Getting to and around Liverpool
1. Shuttling between Liverpool and Manchester (3.6 pounds per person for 2 way journey)
We decided to make a day trip to Liverpool on 11th September 2022 as the Northern Railway Company ran a sale and sold train tickets at 1 pound each recently. We pre-booked our tickets 2 weeks in advance and set off from Mauldeth Road Station to Liverpool Lime Street Station on a Sunday morning. The journey took 1 hour 15 mins as the train called at many stations before our destination.
Just like our trip to Edinburgh, the morning trip to Liverpool was smooth but our evening return journey was more eventful. The train company cancelled the train that we were scheduled to take so we caught the earlier train back as we were at the train station 1.5 hours ahead of our scheduled time. Based on my limited experience (I had only taken 2 train rides in the UK thus far), it seems that the night trains in the UK are more prone to cancellations. While we caught an earlier train home, our journey home was still delayed. The train could not move forward when we were 2 stops away from our station as a train ahead had broken down. We made the decision to take a bus instead after waiting for 20 minutes with no updates. Therefore, like us, if you were doing a day trip to Liverpool, I would strongly advise you to plan your return journey earlier and add in 1 to 2 hours of buffer time. As most shops closed around 5 to 6 pm in the UK on Sunday, you should start and end your day earlier.
2. Getting around Liverpool
Most of the attractions are within walking distance in the city center and we did not spend any money getting around in Liverpool.
Attractions
I think the city center of Liverpool is very modern and the roads are much better paved compared to the city center of Manchester. The UK government has invested £5.5 billion to regenerate the city since 2018.
1. Liverpool Museum
Most of the museums in Liverpool require no admission ticket except for the Beatles’ museum. In the Liverpool museum, you will learn about the history of how Liverpool was an important port in Europe and the industrial revolution during the early 19th Century. Notably, these were my key takeaways from the Liverpool museum:
- Liverpool was a key port of exit for European migrants moving to the United States in the early 19th Century.
- Manchester was the manufacturing hub in the UK back in the 19th Century and goods were transported to Liverpool by rail and boats, to be exported overseas.
- Liverpool was heavily bombed during WWII and it led to the closure of the Railway lines.
- Trams were also shut down in Liverpool after WWII.
- There were gas masks in people’s homes during that tumultuous period.
I could not help but wondered what led to the decline of Liverpool as a port in the UK? By extension of this question, would Singapore’s port also face this fate with the rise of the One-Belt-One-Road Initiative launched by China in 2013?
I can’t seem to find the answer in the museum and I think it would have been too impolite to try to ask someone in the museum about it.
2. Albert Dock & Liverpool One
Personally, I did not find Albert Dock nor Liverpool One spectacularly interesting as, respectively, they had too much resemblance to Clark Quay and Vivo City Shopping complex in Singapore.
In Albert Dock, you would only find an entourage of restaurants lining next to the dock. As for Liverpool One, most of the shops comprise the usual tenants that you will find in most shopping complexes in the UK. I would think that the Trafford Center in Manchester will be more interesting architecturally for people from the East.
Food
Recommended Food
1. Rudy’s Pizza (9.5 pounds / S$15.5 Per Pizza)
This is a pizza chain that can also be found in Manchester. Other than the freshly baked and firewood pizzas from Marks and Spencer (M&S), this is one of the best pizzas I had eaten in the UK thus far. We ordered the Portobello Mushroom Pizza at (9.5 pounds/ S$15.5) in September 2022. According to the service staff, the pizzas were freshly prepared by Italian chefs. The base of the pizza is thin in the middle and thick at the edge. I would have liked that the pizza was less charred but I think overall it was still really delicious.
2. Marks and Spencer (M&S) Salad (3.5 pounds / S$5.7 Per Salad)
If you do not mind eating cold food, you will most likely not go wrong with the salad at M&S. I had the bean salad from the plant-based series at (3.5 pounds/ S$5.7) and it’s delicious. I would not recommend the sandwiches from M&S as I think they are pretty ordinary. The portion of the salad is a little small and you may have to get another item or dessert to feel satiated if you have an average appetite.
You can also look out for those items with yellow stickers on them if you do not mind eating food that is expiring that day. You will likely save around 30% to 70% on the final cost, depending on the time that you purchase the items.
Not Recommended Food
1. Pasta Cosa (6.5 pounds/ S$10)
Despite the raving reviews on Google reviews, I did not like the Aglio olio as it was too oily and the portion was a little small.
Total Expenditures
| Expenditure Category | Per Person | % of Total Cost |
| Returned Train and Bus Tickets (3.6 pounds each) | S$ 6 | 20% |
| Food for Lunch and Dinner (15 pounds each) | S$ 24 | 80% |
| Total | S$ 30 | 100% |