The United Kingdom with Simon - Episode 7

Simon, originally from the UK and currently living in Dominica, shares his love for travel and the countries he has visited. He mentions traveling to various places in Asia, Africa, Europe, the US, Central America, and the Caribbean. He expresses his desire to visit South America. Simon also discusses his childhood dream of traveling and his obsession with airplanes and tropical places. He talks about growing up in different locations in the UK, including Eastbourne, North Wales, and the Midlands. He mentions his love for the Isle of Mull in Scotland and its pristine nature and beaches. Simon also highlights the long summer evenings in Scotland and the magical experience of observing puffins on the island of Staffa. Finally, he mentions his interest in visiting Wales, the only place in the UK he hasn't been to. Welcome, welcome. Thank you. Definitely not a stranger. Very happy to be here again. Just to let everybody know, this is Simon from, he lives in Dominica right now, but originally from the UK, which is exactly where we're taking you to this week. And so I'm going to let Simon introduce himself to you all. Yeah. Hi, I'm Simon. Like Amali said, I'm British. I'm married to someone from California. Our kids are half British, half American and now also a little bit Dominican. But yeah, I was born in England. I lived there until my late 20s. Yeah, that's my original home. You're giving people a little bit of insight into your age. I am right. Yeah. So how many, you travel often because I follow your page on IG, atportful.travel. And it's a joy watching your family travel. Like I saw you all went to Morocco. The kids weren't invited to that one though. I saw the A-frame house, your Airbnb that you have in New York. What is it? No, it's Long Island. Yeah. Yeah. And then I had the privilege of joining Book of Sins retreat at Seacliffe. Yes. Your cottages in Dominica, absolutely beautiful. Thank you. And so yeah, how many countries have you traveled to? Oh my gosh. I'll do the math. I'll go over continents. So I've, in Asia, I've been to Thailand, Indonesia, India. I've been to Australia. I've been to Moscow very briefly through the airport. And I left the airport. I've been to Egypt, to Israel, to Jordan. In Africa, I've been to South Africa, Malawi, Zambia. In Europe, I've been to a lot of Europe, Germany, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Croatia. You lived in the UK. Yes, exactly. Easy access. That one was less of a heavy lift. And then obviously the US, Hawaii, yada, yada. And then Central America, Mexico, Colombia. Briefly to Brazil, I really, really want to go to South America properly. That I would say is a big gap in my travels. I really, really want to visit South America. And then obviously a bunch of the Caribbean. So I don't know how many that is. Yeah, I've lost count. But you know what? I actually prefer when you tell people, because I mean, I keep track of how many countries I've been to, but I'm really focused on it so much. My dream was always to go to the six major continents. And we'll make it to Antarctica one day. But it's not so important for me to like the number of countries I've been to. It's more important that I experience places. So I tend to enjoy slow travel a lot more. It's always nice to hear instead of somebody saying, okay, I've been to 90 countries, I've been to 60 countries and actually hear what I've been to. So you're actually like a physicist and I've heard who's been able to, you know, actually raffle off all the actual countries you've been to instead of just like a number. Well, I should count up as well. That would be interesting. It's signs of a true traveler. But it's challenging to keep track of how many countries you've been to. No, that's good. But did you always dream of leaving the UK and traveling? I did, you know, as a child, I was obsessed with travel. What I'd be drawing in my notebook in the margins at school was airplanes and palm trees. And I was obsessed with it. And growing up, we used to go regularly to France camping, just in the car in the ferry. And I was always like, it was beautiful looking back, but I was always like, oh, I want to get on a plane. It was all about getting on a plane. I wanted to go really far, you know, really far. And it was always things that looked so different from England with the gray skies in England. I was like, I want to go to tropical, exotic places, you know. And so, yes, as soon as I could, as soon as I left home at 18, I started traveling. So, yeah. Dream come true. Or as you would put it, the popular word, manifestation. Yes, absolutely. Yeah. So, when people hear the UK, you know, most people think about London, you know, probably Edinburgh. Where exactly did you grow up in the UK? Great question. A few places, actually. So, I was born in Eastbourne on the south coast, which is near Brighton, which some people at least have heard of Brighton. Yes, I'm from Brighton, actually. There you go. Well, Eastbourne is... It was my first experience going to the sea. Yes. So, I will straight away apologize for the sea in Brighton, Eastbourne. It is huge rocky pebbles that are so painful to walk on. And grey, a kind of greyish sea. Yeah, I'm not... I love Eastbourne. I grew up there, but... I was surprised. When I went, it was Easter. And there was a blue pin to the water. There was a nice blue pin to the water. No, and I love... Or pelican, whichever one it was. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, I know. But it was just cold. Yes, yes, yes, yes. That's definitely a theme, the weather. But Eastbourne until I was 11. Then we lived in North Wales for a bit. Then we lived in the Midlands for a bit. And now my parents live in Shropshire, which is kind of near the Welsh border. Typical, beautiful, chocolate country box, whatever you call it, like picture postcard English village where they live now. So, that's where I go back and visit. But yeah, then I went to uni. I was in Oxford for uni and then London for like 10 years of my grown up life. So, kind of been all over the place. That's right. I was following on at Thoughtful.travel. Y'all went back for the summer. And y'all went to, just remind me, it was Isle of... Mull, yeah, in Scotland. It's west coast of Scotland. And actually, when I was preparing for this and I was thinking about the places I would recommend in the UK, definitely Scotland. And I'm glad you mentioned Edinburgh, but not just Edinburgh. Edinburgh's amazing. But like rural Scotland and Isle of Mull, I would really want to fly a flag for the Isle of Mull. I grew up going there. My granny and grandpa had a little, very simple little croft, which is kind of what a cottage is called in Scotland, up there. And so, every summer we would go and spend time there. And so, I have all these lovely nostalgic memories. But now we go back every year to the same spot in Mull and it's still so unchanged. And you know, I compare it a bit to Dominica. You get your beach to yourself on the Isle of Mull. You get your pristine white sand, your turquoise water. Now, the water is freezing cold, even in July and August, so I'm not going to pretend. But it is pristine nature, untouched, and there's not really any humans around. If you like your nature unspoilt and to yourself, the Isle of Mull is wonderful. I definitely remember