If you follow me on Facebook then you’ll have seen that I set myself a Travel Challenge for 2017 and asked that you take part too! The goal is to travel somewhere, anywhere, every month of 2017; whether it be somewhere in your home country, or somewhere abroad. My first stop was NEWCASTLE and it was ridiculously cheap! Here’s everything you need to know.
Flights
We flew to Newcastle with Ryanair on Sunday Jan 1st to Tuesday Jan 3rd. The return flights cost a total of €78.30 for 2 people and the flights lasted just over an hour.
Accommodation
We stayed in the Grey Street Hotel in the heart of Newcastle upon Tyne. Grey Street is famous for its beautiful architecture and is ranked Number 4 of Trip Advisors Top 10 Things to Do in Newcastle. The room was standard but spotless clean, which is the most important thing!
Price: €116 on Booking.com including a bottle of prosecco on arrival.
Things to See & Do
Liverpool v Sunderland at the Stadium of Light
My husband and I are huge Liverpool fans and although we’ve watched them play at Anfield many times, we’ve never been to an away game. Darren got 2 tickets for this match in work so he booked the trip and surprised me. He chose to stay in Newcastle rather than Sunderland because he heard there’s not much to do in Sunderland. A return train ticket to Sunderland for 2 people works out at £10.75 and it takes approx. 45 minutes each way. The match was a draw but with 4 goals scored, we definitely got our monies worth!
Newcastle Castle
I love castles! I even got married in one (read about that here). So I was pleasantly surprised to learn that there’s one in Newcastle (probably should have guessed!). Usually castles are closed off for the most part but not this one! There are numerous passage ways, staircases and rooms open to be explored.
Also, the views from the top are stunning!
The Victoria Tunnel
The Victoria Tunnel is ranked number 1 on Trip Advisor’s Top 10 list of Things to do in Newcastle. Construction finished in 1842 and there’s no prize for guessing which Queen it was named after. Initially used to transport coal during the Industrial Revolution, the tunnel was converted into an air raid shelter for over 9,000 people during WW2. I love learning about the history of any city that I travel to. Unfortunately, we never got to visit the tunnel due to time constraints!
So there you have it, a 2 night stay in Newcastle for 2 people for under €200. This proves that you don’t have to spend a fortune to Live Lavishly… why aye!
Follow my Facebook and Instagram for some destination inspiration and you can follow my adventures on Snapchat (username: livelavishlycom).
Author: Carly Colgan Bates
