Our time in Wales was short, but it included a dive cafe, a fun pub and the best meal of the entire trip!

The first stop in our gluttony tour of Wales, was in Kidderminster, on our way to Hay-on-Wye. We needed a little snack and a cup of tea before a big lunch and found ourselves at Smithy's Cafe.

Smithy's Cafe is such a small-town local dive, that I felt like we were the first tourist to ever set foot in the place. Although they were friendly, it was like that typical scene in a western where the hero enters a saloon in a new town and everyone is instantly quiet and staring. Yep.

Smithy's Cafe was a cheap, no-frills place, where we ate yummy tea cakes and shared a pot of tea. The people sitting next to us were speaking in Welsh, which was beautiful to listen to and added to the foreign feeling of the experience.

Behind Smithy's, we discovered a lovely stream, lush foliage and railroad tracks.

My favorite meal of entire trip was lunch at The Three Cocks, located a few miles outside of the town center in Hay-on-Wye.

Not only was the restaurant at The Three Cocks Inn, super cute and cozy, but the food was outstanding. Dan ordered the delicious Cottage Pie.

I ordered the "Pie of the Day", which was chicken and leek. The carrots had a sweet glaze that made them taste like a decadent dessert. I ate my veggies first and stole some of Dan's carrots!

Chicken and Leek Pie with the dessert carrots!

Obviously, we didn't enjoy our meal.

We even saved room to share an Apple Crumble for dessert. This was the first time that I tried custard, rather than ice cream with a crumble. It was good and different, but I definitely prefer the ice cream, which is a lot less sweet. The custard overwhelmed the taste of the crumble.

Apple Crumble with Custard at The Three Cocks.

Still stuffed from our fabulous lunch, we opted for a light dinner at the Blue Boar in Hay-On-Wye.

The Blue Boar was fairly typical of my pub experiences in the UK. It was super busy on a Friday night, but we managed to grab a table by the bar. As with most pubs, we ordered our food directly from the bar and it was a leisurely meal. Dan had a salad and I ordered a bowl of tomato soup with crusty bread. I enjoyed my meal. but in the grand scheme of our vacation dining, it was fairly forgettable.

Hungry yet? Check back as we continue to eat our way through the UK!

There are some tourist trap experiences that you just have to do. It seems like every time I host a first time visitor to Los Angeles, their two must-do's are Hollywood Blvd and Venice Beach. It's useless to try to convince them that those two landmarks are really not the best of what So. Cal has to offer. It's a lesson that every visitor must learn for themselves.

The London Eye is a beautiful tourist trap. Certainly, it's better than Hollywood Blvd and Venice Beach combined, but it's still not something that would be in my top-ten London must-dos.

I feel like we experienced The London Eye the '"right way". We went early on the first morning of our trip, when the city was virtually unexplored. The best thing about The London Eye is the amazing views that it affords of the city. We lucked out and visited on a clear day with blue skies. It was ideal.

The tickets are pricy and not really a good value for the experience. Dan's parents arranged our tickets in advance and they did a smart thing by getting us Fast Track Tickets. The FT Tickets allowed us to skip a majority of the line and walk through a separate entrance. This was a huge time saver on a busy day. Judging by the queue, The London Eye is an attraction that every tourist hits!

Save time, pick Fast Track tickets for The London Eye

Our ticket package also included a viewing guide.

Here's the thing about the Viewing Guide...it's more for a souvenier than it is for practical usage while on The London Eye. It's detailed, but it's also cumbersome when you pull it out and try to use it. The carriages of The London Eye are crowded and it's just not worth fiddling with a giant map. Also, the carriages are all equipped with computers that have the same information as the viewing guide. I felt like this was an extra that they tacked on to the upgraded ticket price, that really didn't add to the value.

What was the ticket price?

Just shy of thirty pounds per adult for the Fast Track Tickets. The tickets also included a 4-D Cinema experience. The term "Cinema Experience" is a debatable one. Like the viewing guide, this was an unnecessary extra thrown in to justify the expensive admission.

The film is a complete gimmick and super cheesy, showing a family visiting The London Eye. About a week after we visited The London Eye, we went to Blackpool and had another "4-D Cinema Experience" that was roughly the same film, but replaced with Blackpool landmarks. It led us to wonder how many other videos the company has made for tourist traps all over the UK.

Even though you paid for it as part of your ticket package, I highly recommend skipping the film. It's not worth your time.

Price aside, there are reasons that you should check out The London Eye. The views are magnificent and it will give you approximately thirty minutes of incredible photo opportunities. The London Eye itself is a marvel. I've never seen anything quite like it and it's hard to imagine that it was originally supposed to be a temporary structure. It's beautiful.

Check out the official attraction website for updated visitors information.

The London Eye- Official Site

UK August-September 2013 - Gluttony in Wales

UK August-October 2013- The London Eye