Do you want to go to the Seaside?

Last month, my partner and I, went to visit my sister and her partner for the first time this year! We were excited, my sister always has fantastic plans, this was the first time I was taking a camera with me, and I felt excited for the prospect of the snaps I'd take and the cool things we would see! Usually, when we head down to Brighton, we get lucky with the sun. On one of our last trips, we were swimming in the sea until 9 PM, and it was heavenly. This time, however, the forecast told us we were heading for rain. It's a long journey from Hull to Brighton (6 hours!!!), but we were looking forward to the weekend ahead!

Friday

We got lucky with our changeover, and despite the mad rush of what is London, our journey went smoothly, we arrived in Brighton on time and unscathed! The walk to my sister's beautiful little basement flat is a bit of a trek uphill. It's something that always reminds us how FLAT our home city is when we go, well, literally anywhere else! When we arrived, my sister, Annie, had been cooking us a delicious Lamb Keema whilst we waited for George to finish up work for the day. Once we'd had a good catch-up and excellent food, might I add, we headed out into the Brighton Nightlife. I absolutely love that no matter the day or time, there is always something going on in Brighton; it is such a fun and creative city. The weekend of our trip, there was an event on called the Great Escape. The Great Escape is a paid-for event, but we were following The Alternative Escape. It runs in parallel with the main festival in May, featuring over 150 emerging unsigned artists hosted by independent labels and promoters across various venues in the city, entirely free to enter. Our First stop was the Pink Moon; the venue was jam-packed to the point where we couldn't get up to the event space as they were at capacity. But the bar itself is a lovely little venue, so we could enjoy our drinks downstairs and still hear the bands playing above. This also made it easier to catch up with Annie's friends who had joined us on our escapades. I think my favourite venue of the night was the Alphabet. It is a hidden little Nook that, if I wasn't being led there, I would have completely overlooked. Initially, you go into a corridor with red-painted walls; it gives off the feel of a dive bar. Head into the actual bar; however, you come into a beautiful, rustic-looking bar with a real basement speakeasy vibe. It was gorgeous! Upstairs is the music venue itself, which is a small space, but the acoustics were excellent, and we did rather enjoy the acts we managed to catch!

Saturday

Saturday started a little bit hungover, as is the standard when you get swept up in the atmosphere of Brighton! My sister sent me a text asking if I was up for a run on the beachfront. Now, this was something I was really excited to do! Since I told my sister I was also getting back into running, she has been extremely eager for us to run together, and there was nothing I wanted more than to run across the top of the beach, the sea breeze slapping me in the face. So I pulled myself together and agreed, I won't lie, it was a tough run, but it was in the best company, and Annie took me to one of her favourite bakeries on the way back to the flat: The Flour Pot Bakery. It was the best little treat I could have hoped for! I had a cinnamon and orange breakfast roll; it absolutely hit the spot, and the splendid iced chai latte was the cherry on top! I was refreshed, energised and after a quick shower, ready for the day ahead!

Our first stop was lunch! Despite being full up from breakfast, I was certainly getting peckish again as we headed towards the lanes. We managed to snag a table at Kenny's Rock and Soul Cafe on the balcony. It was a bit of a wait on the food, we warded off the pigeons from George while eagerly waiting for bagels (And a bacon sandwich for Elliot). I got a goat's cheese and caramelised onion bagel, Annie got the classic, salmon and cream cheese, and George rounded us out with a Brie, Bacon and Cranberry bagel. It was absolutely delightful. I was certainly full up and ready to see what else they had in store for us!

Our next stop

was a wander through the Brighton streets; we were heading to the Phoenix gallery for their open studio exhibition. This was a very fun and unique stop; it gave us the chance to walk into working artists' studios and chat with them about the space, their work, techniques, and just generally meet some industry-level people. It was extremely inspiring as a creative to see so many wonderful people making a career from their art, a career that didn't feel like work because they loved it so much! We got to see so many cool pieces of work too, and it was a nice reassurance to see the messy working space of an artist, knowing how chaotic our studio gets back home! I felt right at home in such a fun, creative space.

The fun thing about our next stop, and to be honest, one of the perks of Brighton, is that everything is close to the next thing! In this instance, we simply had to cross the road! And right there, we came across my absolute favourite stop of this trip... CARAVANSERAI!

Now, this is what I feel like more cities need more of! Caravanserai was a makeshift venue for Fringe that was a combination of a junkyard, carnival and an antique fair. I thought it was so damn cool. Because of its nature, it was very busy, but multiple bars meant the drinks were easily accessible, and toilets were available within the space. We did try and find one of the funky booths to have our drinks in (That sky was looking a little bit bleak), but because of the sheer popularity of the place, we settled on a bench near the archway, which was, without a doubt, my favourite part of all; it was almost Tim Burton-esque, so I felt right at home! I would definitely recommend visiting this if you ever find the opportunity; it's suitable for people of all ages and across multiple venues with different music to suit whatever vibe you may be into!

After we finished up at Carvanserai, we took a trip back to Annie and George's flat. It was starting to rain, so we decided to get the bus. On our way to the stop, we passed by the Brighton Pavilion, which is a stunning piece of architecture, and I'd definitely recommend visiting it and seeing the stunning work for yourself! We got a Tiramisu on the go, pistachio-flavoured, which was absolutely delicious! Annie tried to hit the timer dead on 10 seconds to get it for free, but she was just short of the cut! On the bus and back at the flat, we did have plans to do a BBQ in their newly renovated garden, but sadly the weather was not on our side. We did instead have delicious cocktails (They should really consider opening a bar) and played games late into the evening before we headed to bed.

SUNDAY

The day came to travel home, I was a little sad, I love being in Brighton, so that final morning is always the worst. Usually when we visit, we often wait around till it's time to get the train, this time, Annie had booked us in to have a lovely Sunday lunch together before we departed! We got sorted and walked along the Brighton front since I really wanted to get some ocean pics, and this was the perfect moment. The ocean was lovely and calm, the sky lovely and blue and a wonderful way to spend time together whilst we waited for our booking. We then headed to the Lion and Lobster, where, dare I say, I had the most delicious Sunday dinner of my life! (Sorry to Elliot, your food is still my favourite)

Honestly, this dinner needs its own featurette! Annie and George got the pork deluxe (The crackling was absolutely elite). Elliot got the beef, because why would he ever get anything else? And I got the chicken roulade, stuffed with sage and onion stuffing, plus a side of cauliflower cheese, which really wasn't necessary, because the portions were enormous!

We all stuck with a soft drink for this one and ended up being absolutely STUFFED from the colossal amount of food that we consumed! Won't lie, I was slightly dreading the train ride home after that, and of course, we had issues with cancelled trains because how else would we top off a wonderful weekend! All in all, though, another successful and fun trip to Brighton! I can't put into words how much I miss my sister since she moved away, but the little nuggets of time I get with her are always filled with laughter, love, smiles and the BEST times! Here's to the next one <3