Sara's Beatles Pilgrimage Tour: Part 1 Liverpool

My Beatles pilgrimage tour

Part 1:  Liverpool, England

If you have been a visitor here for a while, you might remember that my mom and I went on a Beatles trip to Liverpool and London in 2010.   I planned the trip out myself and I did a pretty good job of finding great Beatles things to see and do.  However, when I returned from my trip I realized that there was so much more that I missed out on.    I decided that someday I would go back and take a more individualized tour.   

About a year ago I was looking at the secrets posted on one of my favorite sights, postsecret.com.    The secret said something like “I wish I had taken another trip to Europe with my mom.”     That really got me thinking about going back to England.    I wanted to go back with my mom for another Beatles tour,  and not trying to be mean, but my mom is currently in her early 60’s and in good health.   However, I do not know how much longer that will be the case.      I really did not want to be that person that had the regret of never going back to England after my mom passes away.    It isn’t really a pleasant thing to think about, but it is a reality of life.   We all get older and can’t do the things we used to do.     So I started to look into a more individualized Beatles tour of Liverpool, London and Hamburg.    I hadn’t planned on going back in just three years, but what the heck!   Why not!

I looked at a lot of tours online.   There are several Beatle tours available to book from.   I went with the Beatlespilgrimage tour.   Let me honestly tell you that I feel like if you are a die-hard Beatles fan like me, then theBeatles pilgrimage tour is the way to go.    You work with a fellow fan named Tony who sets you up with everything you need for the tour.   He does all of the little detailed work and all you have to do is enjoy your trip.    You could book all of the things yourself, but as I found out in 2010, it is more difficult than it sounds and you end up missing things.   When you go with the Beatles Pilgrimagetour, you get the best Beatles tour guides plus you get the things like train tickets and such all set for you.   I am not trying to do a commercial for this company, but I really can’t recommend them enough.    I would recommend going on one of the group tours because it is fun to meet fellow Beatle fans and travel around with them.    If you do book a tour and are asked,  let Tony know that you read about it on Meet the Beatles for Real.   (But seriously this is a travel report and not a commercial, so on with the trip!)

Liverpool, England

Day 1:

We flew over night and landed in Manchester, England.    From Manchester we had to get on a train that took us to Lime Street Station in Liverpool.     From there we got in a taxi that took us to the Hard Day’s Night Hotel.    Since it was still morning there (I never did get use to the time difference), our room was not ready.     So my mom and I took the time to explore a little bit of Liverpool.   Having been there three years ago, we remembered the basics and took a walk down Mathew Street and the Beatles shops and down to Albert Dock (or as my mom calls it ‘Uncle Albert Dock’) to have a look around.   We were told that our room was going to be available at noon.   When we got back, our room was not ready and we were told to come back at two.    So back out we went.  We had asked the hotel where the ugly Beatles statue of the four guys standing in a circle was located, and they had no clue what we were talking about.   They said there was not a statue of the four Beatles in Liverpool.   Low and behold I located it inside #8 Mathew Street.  They made me feel like a fool, but I knew what I was talking about.   We had fish and chips at a local café and walked around some more.    By 2:00, we had been awake for 24 hours and were tired of walking around and just wanted to get into our rooms and freshen up.    We saw other people getting room keys.   But low and behold, our room was not ready.     I have to give the Hard Day’s Night props for giving us free drinks while we waited for another 45 minutes, but still I was a bit peeved.      Plus the hotel still smelled funny from that fire they had in February and it was making me feel sick to my stomach.

After we got all of that settled, we got a second wind and we were ready to meet our tour guide, Jackie.   Jackie Spencer is the best tour guide in Liverpool.    Even if you don’t go through the Beatles Pilgrimage Tour, you have to go on Jackie’s tour!    What I liked about her is that she wasn’t just a tour guide, she was a true Beatles fan (George is her favorite).    When she was telling us things around Liverpool, she had such passion and love for the Beatles.    And the more time we spent with her, I began to feel like she was a friend and not just a hired tour guide.     I know that was her job, but I also felt like she loved the opportunity of meeting Beatle fans from around the world and showing them her hometown.   

