OK, today’s post is going to be a long one, I hope you can stick it out! I do think the end is worth it. And today I’m trying to include some videos in my posts.

I did a lot of driving yesterday, so I tried to keep today’s journey a little shorter. I started up by heading north, over the Horseshoe Pass.

Everyone knows it’s windy…

Based on a Rick Steves recommendation, I headed toward the town of Ruthin. I didn’t really have a destination in mind, he just suggested it as a quintessential Welsh Village. First stop was a breakfast snack, a delicious apple and sausage pastry.

I had just planned on a quick walk around town, when I heard some change ringing bells.

For those of you who don’t know about changing, it’s an English style of bell ringing that I learned while a student at Kalamazoo College. This Sunday happened to be a special Christmas Carol service. I decided to take a peek…

And I ended up staying for church. It was quite lovely, lots of singing, and three songs by this “dementia-friendly” chorus.

After church was mulled wine and cookies. Did I mention that dogs are welcome at church?

I chatted a bit with Charles, who is actually Scottish, but has lived in Wales for about 40 years. He was part of today’s chorus.

After that, I stopped by and toured a historic home in town. It’s usually closed for the winter, but they had set the home up for a special Christmas display, Christmas to the ages with each room, showcasing Christmas traditions of a different era.

A little video setting the scene downtown.

And some lovely signs.

For lunch, I drove to a place outside Conwy, which was a Bib Gourmand pick. I got the smoked haddock and had a nice chat with the bartender.

The last stop of the day (or so I thought) was at Bodnant Garden, suggested by friend Jill. I didn’t have too much time before dark, but it was nice to walk around and December flowers were a pleasant surprise. 

On the hour plus drive back to my cottage, I popped on a podcast, and an episode of The Interview with Lulu Garcia Navarro happened to come on. And what do you know, it was an interview with Rick Steves!

Obviously, it felt perfect since I had him to thank for his Ruthin recommendation. As the show was wrapping up, Lulu asked him one last question: what’s one travel no-no, and what’s one travel must-do that he suggests?

His travel no-no was visiting places that don’t have any artifacts, that are artificially created to suck dollars from tourists.

And his travel must do? To find a way to interact with locals and have an authentic experience. He gave a few examples and his first example? To play bingo in Wales!

Back at my cottage, I made some dinner, did a quick Google search, and voilà! Sunday night, bingo happening tonight in the nearby town.

So here I am at the Royal Air Forces Association Sunday night bingo! I’m going to guess that I am the first drop in visitor that they’ve ever had, and I have to be the first tourist to show up.

First of all Welsh, bingo isn’t exactly like American bingo. Here’s a picture of the card. There are 10 sheets in the booklet, for a total of 10 games. Each sheet has six different “bingo cards” on it. You can see that each number makes an appearance exactly once. First you are going for a line of five numbers in a row across. After someone wins that, you keep going for a “full house,” where every number is covered.

Calling the numbers is pretty similar, with lots of “B-4” “AND AFTER” style audience participation for certain numbers.

After playing for five games, there’s a break for the bathroom, the bar, and… Noodles! They set up a little buffet in the side room.

As for how the locals received me, I wouldn’t say that it was awkward, exactly, but it was a little unusual that I was sort of crashing their private bingo party. Everyone was passing out Christmas cards and they clearly all had their regular seats/tables. Though the published start time was 7 PM, the game didn’t get started until well after 8. I did my best of one in and not seem too out of place.

Two of the ladies in particular, Hazel and Sue, were kind of helping me feel welcome and taught me how to play. In the photo below, Hazel is in white and Sue is in red. They gave me a little bingo tutorial and said they’d help if I had any questions. I sat near them and we commiserated when it was a particularly bad round.

For the first half of the night, I hadn’t come close to getting a“line “or a “full house.” However in the second half I had a couple near misses. The excitement was building!

It was the last game… Someone won the line… and so it was my very last chance to win, to get the full house. And I kept getting closer… And closer… One number to go… and… BINGO!

I did it! A winner!

(A sidenote that people don’t actually yell out “BINGO!” in Wales. They just kind of shout something? But since I didn’t know what else to say I went with the good ol’ American BINGO.)

Of course I could’ve kept my winnings, but Hazel had been particularly kind to me that night. And she also seemed pretty bummed that she hadn’t won anything all evening. So on my envelope I wrote “Hazel, thanks for lending me your dauber and for being so welcoming. Merry Christmas! Elizabeth” and slid the envelope over to her.

She couldn’t have been happier, and I said the only price she had to pay was taking a selfie with me. Thanks for the memories, Hazel! And thanks to Rick and Lulu for the inspiration.