Holiday in Eastbourne! - 04/09/2022 - 08/09/2022

04/09/2022 - So as some of you may recall, I was supposed to have a geography trip to Eastbourne, for three days, last September, but I didn't go because I caught an untimely cold. Well, guess who got their butt to Eastbourne a year later and had a great time? Anyway, enough with this crappy introduction.

Me and my parents left the house at 09:00 to drive to my grandma's house to pick her up. When we arrived (at around 10;00), we helped her pack her things into the car, petted Tom (the cat), who unfortunately has a little cut near his eye :( which we suspect might've been because of a bird that he attacked (yes, Tom is a hunter, there's plenty for him to go at as we live in quite a rural area), and then we left. The journey down south was extremely long. As we were driving to some services, we saw like over 50 bikers! There was so many! I'd never seen so many bikers! There was so many, that they nearly took over the entire services car park! XD We all got a bite to eat and stretched our legs, my dad spoke to one of the bikers (I think they was from Slow Boys biker club) and explained to him that there's an annual biker event down at Brighton (not too far from Eastbourne!), so bikers from all over the UK were heading down to Brighton, that's why there were so many bikers on the road!

Eventually we made our way down to Birling Gap, and we stopped there for a few hours and took some lovely pictures. I wasn't too pleased because originally, if I was gonna have some pictures of me on the cliffs, I wanted to be wearing something nice, that's why there's no/ very few pictures of me at Birling Gap. I was also getting very hot under the sun, and I didn't want to take my denim jacket off as my arms would get burned, and there was no shade, and we couldn't just go and sit in the cafe without buying anything. The gift shop also wasn't much cooler, unfortunately. I wasn't dressed appropriately for the weather, although, none of the clothing I brought with me was, as we thought it was going to be cold, wet and windy during our holiday, but in all fairness, my entire wardrobe is more suited for cooler weather anyway (like early Spring, Autumn and Winter, that's why I would be better suited moving to some place where the summers are like max 25 degrees Celsius). I'll be honest, at the time, I didn't enjoy myself very much whilst we were at Birling Gap, we didn't plan to go there on the first day, as far as I knew, the plan was to get to Eastbourne, drop off our luggage and go and get some nice food. Anyway, I did get some nice stones from the beach, my parents even found a bunch of hag stones for me! One of which was made from the same chalk as the cliffs! 

Also, as my grandma and I were sitting on one of the picnic benches, a man sat opposite us and eventually, he said that it was nice that my grandmother and I have such a good relationship! He said he'd been listening to our conversation and complimented our bond and said we must've been pretty close, which we are I suppose. I guess, it's not very often you see an 18-year-old hanging out with their grandma, most people, I guess, when they get to their teen years, they don't want to hang with their family, let alone their extended family. He then asked which side I got the goth from haha! My grandma said that I just went down this route on my own, but I would say my love for alternative things probably stems from my dad, because he'd go to metal, goth and punk concerts when he was in his 20s, and both of my parents like metal, to an extent, and I grew up listening to metal (such as Slipknot, Within Temptation, Evanescence and Rammstein).

When we did finally arrive in Eastbourne, we checked into the hotel, the Grand Hotel, which my grandma very kindly paid for our stay as we were supposed to go to Eastbourne for her birthday in June, but we didn't due to my exams. None of us had ever been somewhere so posh! I was told we were stopping in a posh hotel, but I just thought it meant a step up from Premier Inn, but hell was I wrong! This was like, five steps up from Premier Inn! This was a hotel for the elites! But the majority of the staff were very pleasant! As we were driving in, a concierge greeted us, but my dad responded with "Hello mate!" much to our embarrassment, both my mum and my grandma told him not to say that, but oh! That was very embarrassing. We got checked in and as we were heading towards our rooms, my grandma said to my dad about it and said "It's very condescending" and he apologised, but he did still sometimes refer to the staff members at "mate", but I suppose that's just his natural response. 

My parents didn't get on too well in their room to begin with, as their drain smelt, but luckily a maid sorted it out rather sharpish. Once we settled into our rooms, we headed out for some Italian! We ate at Gianni's Italian; I had a margarita pizza (the pizzas were a lot bigger than we were expecting!) which I somehow managed to eat all of it except for one slice! We then had pudding there, all of us had ice cream, I had a scoop of raspberry cheesecake and a scoop of strawberry, and that was delicious! My grandma and I then walked back to the hotel and my parents went to the nearest Tesco's. On a side note, the Grand is quite far from the town centre, so you've got around a 10-15 minutes' walk before you reach the town centre, which is quite far for my grandma. Also, another side note, it stormed every night.

