Two Nights in Brighton

The room had instant coffee and tea-making facilities, a small coloured television, and a bathtub in the en-suite bathroom. The room was reasonably clean--there were a few coffee stains on the floor, and the wallpaper looked as if it had seen better days, but our linens were clean and the furniture was comfortable.

The hotel was situated very near the West Pier, which we liked, as it was in a quieter part of the tourist hub, away from the noise of the bars and the restaurants.

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Our cousins picked us up from my uncle's house for the drive down to Brighton. We arrived in Brighton mid-afternoon, and walked along the coast while the cousins went shopping. The scene in Brighton reminded us of Boracay Island back home, with the laid-back cafés, street musicians, and alfresco dining.

The beach, however, was completely different from the kind of beach we were used to back home. The wind that blew onshore made it quite chilly (unlike the sun-warmed beaches we knew), and instead of sand, the beach was covered with white, brown, and gray pebbles--the kind one would use to landscape an indoor garden in the Philippines!

We met our cousins again at the tourist area, then drove to our hotel, about 30 minutes away, at a little town called Worthing, also along the coast. We checked in, rested a little, and then all piled in my cousin-in-law's Vanagon for dinner back at Brighton.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel for a comfortable sleep.

The next morning, we all ate breakfast at the hotel and then walked around Worthing a bit before going our separate ways. My cousins dropped us off back at Brighton, where we were planning to stay an additional night.