there was a year when Scotland topped the place that travels. I think that would have been 2018, probably somewhere around there. And it was the first time that I learned of how beautiful the beaches are in Scotland. Like, you know, you always think of the countryside and, you know, mountains and lakes and the highlands. And when I thought I was like, beaches, I'm like, so all the articles actually advertise Scotland as this place where it's all the landscapes you could imagine exist, like, in Scotland. And yeah, that was pretty amazing. Like, I went there on Easter, so it was cold. It was like, no, no temperature to be anywhere near the beaches. But I always thought, like, if I ever go back in summer, and especially after watching your videos for the Isle, like, I must go back there. Like, I went to the highlands and I went, I spent most of the time in Edinburgh. Very good. And I'll say two other things that are magical about Scotland and Mull around there. So firstly, just how light it is in the summer through the evenings. Like Scandinavia, like the places maybe that are more famous, but never really getting dark. Scotland is the same. So it's just like it doesn't get dark for like nine or ten at night. And then it has a wonderful, magical kind of like twilight glow. And so your evenings are so long and your days are so long. It's lovely. And then the other thing is puffin therapy. Puffins are one of the most magical little cute land. They fly, but they live on cliffs. And there's a lovely tour you can do from Mull to a little island called Staffa. And you just go in and it's very tame. It's very interesting. Like they're protected. It's a preserve. It's this beautiful rocky island in the middle of nowhere you go to. But you can just go and sit on a tuft of grass with a puffin, you know, just arms length away. And they fly in from the sea with a little fish and they go in their burrows. They're like a cartoon character. They're like make-believe. Honestly, it is puffin therapy just to sit and watch them and the colorful eyes and their beak and everything. And that for me this year, we did it again this year. I hadn't done it for two years. And I was like, people need to experience this. This is such a magical little nature moment, you know. That reminds me of like in Tobago, off Tobago, there's a little island. I think it's Little Tobago actually. I think there's also Goat Island. But I think on Little Tobago, there is one particular bird that is only indigenous and that lives there. And I think they just, they don't fly for long distances either. But I think they die. They like run and just like fly off cliffs, like the high part of it. But yeah, and it's a white bird as well too. I must see if I find it. Well, I want to go and visit that. I want to go and visit that now. I'm being a terrible ambassador because I don't know the name. But yeah, that just reminded me of it. But yeah, that sounds like puffins do sound like a cartoon character actually. They can have that on show like Woody Woodpecker. Totally. Well, it is actually, there's a show on Netflix that my kids loved when they were younger called Puffin Rock. And it's all based around this little puffin child, if you will. So we have Isle of Mull and that's like Scotland. And we spoke about Brighton. You know what? I haven't visited Wales actually. It's the only place in the UK I haven't gone to. Yeah. Okay. How is Wales like? I always pictured it like still kind of country-ish for some reason. Yeah. I mean, Wales in itself has so much variety of terrain for a small, you know, kind of region that's crazy. We lived in North Wales, which was beautiful. There's a little island which now has a bridge across to it called Anglesey across up there. So there's some really beautiful beaches up there. There's some amazing castles. I mean, there are castles and stately homes, obviously, everywhere in the UK. And I have to say, and this might be a later question for you, but what do I love about the UK? Generally, the history. The history is just unparalleled. And the layers of it and how ancient it is, you know, and then there's all the other histories in between. As well and before. Oh my gosh. It's crazy. There's some amazing castles in Wales. But I tell you, the bit that I haven't been to Wales that I'm desperate to go to is Pembrokeshire. Like that's in the southern southwest. And the cliffs there, the beaches there look so stunning. And I've yet to visit on my list of places to go in the UK. So it's not bad. You didn't know the exact name of that island. But there's still places in the UK. And again, people might look at the UK from other points of view. That's a small country. You can get around it. You can see everything. But I still really want to go to Pembrokeshire. I haven't been before. Is there a difference? Because I know there's a place called Pembroke and then there's all these shares. I don't know if it's so, but like a share like a word that's like a small. Depending on where's Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, it's like the shire, you know. It means just like area or county or, you know, something like that. So it's just like, yes, I guess it just means an area of land. Oh, OK. Yeah, I've heard about it. And then you'll hear like the same name and share. Yeah. And not every place that's called Shropshire or Herefordshire. Sometimes like so Herefordshire near where my parents live, the capital city is Hereford of that county. And but there's other places that there's no Shrop, you know, for Shropshire. So it doesn't always work. But Pembroke, yes, I think there's a Pembroke, you know. Yeah. So it sometimes works like that. It sometimes doesn't. Yeah. And then there's England. Which most people will just think London. But are there any other places in England that you would like recommend other than London? Yes, definitely. And it depends on how long you've got there. So I would always recommend you're in the UK, obviously, to always spend a few days in London, a few nights there, because there's amazing things there. And then from London, I will just also, you know, give a shout out to our train system in the UK. Our trains are so good. Yeah. And they're a beautiful way of getting around, beautiful views of countryside, that some of the train lines, like the one from London to Edinburgh, goes right by the coast at one point and you've got dramatic views. The ones to the southwest go right by the coast. And if you book far enough in advance, it is cheap. So sure, if you book last minute, it can be expensive. If you're choosing peak rush hour, it's expensive. But if you book in advance and off peak, you get really good deals on trains. Really good, because we still use it a lot and it's super cheap. And so I want to talk about two places that are accessible from London. One is further and one is nearer. The further one is Cornwall. That's more like a five, six hour train journey. You know, that's a long train journey, but it's a beautiful one. And Cornwall is so rugged and cliffy. And it's also the warmest of the UK in the summer. So if you're hoping for, I mean, I would never guarantee good weather in England at any time of year, even the summer. Big, big disclaimer. But you are more likely to find good weather in Cornwall in the summer than anywhere else. And it has these beautiful little