hello from the birthplace of The Beatles, Liverpool! Before I get into our exciting day in Liverpool, I’ll back up a bit.

Our tour started at 6:45 AM yesterday morning in London, England. After checking in, we promptly boarded our home for the next 10 days – our Contiki tour bus! There are around 30 of us, so most of us have two seats to ourselves which is great! Once we were on the bus, we met our guide, Emily, & our driver, Fiero. Emily is from the UK and Fiero is from Portugal.

We spent just over an hour driving around London and saw most of the major sites from the bus – London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, 10 Downing Street, Buckingham Palace & Trafalgar Square.

After The Beatles Story, I walked along the River Mersey to the Museum of Liverpool.

Unfortunately, the museum closed 15 minutes after I arrived so I just had a chance to check out one of their exhibits about the docks of Liverpool. The city itself was a key shipping port for England & was well connected to the country’s extensive rail network.

Then, I headed to a large, beautiful shopping center in the middle of Liverpool. It was absolutely gorgeous with plenty of outdoor shopping and eating.

I had a quick bite to eat at Pret which has one of my favorite kind of sandwiches that isn’t available in the USA – I’m not sure what’s on it, so I need to find out before I head home!

We had a group dinner at the hotel that evening and headed out to the world famous Cavern Club afterward. The club was a very expansive basement with two stage areas. The bands that played were pretty good & it was a great experience to watch bands perform where The Beatles first got their big break!

This morning, checked out of our hotel and boarded our bus for a Beatles inspired tour of Liverpool. We saw a few sites key to the development of The Beatles like The Liverpool Institute where the group met as teenagers. We also drove down Penny Lane which inspired the famous song & Sefton Park which inspired “Here Comes the Sun”.

Now, we’re off to York. I’m looking forward to trying Yorkshire Pudding for the first time among other things!