5 day travel diary - Day 3

Leave Liverpool
10:52, Liverpool Lime Street Station

Woke up this morning choking on a pink sparkly wig – great start.

Because Manchester’s only 50 minutes away from Liverpool by train, we decided we’d have a lie-in today, but for some reason I can only describe as Sod’s Law, I woke up ridiculously early feeling hungry.

Made my way downstairs to the café for a much-needed breakfast with the other hungover travellers.

The train was pretty painless, and shorter than a lot of tube journeys in London. Coming into Manchester, we were impressed – lots of former industrial warehouses converted into apartments for trendy types – and not a spitting Liam-Gallagher-lookalikes to be seen.

Arrived at Manchester Piccadilly station – apparently there are about a million train stations in Manchester – always fun. From the station, we got an inter-city train to Deansgate, where we found our YHA Hostel.

The hostel’s in the Castlefield area of Manchester – right opposite the Museum of Science & Industry. 

Today we’re unleashing our inner shopping beasts, and what better place to do it than the Trafford Centre, the biggest shopping centre in the North West. Well, if you’re going to do something wrong, do it right!

From the hostel, it was a 10-minute walk to the bus stop. We got a bit panicked that we wouldn’t know where to get off, but a lovely old woman on the bus told us when it was our stop.

We shouldn’t have worried, because everyone else got off there too! The journey took just under an hour, but with all the people-watching and sightseeing from the bus, it went pretty quickly.

The thing that fascinated me was all the trams – they’re everywhere. It’s like being in Amsterdam or something. There’s a real big mix of old industrial buildings and shiny glass structures all over the place, sounds pretty weird, but it works. Oh, look, we’re here!

The place is huge. There are hundreds of shops, restaurants and bars, and we could’ve easily spent a whole day in there. We kept to the high street shops (we’re still on a budget!) and I picked up a gorgeous pair of boots.

When I’m in places like this, I hate that I’m travelling – I have to think about traipsing all my stuff around with me, although I suppose it’s better for my wallet.

We went into Selfridges (seriously, this place is massive!) for a mooch around because well, you have to in Selfridges, don’t you?

After that, we were starving – Charlie had only had a pasty at the station for breakfast and my breakfast was long forgotten.

We were completely spoilt for choice in the shopping centre. There were about 40 restaurants and cafés in the food hall, but in the end, we went for delicious Spanish Tapas at La Tasca (www.latasca.co.uk/).

I really could’ve spent all day in there (it doesn’t close until midnight!), but even I know it’s a waste to go to Manchester and spend all day in a shopping centre!

Yes, we’re girls, but we’re also football fans, so a trip to Old Trafford (www.manutd.com/default.sps?pagegid={3B206E90-CB32-403F-BC82-DEBB730837FE}§ion=welcome) was definitely in order.

Alright, I’ll be honest; I went mainly to annoy the hell out of my little brother, who might just die of jealousy because he’s a huge Manchester United fan.

We got a bus straight from the Trafford Centre to Old Trafford – only half an hour. I’ve only ever been to local footie games at home, never a big stadium like this, I’m really excited!

We were originally only gonna to the museum, which cost £6.50, but when we got there, I really wanted the stadium tour, so we paid the extra £3.50 – we’re really splashing out today!

Our guide, Liam, took us to the North Stand first, where we got a bird’s eye view of the pitch (cue sneaky picture message to little brother – ha!).

It must be amazing to be a footballer having over 70,000 people cheering you on (not so amazing if you haven’t scored and they turn against you, though). Then we stood in Fergie’s spot in the dug out and shouted insults at imaginary players.

Next, the bit we’d been looking forward to all day – the changing rooms. You won’t believe this. When we walked in, we were greeted by the sight of the entire United team in their underwear! Ok… big fat lies. I wish. Just an empty dressing room – you couldn’t even smell the sweat.

The last bit of the tour was really fun – we all lined up in the players’ tunnel like they do before a match and ran out to the sound of thousands of fans cheering! It was amazing!

We still had shopping fever, so hopped on a bus from Old Trafford to the Northern Quarter. All these buses – it was lucky we got a travelcard; otherwise we’d have been broke!

The Northern Quarter’s the creative area of the city – full of quirky little boutiques and stalls – all very bohemian, and definitely my kind of place.

We went into Affleck’s Palace, it’s like an Aladdin’s cave full of independent stalls and shops. I bought some gorgeous handmade earrings, and Charlie got a brilliant vintage customised t-shirt.

Places like this make me feel silly for shopping at big chain shops and shopping centres. Vow to self: seek out more fabulous places like this and leave off the high street for a bit.

We sat down in the café on the top floor and people-watched while we inspected our brilliant new buys and talked about which Man Utd player we fancied the most (me: Ronaldo, Charlie: Rio Ferdinand).

