It’s Wednesday, October 30, 2024, at about 11:30 AM. I landed from the UK last night, and it’s amazing that I am up writing this blog post. If you’ve been following along on social media, you know that I went to Liverpool last week and stayed for six days through my birthday. This trip was not on my 2024 bingo card. In fact, my passport expired on October 5th, and the trip was to take place on October 23rd.
We bought the plane tickets on August 28, and buying tickets before the passport renewal is crazy work, I know. LOL. I had the passport renewal appointment on 9/9 and, of course, paid the expedited fees to ensure a speedy arrival.
So, here’s a quick rundown. My husband’s cousin was getting married, which was the main reason for our trip. I decided to tag along at the last minute because, well, YOLO! We even extended our stay to celebrate my birthday—Forty-Won (41)! I’m claiming this year as a winning one, IYKYK.
We arrived on the morning of the wedding, landing in Manchester and taking a one-hour Uber ride to Liverpool. After checking in, resting, showering, and changing, disaster struck: my dress ripped. It was the only option I had, and there was no time for any wardrobe malfunctions! I had tried the dress on at home when it arrived and had no issues, so the fact that it was literally falling apart from the seam where it zipped up the back was diabolical. We rushed out to find a needle and thread, but no luck. We ended up buying glue, which didn’t help at all. In the end, I wore my husband’s jacket the entire night and spent most of it sitting down—LOL! I definitely deserve an award for that!
I follow a few UK baddies and had my hopes set on accomplishing a couple of things while on this trip. Candice Brathwaite is a forever fave. Her latest book isn’t available in any bookstores that I have browsed here in the US, so I was sure I would be able to grab a copy while in Liverpool. I was wrong. I went to three bookstores and they didn’t have Manifesto. My last hope was the airport when we were coming back home, also no luck. I ended up ordering it from Amazon UK this morning, because I know it will speak to me and this season of my life.
I’m a chai girl at heart, but I occasionally dabble in the matcha game. I had my eye on the Maple Matcha collab between Melissa’s Wardrobe and Blank Street Coffee, and I was excited to try it across the pond. However, to my dismay, there were no Blank Street Coffee locations in Liverpool. Guess I’ll have to wait until my next trip to NYC to give it a shot!
Hitting up museums are my favorite pastime, I was happy to find the Liverpool International Slavery Museum was walking distance from our hotel on Albert Dock. I was also pleasantly surprised to find out that October is Black History Month in the UK. Speaking of, on the flight there I watched Dreaming whilst Black, by Jamaican/British Creative Adjani Salmon, and it was hilarioussssss, relatable and we need more seasons ASAP. I also added The Beatles Museum to my list of things to do, because Liverpool is their hometown and it just made sense.
Anyway, to close this out. Liverpool was cool. Very clean, very calm, very cultured, cool pub scene and the lot. I still need to go to London Proper, but will save that when I can take the boys because they love UK drill and the accents ever since watching Supacell.
Cheers, that’s all for now innit. Til next time, stay chic!
