Earlier this week I got back from a couple of days in Bournemouth with my parents. We only spent one night there, because of difficulties finding an affordable hotel that everyone liked, but we managed to squeeze quite a lot into the time we had.
The main reason we went there was so we could swim in the sea - the last time I'd swam in the sea was in Chile in March 2020 and the last time I'd swam at all was in July 2020 in our local outdoor pool. Unfortunately, the pool had implemented a special booking system to deal with Covid, which actually had the effect of making it far more crowded than it had been in normal times, so swimming there wasn't a safe or enjoyable experience at all, and we haven't been back since. This is a shame for me, as I love swimming, and I don't feel like I've had a proper summer without spending time in the sea, or at least in a pool. Fortunately, during this holiday we had the chance to spend time in both!
The only real downside of the trip was that the hotel where we stayed wasn't anywhere near as good as we'd been expecting; my room was very small and the shower didn't work. But on the other hand, at least it was right by the beach.
On the afternoon that we arrived (after a long journey passing sights including Avebury stone circle and Salisbury Cathedral), we settled into our rooms, and then my mum and I went down to the hotel pool for our pre-booked swimming slot. We had about 10-15 minutes with the pool all to ourselves, but then more and more people started arriving, as it turned out that the hotel had allowed around 10 guests to book the same slot (which we'd thought was just for us). This was a bit disappointing, especially because the pool wasn't particularly big. But it was nice just to be able to swim again, and also to relax in the jacuzzi!
Later on, we went for a little walk through the town, firstly to the beach and then to Lower Gardens, a park that we'd visited last time we were in Bournemouth (in 2019). The whole area was absolutely heaving with tourists, as it was one of the hottest days of the year, and because of all the travel restrictions preventing people (especially us younger people, who are last in the queue for the vaccine, and therefore have fewer rights to travel) from going on holiday abroad. It was definitely quite a different vibe from two years ago!
Afterwards, we had a very tasty dinner at the 1805 Chinese restaurant. By the time we'd finished the meal, it was later than we'd expected, but there was still another place I wanted to visit before the day was done.
As the sun was going down, I made the mile-long journey to the Tropical Gardens in the west side of the town. This place had particularly intrigued me when I had discovered it while searching for info about Bournemouth on the internet, because I really liked the idea of having some kind of experience of a tropical beach holiday whilst being confined to the UK.
The garden was small but it did not disappoint. It had plenty of palm trees, in addition to other plants from many different parts of the world, including Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, Mexico and Chile! And the views from the garden of the beach below were beautiful, especially because it was sunset. Being there was when I finally started to feel that "holiday feeling".
And the holiday vibes continued into the next day! My mum and I got up early and went down to the beach at around 7:30 in order to avoid the crowds. The weather was already quite nice even at that time in the morning, and although the sea was a little cold, it was an amazing experience to swim in it. This was definitely the highlight of the holiday, and I wish I was back there already! Hopefully, I'll have the chance to swim in the sea again soon, wherever that may happen.
Super photosto remember our swim in the sea!
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