Anyway, time to head back to the hostel to get ready for tonight!!

We were both absolutely starving by now, and a curry on Manchester’s famous Curry Mile sounded like it was just what we needed. We got on yet another bus to Rusholme curry (www.rusholmecurry.co.uk/) district.

Honestly, I’ve never seen anything like it. There’s just hundreds of restaurants of all sorts, their neon lights all fighting for your attention – it’s like being in Las Vegas without the rich men and playboy bunnies. And the smells – I couldn’t be hungrier!

We were having real trouble choosing a restaurant, so we went for one that seemed to be popular – Lal Qila (www.rusholmecurry.co.uk/viewrest.php?id=18). It was huge, and we got a window table so we could sit and watch everyone go by. There seemed to be a lot of locals in there – always a good sign!

Our waiter was really helpful, and told us which were the popular dishes. I got the fish tikka (the restaurant’s speciality), and Charlie got the Chilli Chicken. Both were delicious, and the bill came to under £30, which wasn’t too bad as it included drinks too.

I was so full from dinner I could hardly walk, but we had a big night planned we hopped on another bus back to Deansgate (starting to get a bit tired of this bus malarkey now). We headed for the Hilton Hotel (very posh) – the 23rd floor Cloud 23 Bar (www.hilton.co.uk/property/1201_Restaurant.jsp?vid=11614255&hid=11536699) (get it?) to be precise.

We walked into the hotel lobby and there was a queue for the lift! That’s right… for the lift. Normally, we would’ve turned around and walked back out, but at the Hilton you’ve got to expect things like this.

We were in the queue for about 10 minutes before we were let into the lift for the 15-second journey to the bar.

We walked in onto a red carpet (good grief) and into a girl with a clipboard – my least favourite kind of bouncer. She looked us up and down (we rolled our eyes), asked us if we had a reservation (we didn’t) and made us wait another 15 minutes before she showed us to a table.

Now, here’s what annoyed me the most: when we finally got into the bloody bar, it was half empty! What was with all the queuing when they got tumble weed blowing around the place?!

I do have to say the view is spectacular though. You can see all over Manchester through the floor-to-ceiling windows. The whole window thing continues into the bathroom though, and apparently there are urinals next to the windows in the men’s!

The bar was waiter-service only, and our waitress was really nice. The cocktails were on a Manchester theme – lots of Coronation Street and Stone Roses references. We decided we’d been through enough just getting in that we deserved a treat!

But we had to wait 15 minutes for our ridiculously expensive cocktails to arrive, and when they did, so did the bill! It’s like a high-class fast food (or fast drinks) joint that can’t wait you to get out!

We drank, paid and left. I think it’s definitely a ‘place to be seen’ for wannabe celebs, but I’m just not into that. Take me back to the real world!

Next, back to the Northern Quarter for real drinks and real people’s prices!

We started at Dry Bar, which had some great music and a crowd made up of cool musician types. We got chatting to a guy called Tommy and his girlfriend Claire, who told us that Liam Gallagher is banned from here!

So is Shaun Ryder (the Happy Mondays frontman) who astonishingly fired a gun in the place! Claire said you can still see the bullet hole, but it was a bit dark to go hunting for it!

A few of Tommy and Claire’s mates joined us and we had a really good time – the DJ started off with some Northern Soul and then played some great club classics.

I was really in the mood for dancing now, and wanted to see more of Manchester’s nightlife, so we left Dry Bar and headed for Mint Lounge (www.mintlounge.com/), an underground club.

The place was massive and there were people everywhere. The music was brilliant, the DJ was playing everything from house to hip hop to reggae, and everyone was loving it! The crowd was unpretentious, everyone was casually dressed but with their own quirky style.

We took a break from what was becoming some quite sweaty dancing by the DJ booth, and got chatting to Sean, one of the many cool-looking guys waiting for a go on the decks. He told us that this used to be a burlesque club.

Anyway, there was more drinking, more dancing. I tried to get up on the podium but wasn’t allowed (boo!) – it’s a shame ‘cos I would’ve showed that podium a thing or 2!

At 2am, we stumbled up the stairs and out of the club with everyone else. I lost Charlie in the crowd and started to panic a bit, but found her on the kerb, shoes in hand, having a rather in-depth conversation with her feet.

I was really bloody tired by this point, and pretty sure that my fabulous new boots were scuffed to high heaven, so I cheated and got us a taxi back (I know, I know, but it was only a few quid).

When we got back, Charlie got really hysterical, saying she’d caught trichinosis from the pavement. It took me a while to reassure her that you only get that from pork. No more vodka for her! Until tomorrow…

Go to day:1 Snowdonia | 2 Liverpool | 3 Manchester | 4 Edinburgh | 5 Edinburgh