[The following post is from the archives of my In Search Of Incredible blog, originally published on 12 September 2014]
27 January 2014, Monday
It was a day of goodbyes as we bade farewell to the lovely Iceland and to one member of our travelling party, SY, who would be heading back home to spend Chinese New Year with his family. YS, IJ and I would be catching the 8am flight to Manchester while SY would be catching the 9am flight to London, enroute to Singapore. We drove from downtown Reykjavík to the airport and SY helped to return our vehicle at the rental car company office, which was just a short walk away from the airport.
At the airport, we had our first encounter with an unfriendly Icelander, who was an airport staff. We asked her for directions to the tax refund counter and she just pulled a long face and wasn’t helpful at all. Some might say she was being racist but I’d like to think it was the early hours of the morning that caused her to be sulky and nothing more. For a population of around 325,000, it isn’t such a bad statistic.
Finally, it was time to go, and we said goodbye to SY before boarding our Icelandair flight FI440. It was interesting how Icelandair has a name for each plane in its fleet, and ours was named after the volcano Snæfell. It’s a nice touch you would expect from a quirky country like Iceland, and it’s these small little details that make it such a magical country.
The flight from Reykjavík to Manchester took around 2 hours 35 minutes, and upon touchdown, we took a train from the airport to Manchester Piccadilly station (GBP4.00 one way), which took around 20 minutes. I had booked us beds at Hatters Hilton Chambers Hostel, which was about a 12-minute walk away from the train station.
We couldn’t locate the Hilton hostel initially, so we popped in to the hostel at Newton Street, which is also operated by Hatters, to ask for directions. Turned out our Hilton hostel wasn’t too far away. But I’m glad I booked the Hilton one, because the one at Newton Street looked quite run down and messy.
Hatters Hilton Chambers Hostel
Address: 15 Hilton Street, The Northern Quarter, Manchester, M1 1JJ
Tel: +44 (0)161 236 4414
Website: www.hattershostels.com
Rate: About GBP14.50/pax/night in a 6-bed mixed dorm with ensuite bathroom
As it was still early, around 11am+ (check-in was at 2pm), we didn’t have access to our rooms yet, so we deposited our luggage in the storeroom and headed out to settle some business.
Our Hatters Hilton hostel was conveniently located about 5 minutes walk away from the main shopping area at Market Street (that was precisely the reason why I chose it), so we only had to turn a corner to Tibs Street and Market Street was at the end of it. Super convenient.
The first piece of business was really pressing – for IJ, it was getting a new mobile phone; for me it was getting a new camera. So we split up to settle our business. The staff at Hatters Hilton had recommended me to get my camera at Jessops, which is like our Singapore version of Harvey Norman. As she helpfully pointed out, Jessops was located right at the corner of Arndale Shopping Centre, so I had no problem finding the store. Together with YS, I headed in and approached the friendly sales staff for help.
I was initially considering between a cheap Prosumer camera and a DSLR, because I thought that a DSLR would be more expensive in the UK. Turned out a DSLR there was actually cheaper than in Singapore. I ended up buying a Canon 600D for GBP399 (around S$820). It wasn’t the latest model but it was still an upgrade from my Canon E550D. If you factor in the tax rebate for tourists, it is even cheaper. Remember to ask for the tax rebate form at the point of purchase!
After paying for it, I left the camera in the store to charge the battery, while YS and I met up with IJ again for lunch. IJ had managed to buy a Google Nexus phone that was not available in Singapore yet and he was pretty pleased with it. He had been suffering from phone withdrawal symptoms for the past 2 days, and it felt like he had been given a new lease of life by the shiny new device in his hands.
As we were quite short of time, we decided that a quick bite at Burger King would suffice. After gobbling down our lunch, we went back to Jessops to collect my camera (the battery was still not fully charged yet, but better than nothing), and we then proceeded for our next important bit of business – the Old Trafford Museum & Stadium Tour visit.
From the Piccadilly Gardens tram station, we took the Altrincham Line on the Metrolink tram to Old Trafford station. I can’t remember the exact duration, but I think it was around 15 – 20 minutes. We alighted at Old Trafford station and walked along Brian Statham Way and Warwick Road for about 10 minutes before reaching the stadium itself.
I had visited Old Trafford once before in 2009, but that time, my friend drove us there and we did not stay over at Manchester, so this was my first time going there on public transport. I also didn’t do the tour the last time because it was an in-and-out day trip to catch the match. As there are limited slots and restrictions for the tour on match days, I didn’t manage to catch it then.
For this trip, I had pre-booked a 2pm slot for the Museum & Stadium Tour, so we had a bit of time to take photos before going on the tour. The Museum & Stadium tour costs GBP9 for members and GBP18 for non-members, plus a GBP1 booking fee. You will need to pre-book your slot on the official Man Utd website before your visit.
Being a die-hard Man Utd fan, IJ was so happy to finally be at Old Trafford that he was beaming the whole time we were there. The same can’t be said of YS, who is actually not a Man Utd fan but a supporter of a rival club nearby, but he “behaved” himself while on our sacred grounds, heh heh. I didn’t force him to come along for the tour, but he wanted to experience it because he is a football fan in general.
To register our attendance, we had to visit the Museum first, where we were each given a lanyard for entry to the grounds. The Museum was filled with trophies and memorabilia of all kinds amassed during Manchester United Football Club’s glorious historic reign. There was also an exhibition on David Beckham, one of my favourite Man Utd players. However, it wasn’t long before the Tour was about to start, so we headed downstairs to join the rest of the eager fans.
Our tour guide was a man named Stewart Brown, a very knowledgeable and passionate lifelong fan, who also happened to have a very dry sense of humour. He shared with us tales of the good old days as well as anecdotes of his past experiences, like how the grounds had changed over the years. He also pointed out little-known facts about the stadium, such as the flags planted above the new Sir Alex Ferguson stand, where each first team player’s nationality is represented by a flag. I didn’t even notice there were flags above the stand, in my many years of watching the matches on TV.
The tour was well coordinated and we got to visit the press conference room, the home dressing room, the VIP box where luminaries such as Sir Bobby Charlton are seated and the home team box where the gaffer sits during the match. We also got to walk down the tunnel leading to the pitch. The only gripe is that it was quite rushed and we weren’t given much time to take photos at each stop, before we were being ushered away. But it was still worth doing the tour. I highly recommend it for all Man Utd fans. Here are pics of what you can expect from the tour:
At the end of the tour, we were led to the Megastore (naturally), which is filled with every conceivable type of Man Utd merchandise – T-shirts, socks, keychains, umbrellas, figurines etc. You name it, they have it. Fresh in stock were the new Juan Mata number 8 jerseys, our newest signing at the time. We spent a good hour inside the store, deciding on what items to get. I ended up buying some magnets and customised keychains as souvenirs, but I did not buy a jersey as I already had it.
After that, we took some more photos around the grounds but it was getting dark quickly, so we took the tram back to the city, where we had dinner and continued shopping. It was actually quite pleasant to shop in Manchester, as all the shops were concentrated in one area and all the big names were there, including Primark (IJ’s favourite) and of course, HMV. There was also a That’s Entertainment outlet, which sells used CDs and DVDs at dirt cheap prices, like 3 titles for GBP 5. And the condition was as good as new too. I had to exert a great deal of self-control to not buy the whole store.
We then went back to Hatters Hilton hostel to retire for the night, already dreaming of the following day’s highlight: watching a BPL match live at Old Trafford!