quaint, ancient villages with old stone houses and winding lanes to a little harbour and a cove. There's a whole smuggling history, which is super fun to read about. White sand beaches with arches and caves. Yeah, Cornwall is really pretty, but there's a slightly more closer spot, Dorset, which is more like just three hours from London. And this is what I suggest if someone is maybe only got five or six days in the UK and they're doing a few nights in London, I would really plug Dorset. I've been there before, whatever, but we were there this summer again. So I have lots of fresh recommendations from it. And it, well, first I should say, it's great, Amali, that we met on a reading retreat. I was going to say that. I was going to say I've always wanted to go to Dorset because you read about it so much, especially in the classics, like those classic English books. You always hear about Dorset. Totally. And I will say, I should say, all the travels that I've really done in my life, I always like reading books set in those places, you know, on thoughtful.travel my big thing is like bookish travel. It's just like, what novel can I read that's going to enrich my experience of this location, you know, and just give us, give me this background, give me, give me an access to culture here, a shorthand to culture. I'm here for three days, but let me read some books by authors who are from this place. And Thomas Hardy. I don't know. I haven't read loads of Thomas Hardy lately, but I read so much Thomas Hardy at school. Thomas Hardy definitely really affected my love of literature when I was a teenager and this and that. Yes. And Dorset is Hardy country, full on Hardy country. Like you are, he wrote so specifically, he named actually, he barely disguised his place names in his fiction. Like you can see all the things that he saw and a lot of it is not changed. It's been preserved so beautifully. So I had, I had a lot of fun when we were in Dorset, seeing things that I knew were in his books. And I want to also mention something that I've loved discovering in recent years. And it's a, it's accommodations, it's called Landmark Trust. The Landmark Trust has all these historic quirky buildings across the UK that you can stay in. And they're not, they're affordable, particularly if you're traveling with a few other people and you, and you split the cost. They're, they're really, they're really not expensive, but they're historic gate houses. They're small little castles, they're follies, they're ancient cottages, they're converted ancient hospice. They're all these quirky spaces that they turned into nice accommodation. It's not super luxe, it's not like crazy, not bougie, just really nicely done. But you were staying in history. Like in Dorset, we stayed in Wolvesden Castle Gatehouse and it's, our bedrooms are in a turret, you know, they're circular bedrooms in this ancient turret and you've got a huge fireplace and you're basically living in a castle for a few nights. And I'm reading, and it was a castle that Thomas Hardy had definitely had tea at, like he'd gone for tea there. So I was like, I'm, I'm reading Thomas Hardy. You're in his book. Yes, I'm literally in his book. He sat over there, I'm here, that's the footpath unchanged through that field. There's Dorchester, there's the church he always talked about, you know, whatever. And so it was, so I love Landmark Trust. Now every year we go back to the UK, we go once or twice a year. I always book a Landmark Trust that I'll find the next funny castle or the next thing. And my parents come and we're there and the boys love it because there's always a spiral staircase for the kids to explore and a weird dungeon thing or a ping pong table somewhere. And so that for me has been a real unlock for my experience of England lately is this, is this company and finding these super character, characterful places to stay. Yeah. I was actually going to ask you that, like, if it is like, like somebody spending like two weeks in England or whatnot, like where would you recommend for them to split up their time? So I'm really glad that you brought that up, that Dorchester is like a really good, like you could take a, not necessarily a day trip, but you could easily just take the train and spend a few days there. Totally. And the coast there is lovely. It has an amazing rock formation called Durdle Door, which is this huge arch. And I will say as well, in the world of Instagram, obviously we're all on this and we love things that just are so visually striking. It is, it photographs so amazingly that arch. And to me, it looks like something that should be in Greece or somewhere else, because if the sun is shining, which it might not be, but if the sun is shining, the water there is sparkling blue and it's sort of a white cliff arch and the beach there. It's so stunning. It's so stunning. And I've seen pictures, I've never been until this year, even though I was in my geography, all my geography classes. It's a rock formation that's famous. It really didn't disappoint in real life. I'll say that. I went and I was like, this is beautiful. I was so pleased with it, with the content and the photographs I took of it, but it was just stunning to see it in real life. I think people forget that the UK is actually an island, so there would be sudden beach landscapes and seaside landscapes, but more remember cliffs of Moher when they think of the seaside or those cliff areas. No, it's true. And look, the thing is, swimming is always going to be a bit chilly. So I do understand why people don't think the UK is a beach, because they probably want to get in the water or some beaches aren't going to be rocky, but the temperature, it's never going to be warm anywhere to swim in the UK. What do you say in summer time, you could still like, okay, a lot of people may find river water in the Caribbean to be extremely cool. They'll say, no, I'll bathe in the sea, but river water is too cold. But you can still, it's refreshing, like you can still, for some of them, it compares to an ice bath. What do you say in summer time, you could still swim in the sea, although it's very cold? Yeah, and people in England are hardy to it. So I will compare. So at Dursle Door, we went on a beautiful, sunny day in July. And there were definitely people swimming, like, you know, it was sunny, because sometimes it's just it being sunny, right? Psychologically, like, okay, it's sunny, so I'm going to go for it. But you definitely still have to go in a bit. But then you're in, and it's fine. Now, Scotland in the middle of the summer, you will rarely see someone swim unless they're in a wetsuit, because it's genuinely like shockingly ice bath cold in the middle of July, August, warmest it's ever going to get. It is shockingly, it's a shock cold. Now, there's the hardy Scots, and my sister-in-law is famous for like swimming all the time in Scotland, when she goes, she's Irish, and she's like, very tough. Whereas I in Scotland, I'll run in, just to say I've gone in, then I'll shout, and I'll run out again. And that's it, you know, like. That is insane. I would love to swim in a sea. That would be an experience, just to say that. Yeah, exactly. It feels like an achievement. It feels like something you could show off about. Yeah, yeah. And I think it's Northern Ireland that is part of the UK, right? Because