“I love travelling to the most random towns when I visit a country”, said Fer, most probably over an all-you-can-eat buffet.
“You should come to my hometown,” said I. “It doesn’t get much more random than the village I grew up in.”
And so it was that Fernando and I wound up arriving in Manchester Airport, where he immediately proceeded to book a taxi to the wrong hotel. Once back on track, we ordered drink on Canal Street and a late night McDonalds to begin his British cultural immersion.
As I carefully ran a line of ketchup down one of my chips, I pondered ideas for the next few days. I’ve noticed that Spanish tourists to England rarely venture further north than Nottingham, so the pressure was on for me to show him the best, or at least the grittiest, parts of the north.
In the end, I decided that we’d do whatever I’d usually do. We had lunch with my sister, a coffee in Northern Quarter, and some impromptu cocktails before taking the X43 over to Burnley. There, we walked around my village, hosted a bonfire, had afternoon tea on a barge, and ate a pizza with Jemma and Lucy that seemingly poisoned poor Fer, who spent the next day bedridden.
The highlight of the trip was definitely our day out in Blackpool. I treated Fer to the thrills of the Pleasure Beach, the decadence of the pier, and the cheap kicks of the two-penny slot machines at Coral Island. We ate fish and chips by the sea and then oysters at one of Blackpool’s remaining few oyster bars. The train back home was full of empty cider cans and spat us out onto a rail replacement bus. All in all, it was a proper northern experience, one which could have easily been ripped from the pages of my childhood.
Once Fer had recovered from his pizza-bourne disease, we headed back to Manchester Airport for one of my beloved Ryanair flights to Madrid. There, amongst screaming babies and unruly school trips, I thanked Fernando for joining me for a trip back home. It’s always nice to visit my hometown, but sharing the experience with someone completely new made me appreciate the place even more.
Long live the north.