Jackie took us on a brief walking tour of Liverpool.  It was Saturday night and Liverpool was CRAZY!   Come to find out, guys and gals who are having bachelor and bachelorette (or stag and hen) parties like to come to Liverpool dressed in crazy costumes and they party hard!    Mathew Street was full blown insanity with people dressed as everything from nuns to Where’s Waldo.   So we sort of avoided that part of town and did some more quite Beatles sights. 

Highlights of this walking tour were seeing the maternity hospital where John Lennon was born,  going into the Philharmonic and having a drink and then getting to see the men’s loo, and most of all having a drink at the Ye Cracke in the War Room.     The only disappointment was that the Jacaranda is no longer open.   It is left abandoned with Beatles photos still up on the wall (I know from looking in the window).   I really hope someone opens it back up soon.   That mural that Stu painted is hidden away in there.  What a shame!

Day 2:

On this day we were basically on our own.   The first thing we did was tour John’s home at Mendips.  Even though I had done this tour once before, I was still amazed at being inside of John’s childhood home.   It was emotionally packed for me to stand in his bedroom and look out the window.     Then we went onto Paul’s childhood home on Forthlin Avenue.    The new custodian was much better than the previous one I had (the one that was drinking on the job and told me outright lies).    One of the best parts of that tour for me was hearing Paul’s personal message to the visitors.   It was neat to hear Paul’s voice while in the house.

Next was time to explore the museums and things at the Albert Dock.   Our first stop was the Beatles Story Exhibit.   I did without the headphones this time, which baffled the workers there.   While the exhibit is meant for those who only have a basic knowledge of Beatles information, I still find it very worthwhile if not just to see the actual guitars and clothing.   I think the recreations of places like the Cavern club are a bit silly since the real deal is just down the road.      The Elvis and Me exhibit is a bit boring for me since I am not much of an Elvis fan.    There are a lot of Elvis artifacts, but not a whole lot of Beatles things.    They try to show how the Beatles and Elvis are tied together, but I thought it was a bit of a stretch with how they were really pushing the 1965 meeting.     There is a side exhibit of “hidden photos” that was very nice and well worth seeing.   

Next we went into the Liverpool Museum.   This is a free museum and seems to be very big and have a lot of things in it.   However, we didn’t have time to dilly dally around looking at the history of Liverpool.   So we went straight up to the music section and found the Beatles part.   They had there the “All you need is love” Yellow Submarine quilt that John and Yoko used during the Bed-in.   I was planning on writing a blog entry about this very quilt (still am) and so to see it in person was awesome!    After the museum, we took the “Ferry Across the Mersey” and yes they did play the Gerry and the Pacemakers song.

Then we went back to Mathew Street and went into the Grapes.   We had a drink at the booth where the Beatles sat and then I sang karaoke .  I thought I was pretty cool stuff singing at the pub where the Beatles hung out.   The last stop for the night was the Cavern Club where we heard the Mersey-Beatles perform.   They were awesome!

Day 3:

This last day in Liverpool was also our most action packed.   We went with our tour guide, Jackie in a van (driven by a great guy named Phil) where she would tell us about the sights and then we would stop and get out for photos and a look around.   Some of the places we went were:   The Casbah club (where Roag gave us a tour…I love him!),  Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields, Arnold Grove,  The Clubmoor Club,  Stu’s grave, St. Peter’s church,  and lastly we went into the Dingle and into Ringo’s childhood home where we were met by the wonderful woman that currently lives there, Margaret.     She had cupcakes and Coke for us to celebrate Ringo’s birthday.   She was such a sweet woman.   She lived a few houses down when Ringo was a teenager and knew Ringo.    She doesn’t allow all of the tour groups inside of her home, but allows Jackie’s tour in for Ringo’s birthday celebration every year.    She would not accept any money, but was taking up a collection for the Linda McCartney breast cancer charity.     Going into Ringo’s home and meeting Margaret was truly one of the highlights of Liverpool.

I hope I didn’t bore you all too much because the trip into London and Hamburg reports are soon to follow.