A Day In Manchester

For my brother's birthday, our Mum gave him a trip to Manchester to see his favourite team, Manchester United play against Burnley at their home ground of Old Trafford. It was for two people and she let me go with him. I'm not the greatest football fan but I'm a born and raised Manchester United fan. But it was a chance to get away from work for a couple of days and I took that chance by the horns regardless of the fact I was going to see a football match.

My brother and I flew over on Wednesday morning (11.02.15) and everything went swimmingly. We couldn't believe how seamless everything was. We used an app for our boarding passes and it worked without a hitch. We got through security without a problem and the flight was so smooth. It took about half an hour. It felt like as soon as we were up in the air that it was time to descend. Crazy! 

 

 

We stayed at the Premier Inn West beside the Trafford Centre. The location could not have been more perfect as it was a stone's throw from the Trafford Centre and the bus terminal that meant travel to Old Trafford and Piccadilly Gardens easy. The staff there were more than willing to help us out if we had a problem. We didn't have a single issue. And the room? Oh my god, the room! I wanted to stay in that room forever! The beds were insanely comfortable! I literally had to take a running jump to get onto it and then just let myself sink in. Comfort to the extreme! Prior to this trip I had not been sleeping well, but that night, I passed out within minutes!

   

 

 

The Trafford Centre was incredible. My eyes went so wide when I first walked in and the size of it astounded me. I've never seen a shopping centre that huge before. Not even the South Plains Mall in Lubbock, Texas compares. The Trafford Centre dwarfed it! There were so many shops that I could have easily lost myself in for hours and hours! Then when I was in the food court section, I couldn't believe it! It was designed around a freaking ship! The ground floor was designed as if it was the deck of a ship! What?! Loved it! Then my eyeballs nearly burst out of my head when I saw that there was a Five Guys! I'm not even kidding. My eyes nearly popped out of my head and I made a bee-line for it, dragging my brother. The last time I had food from there, I was in Texas and that was nearly two years ago! There was absolutely no negotiating this. We were having food from Five Guys!

On the way to the Trafford Centre, we passed the set of Coronation Street. My brother and I silently geeked out about that and took photos because we're cool tourists like that. The above picture is of the lot and the back of the street façade.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The match was something else. I didn't expect to be as invested in it as I was, especially on an emotional level. I expected to just watch and merely enjoy but nope. I was actually screaming at them. I screamed and cheered when they scored and I held my breath at every advance on the goal and every time Burnley nearly scored. I was yelling at them to play the ball forward, to be aggressive, to stop messing about (though a few more expletives may have been used there haha) and to make themselves available. I think that was my netball training from last year creeping in. It was certainly an experience and I would definitely go again. I finally understand how and why my Uncle becomes so excited and invested. All the emotions, people, all the emotions! Though walking up to our seats, I wanted to set up a base camp because it was so steep! The steps up to the concourse weren't a bother but the steps to the seat were hell. Steep. We kept saying that I was Man Utd's good luck charm because they won that night and they had been on a losing streak. Plus, I wore my brother's Van Persie shirt.

But let me tell you, you haven't seen anything until you have seen 75,000+ people streaming out of a building. Insane! It was truly a mass exodus of Biblical proportions. The traffic was insane too. My brother and I walked and walked and walked past several bus stops until we got to the last possible one just so that we wouldn't be sat on a bus stuck in traffic forever. It was a milder night and it was nice to just have a dander and chat and shock my brother with my analysis of the game. 

 

 

The next day we went into the Trafford Centre for some shopping before travelling home and I did some damage. Our parents had treated us to some spending money. I did some damage in Boots and Superdrug. A haul will be posted soon so keep your eyes peeled for that. The main thing that I wanted was to pick up was Fleur de Force's book, The Glam Guide as the Thursday was it's release date. I could have easily spent a week shopping in that mall. It was truly insane with practically every single store that I could have possibly wanted to shop in. 

I had a great time with my brother. He's great craic and we laughed practically the entire time and saying that we shouldn't be allowed out. I would definitely go back to Manchester. Though I would insist on bringing a suitcase instead of hand luggage so that I could fill it up more than what is possible with an overnight bag.