05/09/2022 - I barely slept that night, due to a mix of being in a different bed, a storm that had rolled in during the night, being too warm, my grandma's snoring and not having Brego (my whale plushie, yes, I still sleep with a soft toy, it helps with my sleep paralysis, okay?) with me. We headed down for breakfast and it was delicious, I had scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast every morning during our stay. My parents went out towards the cliffs, I think they were going to the Seven Sisters for a walk/ hike whilst my grandma and I hopped on the Eastbourne tour bus! We sat on the top deck, and it was incredibly windy! We saw Eastbourne from up high, that was very picturesque! Unfortunately, due to sitting on the wrong side of the bus, and being at the wrong angle, I couldn't get a decent photo of the town, but oh well! We also literally got blown about, too! Haha!

Eventually, we circled back round to the town centre of Eastbourne, where me and Grandma got off at the Beacon Centre (a shopping centre). We had a little look round the shops, we went into Sports Direct, and my grandma very kindly bought me a pair of canvas shoes! They were originally £36 but they had been reduced to £18, which was great! I really needed a pair of comfier shoes as I only had boots, and my previous two pairs of canvas shoes (high-tops and knee high) had worn out. I also got a shirt from somewhere, can't remember the name of the shop right now. There was a HMV there too! But it was so small! Very few records and movies, it was mostly just stuffed toys in there, which was super disappointing. We then had a drink in Greggs, and I bought a box of yums there (although, towards the end of eating one, it kinda tasted like chemicals? I'm not sure why, but I don't think I will buy yums from Greggs again, they were mediocre). We had a little walk round H&M, and they had an interesting autumnal collection beginning to seep its way into fashion, however, I could see my grandma was getting tired, so we decided it was best to go back to the hotel. 

I came up with the idea that we could hop back onto the tour bus as it was going to stop at the Grand Hotel. When we got back, I had a nap. When I woke up, we went and had dinner at Meze, a Turkish restaurant and the food was absolutely delicious! We had this bread for starters and it was huge! I took a pic of it and showed it to my friends, none of us were sure what bread it was, we think it may have been naan, but we'd never seen naan bread like that before, it was round and filled with air. I had some chicken and that was soooo good! None of us had room for pudding though. As we were walking back to the hotel, we passed a ton of charity shops, like almost the entire street was just charity shops! My grandma said that if Grandpa was here, he'd be in his element! Haha! When he'd be in charity shops with my grandma, she would ask "Do we need that?" and he would respond "Well, I like it and I'm doing my bit for charity!", haha! I miss him. One charity shop had a black and red gothic/ vampiric jacket in the window and a white corset/ bustier thing on the other mannequin! I said I'd get it in the morning. 

06/09/2022 - I slept much better that night! I used the shower at the hotel for the first time, it wasn't great because the jets weren't very powerful, the water was more dripping out of the head, and I couldn't get the big shower head to work, so I only used the little one, the one that you could move around. The water was either too hot or too cold, it was difficult to get the temperature just right, Dad said they probably had their thermostat turned up too high. My grandma feared she would get in a pickle if she tried to get in (because it's a bath and shower) so she just washed her upper half. 

After breakfast, my grandma and I went to the charity shop we saw last night. The people running the shop were very nice! They let me try on both the jacket and the corset, both of which were too big, but I knew my mum would be able to help me stitch them up to be a bit smaller. One of the people explained that the weekend before was a steampunk event, the Eastbourne Steampunk Festival! That explained why there was some alternative pieces in the charity shop! I think they said it was a traveling festival, one weekend it would be in Brighton, then Eastbourne and so on. I immediately told one of my friends, Soraya because I know they love steampunk stuff!

After I paid, we went and found a bench in the shade, because Grandma was getting tired. On the bench, someone had left a bible, it looked like it had been there for a while because it was so beaten. As we were sitting, Grandma noticed a sign in front of us that read "Punk Trash" with an arrow pointing towards the shop in front of it called "Mr Gifts' Emporium". My grandma stayed on the bench whilst I had a look inside and... Wow! It was kinda like a Thingmebobs shop but with a bunch on alternative stuff at the back, they had all sorts of quirky things! There was a bunch of sort of coastal, touristy home decor and trinkets at the front, then lots of jewellery, then there was the alternative section, and then round the corner, was tons of vintage records, movies, CDs and books, plus some like little kiddies' dressing up costumes and a few vintage clothing items. 

The alternative section was great, it was a little hard to thumb through some of the t-shirts/ hoodies on the racks in the centre (because it was just a black mass of clothing), but the stuff on the walls was pretty good! They had some band merch too, like older bands such as Black Sabbath, Guns 'n Roses, stuff like that, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that they also had newer stuff/ stuff that I listen to, bands like My Chemical Romance, Bring Me The Horizon and Fall Out Boy! Most shops like these, kinda like Camden, don't tend to sell these newer/ "emo" band stuff. Oh! And they also had some Slipknot, Bowie and Ghost merch too! I spotted a pair of trousers I liked and had been looking for, for a little while, it was a half black half black and white pinstriped pair of trousers from Banned. I thought they may have been a little too big so I went to the desk and asked if they had a smaller size, but they said that all they had was on the racks, but if I come back tomorrow, there may be some more stock in as its the market and there was going to be an alternative stall there. I complimented their shop and said that I would check in tomorrow. 

