Manchester, so much to answer for...
My journey to England begins in a matter of hours. It is now 1AM and my ride will show up at 5AM so I don't plan on sleeping. I still have a few things I want to do before I leave. I will have plenty of time to sleep on the plane and in the airport tomorrow. I wanted to document the plan for the trip before I go on it to see how it compares with what actually happens. Hopefully I can find an internet cafe or 2 to make a couple of posts during the trip.
We are flying stand-by and leaving tomorrow at 6:40AM to Atlanta. Then we have to wait around for the flight to England. Just as long as we make it to England sometime on Thursday we'll be good. We will be landing in Gatwick Airport in London.
From Gatwick we will be taking a train to Reading. The reason the plan for the trip was originally conceived was to attend the annual Reading Music Festival which always features an amazing line-up of bands. This year is no exception. There will be 4 shows going on at once so you have to make a decision. Its going to be a ridiculous amount of music. I'm preparing for the worst on weather, I actually like the rain but I just want to be able to see all the bands. The festival lasts from Friday-Sunday. We will be camping there for 4 nights.
Here is my list of bands I know and want to see at the festival. The ones with (*) mean I must see them if at all possible.
Friday
------
Hives
*Modest Mouse
Pretty Girls Make Graves
*The Shins
!!!
Saturday
--------
*White Stipes
*Morrissey
*Libertines
*Franz Ferdinand
*Stereolab
The Bronx
Features
TV on the Radio
Coheed and Cambria
Sunday
-------
*The Streets
Thrice
Placebo
50 Cent
*The Stills
*Fiery Furnaces
Futureheads
Supergrass
Von Bondies
Secret Machines
Devendra Banhart
*Radio 4
Rahzel
On Monday August 30, we have reservations for 2 nights at the Barkston Gardens Hotel in London which appears to be pretty decent according to expedia. Its located in the Hyde Park district. Hopefully it should provide some comfort after being dirty and tired from the festival.
On Wednesday we will take the train north a few hours up to Liverpool and we have a reservation at the Britannia Adelphi Hotel. I am really excited to see this city, of course because of the Beatles but it also just seems like its going to be really beautiful there on the Irish Sea.
The next day I'd like to see Manchester which appears to be a short train ride to the East. Manchester is the home of one of my favorite bands The Smiths. It and Liverpool are also famous for their soccer teams. It would be awesome if we could see a game I don't know if we will be able to or not.
After that we have reservations at 2 different hostels in different areas of London the next 2 nights.
I would like to get a chance to go to the West and see Bath and Stonehenge in this time. Also, possibly go east and see Dover.
I think this is a good skeleton of a plan that leaves a lot of room for exploring. I plan on taking a ton of photos. I've got the iPod all charged and loaded up with the latest cuts so I'm ready to go.