the majority, which is more on the south side, that is like the Republic of Ireland. Correct. Northern Ireland, that's part of the UK. Yeah. And beautiful spots there. We have really good friends in Belfast. So we've spent some time in Belfast, which is a beautiful city with super creative, artsy stuff going on, amazing food and restaurant scene. And then in the north, we've been to the north coast of Northern Ireland, which is again, a similar kind of cliff. Kind of landscapes, very beautiful. And then Southern Ireland, of course, is famous worldwide for its epic nature and just stunning, stunning scenery there as well. So, yeah, and I will, I have to also talk about pubs, because now I'm thinking about Ireland. You know, I was going to ask you, I just saw somebody come from the UK, and who's a guy, you have to be probably the first guy I've said who hasn't immediately talked about football. Yeah. Actually, I'm not a football fan, but I'll always be a pub fan. I mean, which of course, that can go hand in hand or whatever, but I... I'll edit out that part so nobody comes to you. I always try to be honest, though. And then, Amalia, you'd ask me my team, and then I have to just lie. You're free to edit as you wish. But pubs are amazing. Pubs are amazing. And I love the fact that they're family friendly, you know, but they're mainly family friendly things. I love the beer garden culture, like when it's sunny in England in the summer, when you're near a pub, you know, just the drinking outside culture, you know, and how, you know, as a kid, you can go and it's not, it's not some kind of like, you know, weird, dodgy thing, drinking, beautiful communal thing. And then in the winter, like you said, when you're there Easter, when it is bad weather in England, even in the summer, if it's bad weather, cozy, you can go, you can have your drink, even if you don't drink, you can just, it's normally their pub and they're quite historic. They've got this incredible history. So in the pubs, I love the most always the history with the big oak beams and the fireplace. And they're so cozy in the winter. They're a little retreat in the summer. They're great for posting up with a pint and your book, you're reading, great place to read a book if you're traveling alone or you're just bookish or whatever you want to do. They're just, and then the ones that you find in the middle of the countryside that are, there's nowhere around all the ones you find on a little Scottish island and, and, and, oh my God, yeah, there's always a little nook and a cozy corner to hang out in. So I will say that's one of England's prouder, prouder inventions. My, my, um, funny enough that I know it's like an English invention, but like my favorite pubs that I went to while I was there was in Scotland. Yeah. No, I mean, you know, it might've been, you know what the first pub could have been in Scotland for a while. It's bad that I don't know, but I wouldn't make it just English. It's definitely, definitely Irish, definitely like, you know, Welsh, Scottish, all over, you know. I remember like there was entertainment and there was this guy who was like, there was one with bagpipes and he was singing this song that was really more storytelling. I love that. Um, had the best whiskey. You had a great experience, Amala. You, you, you, I know you've researched your travel well, but it sounds like you went to some great places. I haven't had an experience like that in a pub in England, or anywhere in the UK. So I love it. You, you had a great insight. My tour, it was a UK tour we did. Um, it was a story because it ended up happening because we was, I went with a friend and we were supposed to do a European tour. And I, that's when I learned that the validity on your passport matters because up until then, I had only traveled widely through the States and the Caribbean where they generally don't really check it. Like you could still get into the US probably with like a month remaining on your passport. You just have to like show, you know, your return ticket. They may question you a bit about it, but you know, by and large, okay, fine. Just make sure that you leave before your passport expires. And, um, so I had, I think it was less than three months remaining on my passport probably. And I didn't realize until we got into London actually. And boarding a flight to go to Paris is when they denied me because it's when I learned to go to most of the European countries, you need six months validity on your, your passport. And talk about days of pride, like days of pride. So we had, we had, I think it was 21 days in all. So in two days we had to plan an entire trip in the UK because one European, so it was the counselor, the Airbnbs, the hotel bookings, everything. And we reworked an entire trip for like 20 days across England, Scotland, and I love that you pivoted because I love plans and I would have been very upset the same as you. And I honestly, I don't think I even really knew that. I didn't know that there was strict like that between, so that's not, that's, that's a real trick. People should know that. Like, we, we went like, it was like, we tried going to the Italian embassy to see if like, you know, they would allow us in. And we gave up. We just gave up. And we were like, you know what, we're going to stay in the UK. I felt really badly too, because I mean, this is a trip I planned with with somebody. But it turned out to be a really, really beautiful time. Like I had the best time in the UK, that is so. No, and you talk about slow travel. Like I know you hadn't planned it like that, but you really, 21 days, 20 days, UK, that's a good, that's a, that's much more of a sense of culture and a sense of a place, you know? So that, I'm sure that was a really beautiful thing about it as well. So, yeah. That's, yeah. It was, so you said history. What's your favourite thing about, what's your favourite thing about the UK? Anything else? Or if you wanted to delve deeper into the history. I, yeah, no, no, I will say, I'll say just cosmopolitanism and like influence from other countries that are now like generationally in English society. So honestly, I think our best food in England is curry, in the UK is curry. You know, that's not from us, you know, that's from an Indian population. So, so I love, and I love London for that too, that it's like, it's such a melting pot of cultures and races and ethnicities and, and everything. And I think that's such a freedom. I'm talking about London now, right? Such a freedom in London to be yourself, you know, and it feels like so open-minded there. And we've lived in New York for 11 years as well. And I'd say similar things about New York, but I would actually say that something, so even my wife Amber, she used to be a fashion designer. She loves fashion in London more than anywhere else, because she says there is such freedom of expression in fashion. Yeah. And even compared to New York, Amber will say that there's more freedom of people expressing themselves and what they wear in London than she thinks anywhere else. I mean, maybe someone like Berlin might be similar, but there's just such freedom of expression. And that just speaks, I think, for a bigger thing, not just about fashion, but just about freedom of expression and freedom of individuality. Yeah. And also I do think mingling of communities and different cultures. I think some cities and places have lots of pockets all separate of different cultures. But I mean, obviously I'm white and I have my own perspective of privilege and majority, but I do believe there's more mingling in London maybe than other places. And I think that's a really beautiful thing. So I love all the influences on the UK from other places that are like go-back generations, you know, in terms of culture and food and all sorts of things. I think that's a really cool thing about the UK. You're not the first person I've heard say that. And even if you look at pop culture, like Rihanna and all these persons, they tend to prefer London as like a fashion base or the fashion houses there than anywhere in the US, California, New York, it doesn't matter. Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting. Yeah. And then I love, I mean, the history piece, I mean, and then the history piece, how it relates to London, because I lived in London for years, obviously love London. Obviously, I would always recommend people spend some time there. The museum game in London is just amazing. I mean, from super modern, like from the tape modern, you know, like a converted and crazy like power station, you know, that kind of space to the beautiful Victoria and Albert, the V&A museum is probably my personal favourite, because I love the kind of oldie worldie construction. And it's kind of fun that Harrods is across the way and like Fortnum and Mason is around the corner. By the way, these are not places when I lived there that I would ever like shop in. I mean, they're so expensive. But it's fun just to walk around Fortnum and Mason. And I love tea. Of course, I'm British. So looking at all the tea packaging, and it's all like so beautiful and this and that. But the V&A is amazing because they'll always have like a new exhibition with something really interesting and fresh and relevant, as well as all their incredible back catalogue archive of super interesting artwork. And so I think the museum game is really strong in London and super diverse and lots of interesting kind of little pockets of that to explore. And then literally talk about bookishness, bookish travels. I mean, it's just like so much. I was gonna say I fell in love with bookshops in London. I specifically remember spending an entire day getting lost in bookshops. Yeah. I mean, that is magical. And then obviously just so much, so many authors over such a long period that you could dip into. You do want to read some Dickens and get your London vibes from that as you're traveling. If you want to read White Teeth by Zadie Smith and like that's your London like influence. And in fact, on this last trip this summer there, I'm now just enjoying the sort of Caribbean London connections. And so I was reading Lonely Londoners by Sam Sullivan like this. And I now want to read all his books. And I mean, it also makes me want to visit Trinidad. Another reason why I want to visit Trinidad, because he's such an amazing writer. And we literally, our train came in from Dorset to Waterloo, which is how Lonely Londoners starts with him in Waterloo station. And so I've got goosebumps talking about it. So it's just so beautiful to read that book. And I don't want to, in any way, it's not just beautiful. I mean, like the incredible hardship of being, you know, during that journey, being from the Caribbean and trying to make your way in like incredibly racist, yeah, like whatever society in London. I mean, also just the tragedy and the heartache of his group of, you know, of Caribbean diaspora trying to make their way. But it was such an insight. Talk about trying to understand culture that's not me as a white guy in like 2023. It was so, it just took me somewhere so different and so, so deeper for me to understand something there, you know, so. And there's a bunch of Caribbean literature that covers the Windrush period, the second world war with, you know, how many Caribbean people went across to try and rebuild the country. Well, not to try, rebuild the country. Yes, yes, totally. No, I mean, the history of it, there's so many twists and turns and like, yeah, yeah. But now, you know, now living in the Caribbean, it just, again, a different perspective for me to learn about culture here in Dominica and then, and then traveling in the Caribbean a bit as well. And that's why I still want to come to Trinidad because everywhere has its own unique mix and history and background. And yeah, so I find, you know, trying to locate those, those kind of pieces, those authors really helped open my mind eyes more and more to the places I'm seeing, you know. You know, in Dominica, like when I came, the thing that shocked me the most, I mean, I knew it was between Martinique and Guadeloupe, but I still never realized how much of a friendship influence it had. Like, I still thought of it as something like more of English influence or British influence. And when I actually, which is why it's so important to visit countries, because it literally changes your perspective or any wrong ideas that you may have had about the country. Yeah, totally. You're right. And I probably would have thought the same thing. And like, I had heard that, oh, they play cricket in Dominique. Okay, British, you know, all the British products in the stores here. But you're right. I would say overall bigger influence vibe, place names, the second language being Creole, which is obviously French connected. I would say way more French influence here. And I kind of, I kind of love that because, I mean, although the Brits tried to do a horrible colonizing job here, they just didn't kind of fail with any lasting impact in a way that I'm like, good, because it allows, you know, obviously allows an indigenous culture to be more prevalent now here. And it, yeah, England did not manage to whitewash the place. That's true. Yeah. Yeah. And they did lots of horrible things, which are still, you know, being sorted out. I'm not trying to say that, but I don't know. I like, I like in a sense that, yeah. Well, you're right. You're right. You know, I did just mention, I forgot to bring it up, probably because I'm not so much into this sport, but you're not into football. Are you into cricket? I mean, I'll tell you what, I went to boarding school in England where I was forced to play every sport, every day time. And I blame that. I don't think I'm naturally sporty anyway, but then being forced to play it like rugby in the winter, when it's just pouring with rain, it's freezing and it's just mud. That's grim. Cricket was just boring for me because at least it wasn't cold, but I'm just standing on this pitch for hours and hours and hours. So I, so tennis, I like, I'm like this one. Tennis, I'm not good at it, but I like having a hit around. So I will, I'll take tennis as a British sport that I do enjoy watching at least. By the time I launch this episode, the sports federation is going to come for you. It's true. It's bad. Wimbledon, I'm flying my flag for Wimbledon and tennis. That's a big export for the UK. So, you know, it's all good. As you're talking about history and now sport, like I know the history of football. I think there's actually a series on Netflix that dives into it. And then I know the history of cricket, of course. I don't think I've ever watched the history of