I came out of the shop, I must've been in there for a while, and my grandma was talking to another elderly person. I think they were talking about my ethnicity. The elderly lady then asked if I was here from the steampunk festival and my grandma said "No, that's just how she always is", as I was wearing my fancy white dress with the tutu underneath. We then parted company with the elderly lady, who remained seated, and headed towards the pier. My grandma sat on a bench at the start of the pier while I played in some of the arcades, I'd never been in one before! It was honestly, somewhat anticlimactic due to how few games there was to play, it was mostly just 2p penny pushers and claw machines. I saw no pinball, which I wanted to play, which was a real shame, we used to play a pinball game on the PS3, I think it was only a demo, but it was a lot of fun! I tried a few of the claw machines and the claw machines had very few toys in them! They weren't all chucked in the machine, they were all neatly arranged in rows, which I thought was a little strange. Also, I didn't realise arcades were so noisy! They machines had a lot to say! There were also very few people in the arcade, but I suppose it's because all of the kids had gone back to school, probably like three adults in the entire two arcades! Also, I didn't win anything, I know the claw machines are a scam, they're rigged!

As I was walking back to my grandma, I spotted a little spiritual shop, I had to go and look in there! I love crystals and such! I do hope I can one day be a bit more in touch with nature and the spiritual world, I'm still below amateur level, but hopefully I'll finally start looking into this a bit more! I bought two necklaces, a clear quartz for depression and a hematite for sleeping soundly. I must admit, since getting them, I've been feeling a bit better mentally, and I've been sleeping better. 

I returned to my grandma, and we were still waiting for my parents to show up so we could go into the Victorian Tea House on the pier together. We decided to try and pass the time, we hopped on this little road train thing that took you from one end of the Eastbourne coastline to the other. It was okay to begin with but then it got extremely bumpy! We went from the cliffs then back the other way towards the "harbour". Well! When we reached said harbour, it wasn't even a harbour! It was just a housing area! Also, on our way there and back, there was a bunch of school kids sat on a bench where the train would pass, and as we passed them, one of the kids yelled "You're wet!" at the passengers! Hmph! What's so hard about you kiddo? When the train thing turned round to head back towards the cliffs, we got off at the pier. I don't think I would recommend the little train thing, simply because it was so surprisingly bumpy, it wasn't a particularly pleasant journey. 

My grandma and I decided we'd go and have the afternoon tea at the Victorian Tea House, as my parents still hadn't returned from their hike, which worried us a little. My grandma had a sultana scone with jam and local clotted cream, I had some ham and cheese sandwiches with crisps, a plain scone with jam and the clotted cream, and a slice of cheesecake, I think it was caramel and toffee. Both of us had a pot of tea to ourselves, and that was lovely! I kinda regretted trying to eat my entire scone because they were not little! They were good quality, they didn't crumble like some scones and the ones we'd make at home, they were big, but something I never liked about scones was how dry they are, if its little, it's not too bad and its easier going. The cheesecake was great and so incredibly light, which worked out because eating that scone was a lot! 

After that, Grandma and I returned to the hotel, and we stopped in our room for a while. Eventually, Dad messaged us saying they were on their way back and wondering what we should do for dinner. Eventually Mum and Dad settled on getting something whilst they were still out, and Grandma and I would head down to the lounge in the Grand to get a bite to eat. Grandma had the soup of the day, which was broccoli soup, and I had a tuna and cucumber sandwich. Both of us ordered hot chocolate and that was the fanciest hot chocolate we'd ever had! The cream, marshmallows and white chocolate sprinkles each came in their own little pot, the cream was thick too! Not clotted cream, but getting on the way, but not as soft as whipped cream, unless it was proper whipped cream and not the stuff you spray out of a can. Anyway, my tuna sandwiches were nice, it came with crisps (they seem to like serving their sandwiches with crisps here in Eastbourne) and this tiny, tiny cup of the soup! Normally, broccoli soup is quite cheesy, but this was pure broccoli, it was okay! After a while, my parents returned and me, my grandma and my dad chatted in the lounge for a bit. 

07/09/2022 - After breakfast, I went and got changed, and I went down the town to go and find the market. Everyone thought the weather was going to be wet and windy today, but it turned out to be fine, which was why there were so few stalls out, which was a shame. I had a look in H&M at their autumnal collection again, but I realised all the sweaters that I would've wanted, were cropped at the waist, but I wanted a long sweater, one that probably reached below my hips. I even looked in the men's section, but their sweaters didn't have the knitted pattern like the women's did. I bought a nice black scarf from there though. 

