The Return Journey

So, your holiday is drawing to an end, and the dreaded return journey sits just a day away. The moments you have left will of course fly by as there is nothing more time consuming than embracing time itself. So, what are you going to do once you get home? Meet up with family? Speak to anyone who will listen about all the great memories until you lose your voice? Or even both at the same time? Well, the way we see travel is a little different. In our eyes, you are constantly travelling, and you are always on your own journey in one way or another. Therefore, let’s begin to embrace the return leg of our holidays. After all coming home isn’t too bad.

Arriving back into Manchester on what will undoubtedly be a rainy morning or dull evening where the autumn breeze, which happens to be present all year around, rips through the airport terminal causing a shiver to run down your beautifully bronzed skin, is never as bad as the weather would lead you to believe. Manchester is one of the most flourishing cities in the UK and often gets voted as a ‘must visit’ destination globally. As the Manc proverb goes, ‘we do things differently here’ and that we certainly do! An immersive city where people look out for each other is just one of our great selling points and watching the coming together just over a year ago after the blanket of disaster was cast over the city like a winter shadow in the heart of summer, the world witnessed what Manchester is all about.

The Northern Quarter which is the true soul of the city brings together culture in every form, from the quirky bars which sit at the foot of ancient disused cotton mills to the eateries which converge in number on every street. The food here brings together a cocktail of cultures and offers every imaginable option for the hungry customer. The culture doesn’t stop with the strangely prohibition period New York style buildings as the artwork explodes in a flurry of colour up every available wall leaving the whole place feeling more youthful and spirited than ever before.

The nightlife spreads as does business, from the Arndale to the much more affluent Spinningfields and then off in every direction from the centre outwards. The continuous growth of this fantastic city is something which is as related as our own growth within its walls. We see our favourite restaurants quickly make multiple appearances across the vast cityscape and before we know it they are taking their Manc charm to the world.

Football just happens to be something which just exists here, growing up red or blue isn’t a choice you’re predestined to sit in the stands in one of those colours long before you parents even considered your existence. It’s a funny old thing the way the Etihad or Old Trafford make us sing at the top of our lungs about how our team is the best, and then we head out into the streets and become one again in the centre of the city.

We have history here in abundance, the beating heart of the industrial revolution where the worker bee went about his/her job simply to allow the country to thrive. There are countless museums; fine art, industry and science for all those passing through to embrace the whole place a little more.

There are countless things to do when you look at Manchester as a tourist would and this post doesn’t even scratch the surface. The way we see it, your holiday shouldn’t end as you hit the runway at our fantastic airport, but it should continue into your day to day life. Go and eat at the place you haven’t visited yet, learn about the things you didn’t know and simply benefit from the greatest which exists on your doorstep.

For a fantastically manc touch when booking your next holiday, contact Royal Travel by phone on 0161 255 1331 or call in store to have a chat through all of our expertise and knowledge.

Here's a short poem dedicated to MCR

The city of the suffragette, the prince the blagger too

Watching them each disappear within the haze of a Sunday afternoon.

This city argues with the darkness in a debate shell never win

But still she puts faith, that her dreams are safe, amongst the hordes of sin.

We’ve seen the paupers’ squabble yet in community we trust

For our greatest deficiency is that we love too much.

The 60 is her veins, the cards that she won’t fold

Northern quarter her mind and the revolution is her soul.

The strife we’ve seen and yet she stands, despite bombings and Peterloo

For here in the shadows of the north its unimaginable what we’ve been through.

Proud still is she, as the bitter sun sparkles from the glass freckles on her face

Her fingers run across her scars as each experience they trace.

And in her eyes it’s impossible, to see her all forlorn

For under the pressure of Manchester, that’s where diamonds are formed.

D.L.Edwards