tennis. I know that it's an export of UK and the culture is really large there, but I've never watched the history of tennis. Well, I'm going to butcher it, but I do, there's a thing called real, there's a thing called real tennis, which I might be wrong, but I think it was the original precursor of what's now called tennis. And I do believe that like Henry the eighth was playing real tennis at Hampton court palace. And it was this super historic game. It's a thing. It's still played in very niche circles. And I also know that, you know, tennis on a grass court is the real elite thing in the UK. Right. So that's obviously Wimbledon, but, you know, like even the boarding school I went to was, did have a grass, got me not super maintained or whatever. And I'll disclaim it by saying that my parents are teachers. They were teachers in the boarding school system. So that is why we've got a big reduction on fees. So I'm just going to say that I'm not super comfortable with it. But anyway, but in the boarding school that I went to was with discounted fees. I did like that because playing on grass is kind of cool. You know, it's different than clay and hard surfaces. And it does, it's cool. And it's just not, it feels more naturey, you know, like you're in nature, you're out in this lovely green grass and you're hitting the racket like a frog. Yeah. So I did, that was my window of enjoying a sport in England in school was tennis. It's good to know. It's good to know that you have at least one favourite sport, even if it's not the sport that you play. And I'm not good at it, but at least I can appreciate how much of it you're happy with. No, I'm asking you, what sport are you into Marley? Playing or what? I'm not a sport fan, like to say like of any one particular sport. Growing up in high school, I played a bit of hockey, indoor hockey. And then I did play tennis at one point in time, in my early teens. I never played football, but I enjoy watching football. Like in terms of probably my favourite sport to watch would be football. I do have an ex that was like heavily into basketball. So I would say I enjoy any sport, like, I mean, except test cricket. Like it's too long. It's too long. I do. And I couldn't get into like watching any sport, baseball, whatever. Like I've been to a baseball match knowing nothing much about baseball and was in the stands like, you know, just supporting a team and like, you know, having fun. But I'm not a sport fan of any one particular sport. Like I could do an event. It could be from track and field and all, even if you want to like count that. But yeah, I'm not heavy into any one thing. Got it. All right. Good to know. We were talking about curry before. What is your favourite food? I actually, I would say curry. Even in the States, even in New York, I really miss a good British curry. I really, I would say that number one. But I would say number two, I love a fish and chips, a good solid, you know, vinegar on it and then the batter just right. And then obviously, if it's served in a bit of old newspaper, even better, you know, like, you know, the proper legit. I haven't had a proper fish and chips. And I think that's the reason why I can't say I like it. Like I think whatever I try, like I had a fish and chips in Brighton. I had fish and chips in London. I had fish and chips somewhere else. And like, none of it just, I don't know if that was the Caribbean and me. Yeah, it might be. Because I know you have such a strong fish game in the Caribbean. So I don't know if you should. So like, I love fish and I don't necessarily need my fish to be heavily, heavily seasoned. So I guess a good fish and chips. Yeah. But OK. Now, though, the cream tea, I actually almost, I don't know if you had it when you had the scone with the clotted cream and the jam. OK, it's more of a summery thing. So maybe when you were there, it's being pushed. But the clotted cream is a cream that really it only exists in the UK. I've tried to find it in the States, I tried to find it in New York. It's the special kind of way of making cream. It's so thick and creamy. And it goes on the freshly baked scone, different from American scone, not like a scone. It's fluffy. It's very fluffy scone, very buttery, fluffy. And then the jam, the locally made, amazing crèche strawberry jam. And obviously, it's one thing I'd recommend for London, too. The posher places like the Ritz and all these places, they always have a green tea serving and it's always worth it. It's pricey. But at hotels in London, they do it with like little cucumber sandwiches and it looks beautiful. Yeah, yeah. So that I'd always recommend in London. Do a cream tea, a splash out on a cream tea at a posh. You know, you might be staying in a super cheap Airbnb, but go and have your cream somewhere and feel like you're there. But even just informal endorsement, you can just get the cream tea on its own. That I also love. So you said British curry. Is British curry more on the authentic Indian side curry? Is it a mix? Is it its own special? I'd say there's so many generations of Indian community in the UK that it's become its own thing. Because when I went to India, it was nothing like. It was like real Indian curry. It was spicier. It was different flavours. So no, for sure, British curry has had its own evolution over the generations to become its own thing. Right. And so it's a certain it's very different from what I ate in India. And I love the Indian Indian curry when I was an Indian too, of course. And it's amazing. I love and I guess some of them are milder. So I'm not a super spy. I like a bit of spice. Right. Say a lot of the British curry is a bit milder. And then it's all the trimmings, Amali. It's like the onion bhajis. It's the deep fried things. It's the poppadoms. It's the naan bread. It's the Peshawar. It's like my favourite one is the Peshawari naan. It's like a dessert. It's like coconut in a naan bread. And it's all fresh and puffy. So that's what I was also going to ask. I was like, is it like Caribbean curry? But now I'm like, no, that's not Caribbean curry either. It's got its thing, you know, and obviously in Dominica, we'll have a lovely roti and we'll have our trinity because in the Caribbean, obviously, the Trinidadian Indian connections are the closest we're going to get here. And I love all that. But it's different again. It's got its own thing. I think it's something new. I never realised that British curry was its own curry. And I was speaking to somebody the other day and I was like, it's amazing that curries all over the world are different. I mean, I guess it was originally an Indian thing and then from my, sorry, pattern everybody just made it their own. Right. And then if you're going to eat it anywhere in the UK, go to Brick Lane in East London. That is the famous street. Any curry house on Brick Lane is where you really want to do it right and proper. Yeah. Your experience, you know, and in Brick Lane, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah. And where will I get the best fish and chips? Honestly, anywhere. I mean, anywhere. But my favourite place, so we call them chippies, right? A fish and chip is called a chippy. The best chippy in my mind is at the seaside in a smaller English town where there's maybe just one chippy. So find a town, because every English town has a chippy and