Eastbourne, England: A Delightful Surprise

I had never heard of Eastbourne, England before we started planning this trip. We knew we had a few days between the cruise and our next destination, so we needed a place to stay. We also knew we like to be on the coast and had lots of Hyatt hotel points. Brennan found this hotel and it was a good value, so we decided to come here. I'm so glad we did-this area turned out to be a great place to relax for a few days!

It took about an hour and a half by train to get to Eastbourne from Dover (where we departed from the cruise). The trains were both really easy and comfortable. When we got to Eastbourne, we walked about 1.5 km to the hotel. Out in front of the hotel, we saw people gathered. It turns out there was a triathlon going on and the transition between biking and running happened right in front of our hotel. Hearing all the people cheering for each other was very cool.

We dropped off our bags with the front desk and walked to get coffee at a local coffee shop. I had a croissant sandwich with my latte and Brennan had a breakfast sandwich. If we had more time in town, I would have gone back to this coffee shop.

We decided to go back to the hotel and go to pool. It was warm outside and lots of other patrons of the hotel had the same idea. Unfortunately, the pool area wasn't very large and the only chairs available were in the direct sun. We sat out there for less than an hour before deciding to go find a late lunch. We walked down the boardwalk on the beach, right across the street from the hotel, and went to a fish and chips shop. We sat on the edge of the boardwalk looking out at the water enjoying our lunch. 

After we ate, we headed back to hotel and were able to rest. We woke up very early that morning to get off the ship and the sun takes a lot of energy. Our room didn't have air conditioning, but it did have a powerful tower fan that worked surprisingly well. We stayed mostly cool until we went to movies to see Thor: Love & Thunder. I really liked it!

I love going to the movies in other countries-it's basically the exact same as the US once you get to the theater. But there's always something a little memorably different that makes it unique. One thing we knew we would miss when we left Florida was our local movie theater that we could walk to from our apartment. We both commented that we did miss Lakewood Ranch Cinema after going to this movie.

We woke up on Monday with a plan to go walk through the South Downs National Park near the edge of town. Before we left, we went to get breakfast at the hotel restaurant. It may have been the most fancy room I have ever eaten breakfast in.

Brennan wanted to walk the 2 km to the park. He had the idea that he would start walking and I could hang out at the hotel before meeting him by taking the bus to the park. This plan made me a little nervous, since I have never navigated by myself. But, I had Google Maps and Brennan had his phone in case I needed him. It was nice for us to both have a little bit of time to ourselves and then to meet back up after a couple hours.

The area we hiked is called The Seven Sisters. We met at Beachy Head and went up and down the hills at the top of the cliffs. The views and water were amazing! Brennan loved getting close to the edge and looking down and of course, I worried about him the whole time. We saw seals in the water, a lighthouse, and lots of beautiful landscapes.

We hiked out to a point where there was a cafe and grabbed some lunch. This area also had stairs down to the beach, so we walked down. Once we explored around and felt the water for a bit, we headed back to the bus stop so we could ride back into town.  It was a narrated bus tour, so we heard about the scenery as we passed. We walked back to the hotel from the bus stop and cooled down in front of the fan in our room. 

That night, we went to dinner at a pub/restaurant. We both ordered fish & chips and it was very good. After dinner, we walked around the town for a bit on our way back to the hotel. It was very peaceful.

Eastbourne was a surprise in the best way. I would definitely go back and spend more time in this picturesque English waterfront town.