On my way back towards the alternative shop, I bumped into my mum, and we looked in a few of the charity shops but didn't get anything. We got to the shop, and I bought the trouser I wanted, a skeleton hoodie (with bones on the sleeves) and a t-shirt that said "You can't sit with us" with a print of Nancy Downs (The Craft), Wednesday (The Addams Family) and Lydia Deetz (Beetlejuice) in the centre, the shirt also had a back print of the brand's logo. Both the hoodie and shirt are from Heartless. I also got a pastel goth looking tote bag, I'd been needing one for a while as I had no shopping bag of my own. We also met the guy who would've been running the stool (Punk Trash) as well, who was nice! 

Me and mum then walked back to the Beacon Centre and we looked around some of the shops there, I got some stuff from Claire's, including a pair of black socks with white bows, a lace cloak (the hood is really small though, I wish it was like those triangular hoods like in Assassin's Creed, that would've been more fitting for a cloak), a black and red rose headband, a lace choker with crosses on it and a beige/ light brown bow. Within the Beacon Centre is a section for pop-up stalls, which I thought was really neat! I hope more shopping centres have that kind of thing!

Eventually we made our way back to the Grand, and I stopped in my room for a bit, and I think everyone else had gone out somewhere, I know my grandma went for a lil paddle in the sea. I decided to finish a drawing that had been sitting unfinished for months, and it turned out pretty good! I was quite pleased; I was worried it'd be like some of my other art projects and just abandoned. I had also begun to pack my bag. I had packed everything away except for the things I was gonna use, and I prepared my home outfit. 

After a while, everyone returned, and we went out to another Italian restaurant, I had spaghetti carbonara, Mum had pasta with muscles, Grandma had pasta with prawns and Dad had a lasagne, which he said he was disappointed about, but the rest of us enjoyed our food. We then went to an ice cream parlour down the road, I didn't enjoy my ice cream very much because their raspberry ripple flavour tasted more like bubble gum, and it was weird because they had a bubble gum flavour too and that was a bright blue colour? My strawberry scoop was okay but the lying raspberry ripple scoop wasn't, so my dad ate the rest of that for me. 

08/09/2022 - Once everyone had their breakfast, we packed our remaining things and then checked out of the hotel, but not before grabbing some photos of the interior as well as my parents and grandmother nabbing all of the remaining teas and packets and soaps from our rooms haha! We drove for a long time, reached some services and stretched our legs, then carried on until we reached a Chinese restaurant, I think it was a Wing Yip. 

I enjoyed that, it's hard to find proper Dim Sum places, they're very rare. I'm not sure how to spell any of the foods in English, so I'm not going to attempt it, not even the phonetics, only Ying Yang rice is the dish I can spell lol. Either way, it was delicious, but not as good as other Dim Sum restaurants we'd been to. Oh, and we also had jasmine tea, which I know me and my parents love! My grandma was the only one using a knife and fork, the rest of us used chopsticks. I offered to teach her how to use them, but she declined. My dad said that I have gotten quite good at using chopsticks, as I was shovelling food into my mouth XD but hey, I was hungry! And chopsticks are great because you have one hand free, so you can pick up your drink. After that, we had a quick look around the Wing Yip store, Mum bought some rice and vegetables then we bundled back into the car.

We finally reached Grandma's house and helped her unload her things and then we journeyed back home. I think it was possibly nearly 8pm by the time we got back, that was a long day! My parents showed me their haul they got from the hotel! It was literally just a mound of teas, coffees, hot chocolates, biscuits and soaps XD It was quite amusing, to the point where it was comical because as my mum was unpacking her bags, she'd find more packets and add them to the stash! Also oh, oof, R.I.P the Queen.

Anyway, if you read this far, well done! And thank you! Haha, I had a great time, and I'm glad I went with my family rather than on the school trip, because I think that would've ruined Eastbourne for me and I wouldn't have come. It was a nice experience, even though it had a bit of a rocky start, but I got some pleasant surprises! We thought everyone in the hotel was going to be snobbish towards us, and I will admit, some of the guests were, but that's their problem! The staff were friendly enough, it was quite amusing the way the staff revealed our plates of food with "Viola!", we all thought it was something that only happened in movies! They were all so polite! Hell, I wish people round here were as well-mannered as them, but I suppose they are trained to be like that. My dad said that one of the guests was very bratty, because whilst I was out shopping on my own, he was in the lounge and another guest wanted tomato soup but that wasn't the soup of the day and the guest got very cross and kept demanding for tomato soup. And this is a grown man, this guest, I'm talking about, a grown ass man. But uh, yeah! Overall, a nice experience! Now I need to prepare for Whitby Goth Weekend! 

Here is a link to my Instagram reel of a compilation of photos and videos from the holiday! 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CiX56OUDTZr/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link