a Chinese takeaway, right? Every, every single one ever. And then probably a curry house as well. But find a town that has just one chippy because then you'll know, OK, it's just the one. It's doing its thing. It's doing well. And yeah, because eating it by the seaside, I don't know, you know, it's fish. It's near the sea. That's what I'd say. But, and then obviously local guidebooks will tell you where to get it. And then the cream tea as well. Great in the countryside. Yeah. Little tea shop. Because I will say one other thing about England. I love the tradition of eating sweet biscuit cake things at like multiple times in the day. So it's like, we have a thing called elevenses. I don't know if your camera is showing you that. Elevenses is when you're allowed to have lots of like sweet, we call them biscuits, Americans call them cookies. Elevenses? Yes. At 11 o'clock in the morning, you have your cup of tea. Oh, I love elevenses. It's called elevenses. It's a cup of tea, of course. But with the cup of tea comes the allowance to have chocolate biscuits, chocolate digestive biscuits or a big old cake. And then again, you have a cup of tea with lunch, of course, after lunch, that's cup of tea. Then at four o'clock again, it's afternoon tea and it's a cup of tea with another slice of cake, more biscuit. So honestly, I actually do put on weight when I go to the UK for any period of time because I'm just like, it's just it's allowed to have sweet chocolatey things throughout the day. I love that. But, you know, interestingly enough, like I've realized the quote unquote healthy cultures do allow, they all do allow for a bit of sugar, though. Like, yes, yes, yes. Everything in moderation. Because there's a side point, like when I went to Japan, that was like a huge culture shock to me of how much can they consume? Like they are huge and desserts, like even souvenirs, everything is cookies and and just sugary sweets and whatnot. And I'm like, but these are supposed to be some of the healthiest people in the world. What are we Americanized western world people getting wrong? Yeah, no, it's interesting. You're right. You find out these little things that aren't coming up. Like tea is a healthy thing, like tea is a healthy thing, but they couple it with sweets, like biscuits and whatnot. But it works. Just find your treats. Yeah. I didn't go to any elevenses, but it definitely sounds like, I always tell my mother that she's a British person at heart because she's obsessed with tea. So I know for sure she'll enjoy elevenses. Yes, it's a legit thing you can tell her she can do now and she can feel great about it. What is your favorite? As we are talking about books and stuff, it's going to be a very hard question. If you don't have one, feel free to mention a few. What's your favorite British book? That is hard. I feel like it's something I've read more recently. Like I know I mentioned White Teeth already, but I'm reading Zadie Smith's latest one, The Fraud, right now and loving it. Partly again, because it has this Jamaican story that's kind of tied back to the Caribbean, but it's set in the UK. She is great. I'm always looking. Yeah, it's funny. Over the years, it would have been all different. Like I was so into Jane Austen when I was like doing my A-levels in sixth form of school. I thought I read all the Jane Austens. I was then really into Oscar Wilde when I was at uni and I did my dissertation on Oscar Wilde, partly because he's not written that much and I could read all of them. But then I love a good Daphne du Maurier. I love Rebecca. Her books are set in Cornwall, so she's a great one to read if you're visiting Cornwall and it's all smugglers and all that kind of good stuff. Back in the day, I loved reading Shakespeare. Honestly, these days I find it a little harder to read. I've just been too contemporised with my reading. I think the education system spoils it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true. So these days, you know, I do think in terms of like modern British writers, David Smith is up there. I love her. You know, folks like that who are writing just like great books that are giving us different cultural insights into the UK as well, you know. So is that like, I mean, of course, it's English speaking and it's probably one of the best things that colonisation ever brought us. If there was ever a benefit to everyone. But what's the saying synonymous with the UK? It could be like England or anything. Yeah, that's a good question. I quite like, this is a phrase that just sums up our national character a little bit. Like when people ask me how I'm doing, I say I'm not too bad, not too bad. And that's just sort of like negative, you know what I mean? Because England's known, UK's known for being a little bit like downbeat and we're a little bit, we don't like to blow our own trumpet. We're modest to a fault, like we're false modest, you know. Really put ourselves down. And anyone who's vaguely showing off, we think that's the American thing. Oh, Americans, like, and I'm married to an American, right? So I'm not going to say that. But it's a cliché that Brits think Americans show off, you know. And so the not too bad, because often when I use that in America, people look at me be like, well, are you good? I mean, not too bad. That's just a negative phrase. So I'm not too bad. And it could or even could be worse. That's another phrase people say, it could be worse. And it's sort of like a bit of a downer. So they definitely pass that on to us because I've never noticed. And I guess probably because all of my American friends are like half Trini or Caribbean influenced too, so nobody ever looks at me weird when I say that. I never picked up on that, you know, because that's also like normal things that we say. Right. And then the other thing that, on a more positive note, I like the word brilliant. No one said that in the States. I've lived there for 11 years. No one said that. I like that word. Brilliant. And it can be thrown away for throw away. Oh, brilliant. And then I love that word. And that feels very British to me. I don't really hear Americans say that. All cultures are brilliant. And so we can be positive too, you know. I think my favourite thing about the UK is a strange thing to say is a dry sense of humour. Hmm. Because I have a dry sense of humour. I appreciate the dry sense of humour. No, you're right. I'm glad you do, because some people are just offended by it, you know. Then I'm glad you appreciate it. No, I still, having not lived in the UK for years, I have a regular diet of British comedy and comedy that just didn't translate. So, you know, some British comedy gets remade or whatever, like The Office goes to the States. Yeah. So much British comedy does not work in other cultures. Well, certainly not in the States. And I have my regular diet of like old, classic British stuff that's just a bit off and a bit quirky and just a bit weird. And I can twist on it. I think Alan was Aloe Aloe British, right? Yes. I mean, also horribly, horribly racist. So I'm not necessarily going to talk about that one. But yes, I mean, in its time, sure, that was what we watched. But yes. No, but I like there's a thing called Alan Partridge, which is like a spoof on a chat show host. I never made it to the States. I mean, the actors, yeah, you know, yeah, yeah. Things