Ready for Your Next Great Travel Adventure?
To help get you started, and to set the scene, below are descriptions from my books of some of the world’s most amazing destinations. These clips are to help you learn about the location, prep for your travels and drive up your excitement about a specific place.
After the quotes, you’ll find a brief overview, with guidance for rising entrepreneurs. These destination pages are being continuously updated so check back before each trip.
UNITED KINGDOM
London
I saw the slowly spinning Ferris wheel they call The Eye, the now dwarfed towers of the ancient bridge and the newly modern skyscrapers breaking the clouds…
“There’s no avoiding London,” I smiled as we dropped into the crowds. Grey, cruddy, scrubbed-washed, grungy, regal, top-hatted London had an indefatigable grip on our consciousness. “From all over this island, the British went all over the world and made English the dominant, default language we know today. Then of course with that language they delivered Shakespeare, Jane Austen, the Beatles, BBC World, Harry Potter, a connection that many wanted to have, the other great pop culture – one with ongoing influences – that is so layered within us that we hardly notice they are foreigners…
…In a land where every old house was deemed to the National Trust, it is that solidified look back in this most demanding of preservation wares cultures that encases this island…So the ancient buildings, pipes and narrow roads may not change but the upheaval vexing of class and culture has to fade. But they will always have the language and the language will continue to dominate. I just do not see another coming to take its global place.”
We were traversing London through her parks, the flat green open spaces occupied by joggers, walkers and dogs leisurely drifting, as if on the outskirts and not in the midst of one of the world’s most compacted metropolises. Crossing Hyde Park to Green Park, and then slipping around Buckingham Palace, we found ourselves approaching the Thames River edge. Here we did not cross the bridges, but followed the Victoria Embankment letting the circular traffic at Blackfriars lead us back inland…
…the churchyard at St. Paul’s Cathedral…we stood for a moment to admire Sir Christopher Wren’s most famous achievement. Then we walked inside. St. Paul’s was one of the broadest buildings to explore with examples of fine art and noteworthy structures in every corner. We slowly wandered through, stopping with the tour groups or on our own as each part of the building demonstrated its own significance. From the overwhelming white pillars of the Cathedral floor, punctuated by colorful oval painted scenes, to climbing to the Dome then passing through the chapels into the courtyard, we scrambled through the symbolism yet again.
…as we exited the grounds of St. Paul’s. We wandered up into the defined City of London financial district, then doubled back down Fleet Street and through Covent Garden towards the wild ringing clamor and the crowds of Leicester Square…London was another endless city, defined neighborhoods rolled one into another each offering art, museums, food and shops, readjusted to the pattern of the established wealth or commuting worker who walks by each day.
The city’s faces reflected back the history of British colonialism, the fish and chips lined up with chicken tikka masala. But unlike their continental brethren, the British remembered they were the ones who had disrupted the world with their travels and they understood why faces from Asia, Africa and the Caribbean laid claim to a London home. The city had been internationalized by commerce and will and the acceptance was played out not kindly but through rough British manners that had read their history. The result was a polyglot tourist trap where the very rich had long rustled themselves away into white walled high-toned neighborhoods, and the rest had planted their flags in any other inch they could afford to buy or rent…
…Anyone could live in London, anyone. Not because they were “really” British…But it was just that no culture, religion or ethnic group was a surprise here. Despite CCTV, MI-5, Scotland Yard or maybe because of it, everyone came here and just absorbed into the fog as the answer to the expectation of migrants. Knowing the stereotype of this British culture made it so uncomplicated to be a Londoner. Even I could fake it, but that was the trap, one does not have to fake it, take on the accent and one could just be…
– Describing London in Walking with J by Karsten Quarters
She looked out at London, the gateway to Europe, a magnet city for millions from all over the world, carefully preserved to embed its recognizable Britishness. Like a charcoaled drawing highlighting industrial change, centuries old brick churches formed the outline of the skyline alongside spiraling glass skyscrapers. The city was a marvelous modern metropolis from another age, uniquely clinging to a managed past in the face of unrelenting urban adaptation.
– London in The Motion Clue by Case Lane
Place: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the British Isles, the west in western Europe, the north in northern Europe
Visited: country of birth, innumerable visits (someday I may decide to count)
Most Recent Visit: 2018
Original sites: Overwhelming: a lot of territory to cover for such a small geographic country, actually four countries, each with its own story
Familiarity: High
For Rising Entrepreneurs in Business: After the United States, probably the best place to start if you are venturing into an unknown market. People will try new products and services, and set trends.
Country Details: U.N. Country Data Stats for United Kingdom
Reading Recommendations
As English is my first language, my familiarity with British writers exceeds the impact of all other cultures outside North America. If you are traveling to the U.K. for the first time and want to learn a little something of the culture, the list of suggested books to read would take a long post. But my recommendation, in case you’ve been deprived, is to start with all of Jane Austen. Her work is timeless.
Want more details about visiting the United Kingdom: contactcase(at)readyentrepreneur(dot)com
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