like that, like just. And then there was a terrible, this is kind of, I mean, it doesn't translate, very canned laughter sitcom, but there was a thing called Keeping Up Appearances. And it was like a, actually, I have some Dominican friends who are a bit older than me who said it got shown on Dominican, like TV, because I think it rang a bell with Dominicans who had a connection to the UK. And it's all this, it's a lower middle class woman who has all these aspirations of being more posher. So her name is Bucket. But she says pronounced bouquet. My mom watched that, actually. That's the generation. But as a kid, as a 10 year old, I was showing my age again. And it's all very innocent humor. And look at all probably all lots of whole like weird offensive stuff in it. But it was just, it summed up the British class system. You know, it was just, it was really this, you know, it had a lot to say. And apparently it was the Queen Mother's, the former Queen Mother, who's now deceased. It's her favorite show. And it just says something about, you know, British class. Do you remember me not to ask you what are your views on The Crown? Oh, I mean, I love the series. I mean, we're already talking about like. No, I do. You've been asking about the royal family. My wife, who's American, is not a big royals fan at all. Obviously, we both love watching The Crown. That was like amazing. And then there's another great comedy, which you might enjoy. You will enjoy this, actually, if you like the dry sense of humor. It's called The Windsors. It's a few years old now, but it aired on Channel 4 in the UK. But you can just find it on, it's on Netflix. Look up The Windsors on Netflix. So it's a total pastiche of the royal family, but slapstick comedy humor, great actors in it. You'll recognize some of the actors in it. And it's like Eugenie and Beatrice. It's like, you know, Fergie's kids and it's all the royal family. And they reference The Crown. They're like, oh, I didn't even get a storyline in The Crown. Slapstick humor, but very good impersonations and such. It's really funny. So I don't mind the royals. My wife is not into it. I still believe there's something to be said for the royal family. A lot to do with tourism, honestly. But obviously, I'm the first one to have a good old laugh and The Windsors is just poking fun mercilessly the whole time. And I think it's hilarious. So I'm kind of in the middle. I could go either way with my opinions. I mean, I'm definitely not a fan of colonization. I have to choose carefully, but I'll leave it there. I will quickly say that as well about, yes, the royal family, anything the royal family had to do with colonization, it was absolutely horrendous. I mean, I'm never going to be an advocate of that at all. If they'd stayed within their own land, I think that would have been... Yeah, no, I definitely am not. That was never... I see them as like another kingdom that was like part of history. Like, you hear horrible things they did and everything else is pop culture and for gossip. Yeah, yeah. No, that's definitely, yeah. No, that is true. But I definitely feel, even as a white British person living in the Caribbean, I definitely, I feel that, you know, just like the horrendousness of stepping into this history of just like, yeah, seizing land, behaving absolutely like... Obviously, enslavement, like just such incredibly horrendous aspect of history that I definitely am mindful of that, you know, and even just how we operate now of just this horrendous history of coming to the places that were not ours and doing awful things. Mostly like the history of this kind of... You kind of just feel that, I could be wrong, but you kind of just feel it like in London, like, I mean, so much of the UK, I feel like that isn't part of their history. Like, I don't know, I could be wrong. But Amali, so many port cities were self-centred for the slave trade, like my good friend is from Bristol, like Bristol has, in the sort of near southwest of England, has like a horrible history of slave trade. And then Liverpool has a horrible history of slave trade. But then, you know, but then so many stately homes in the UK are funded from plantations in... Well, yeah, for sure. So you just have to not even scratch the surface a second. And something I'm really aware of, as I now visit stately homes in the UK, and I used to be, to my own shame and ignorance, just not super aware of, you know, where wealth was coming from, all this, like those stately homes and the National Trust, which is the main stately home kind of place where you go and see, they are at least trying to have way more explanation and transparency of like, what money built this? Let's not just take a picture and have a wedding in this big castle. What built this castle? Oh, it was based on... That's what I feel. I feel like when you're in London, you go to Buckingham Palace and these places, like, yeah, you feel the strong sense of like, okay, yeah, this was built from slavery and whatnot. But then I feel like when you go to like the other places, you kind of just immediately go back to medieval times. Like you forget what actually built these places. Like, you know, the colonization era feel like you, you just go back to medieval Game of Thrones, like... And you're right, a lot of those castles are that age. You're totally right. That's only about the layers. Yeah. Some of them are ruins and those things, but then you've got all the ones that were built in like all the kind of Downton Abbey kind of, they were all that mainly, so many of that's from plantation. They leave out that part of like history and stuff like that. You feel more like the call the midwife kind of era. Yeah, lots of them do, but some at least are getting better at talking about it now. I mean, yeah, yeah, because they have to. You can't just, you can't charge a ticket fee for someone to look around a historic house and not talk about this enormous part of why it's even there. You know, so some, not all at all, some are definitely getting better at talking about it, you know. It's definitely like the UK will always remain somewhere high up on a tourist list, like high up on places to visit. As you said, I like that you said that history is your favorite thing about your country because the layers, you are correct. The layers, you could pass through so many time periods just visiting the UK. Yes, seriously. No, it's crazy. Yeah, yeah, it really is. Well, for my listeners, just so you all know, I always give you all the inside scoop on flights. So from Miami Airport and JFK in New York in May, because we always encourage to book your travel early, you can get flights as cheap as $650 US round trip and this will be to LGW, Gatwick. And then from in Europe, you're not insanely cheap prices. So from a lot of the airports, including like Paris, DDG, you can get flights round trip as cheap as $70 to $75 US return. So definitely take advantage of it. And of course, you know where to get your information, Skyscanner.com. Thank you so, so, so much for doing this. I enjoyed chatting with you. Me too. I really enjoyed it. I want to talk about this. There's a special light that comes out of people when they're talking about their home country. Yeah, no, I agree. I love the UK. So thank you for having me. I really enjoyed talking as well. It's been really fun.