Reflection

As the year 2009 draws to a close, a reflective mood has appeared. A list of lessons learned over the last year and things to be thankful for has been formulating over the last few days, so here it is:

• Traveling for two weeks to England only requires one suitcase, even in the coldest of months. Anything more than one suitcase will simply become irritating as you schlep it around the United Kingdom. 
• Patience is a virtue--to be blatantly disregarded if you have been waiting in an airport for more than five hours.
• Flying first class makes up for the aforementioned lack of patience.
• When you are pretty sure your dog has swallowed something foreign, but you are not sure exactly what that is, it is acceptable to take him to the emergency vet at 2am to ease your mind.
• When the dog above greets you after a long day with a wag of his tail and a kiss, it is completely appropriate for your heart to melt.
  
• Manners are essential and those who do not possess them can piss off.
• A man who does not know you who waits for you in a parking lot with an umbrella when he sees that you do not have one and are struggling with all of your accouterments qualifies for sainthood.
• It is reasonable to have no idea whatsoever what the appeal of NASCAR is.
• Brothers are the best, especially when they grow up to be really good men.
• Tears of relief are acceptable when a friend does your yard work for you without asking and the burden of doing this by yourself is lifted.
• A bullshit threshold that lowers exponentially as age increases is normal.
• A refrigerator that is bare is simply a sign that you are busy, not an indication that you are a terrible grown-up.
• Plants that survive solely because they are on a sprinkler drip system is no reflection on you as a person.
• A dog's snoring is one of the most peaceful sounds on earth.
• It is normal to wonder if you could ever possibly listen to all two thousand songs on your iPod.
• Parents that love and support you no matter what are never to be taken for granted.
• Friends that move into your house so that you can chase your dreams are remarkable and humbling.
• It is acceptable to be a hopeless romantic and believe in the kind of love that has two people holding hands when they're ninety.
• Teaching a child to lock doors for safety will absolutely get you locked out of the house.
• Teaching someone to believe in themselves is fantastic.
• It is fair to expect that people will know the difference between a country and a continent.
• It is always a good idea to buy yourself flowers.
• A Blackberry is an essential part of life.
• It is just fine to buy paper towels at Costco if you are the only person living in your house.
• It is completely normal to rearrange a room full of furniture only to end up with everything in the exact place it was when you started.
• Jeans that fit you like they were made for you are an essential wardrobe component.
• Really cute shoes are worth the suffering.
• Beginning to really believe that second chances are possible is amazing.

Sudafed and Gift Wrapping

Who knew this was such an amazing combo? One of the side effects of Sudafed is apparently the immediate ability to wrap as many gifts as possible in a very short amount of time.

Oz seems pleased with the results.

Emily Post Would Be Appalled

As a frequent traveler, I am unexpectedly amazed at the complete lack of etiquette that people exhibit while doing so. Air transportation is not a novelty at this point; one might assert that it has actually shifted to the category of the mundane. That being said, it is certainly zygotic when compared with common courtesy.

It appears as though some may need a refresher course in this area. Allow me to share some tips:

1. If you are traveling with your immediate, extended and twice-removed family members, kindly have your identification, passport, letter of release from the insane asylum, or permission slip ready for each member of your party before approaching the check-in counter. This makes the fact that you and your party will be taking up half the plane much easier to bear if you quickly get out of the way.

2. Once approaching the security checkpoint, please keep the following tips in mind: everything you have must be examined. Yes, everything. This means your Army-issue tactical belt that you insist on wearing with your jeans will need to come off. Please be assured that your pants will be fine while moving through the short line for x-ray screening. In addition, ladies (or perhaps gentlemen, to be completely inclusive), you must realize that your explanation that your crème foundation is a department store brand that cost $40, and the subsequent hissy fit that follows your being told to discard it because it violates the three-ounce rule will only piss off the people waiting in line behind you.

3. If you approach an airport eatery, be aware that the people who work there probably hate their jobs. Ideally, they should suck it up and be nice. But they won’t. So don’t special order a pizza or cinnamon roll when you can see that they are already made. This will just cause one of these charming employees to spit in your food.

4. Once on the airplane, please find your seat as quickly as possible. While it is oh-so-pleasant to be in a tin can in close proximity to two hundred other people, we are all just as eager as you to socialize. The problem is that we are stuck on an airplane walkway in 110-degree heat and waiting for your slow ass to sit down.

5. If you are inclined to sleep during the flight, please do so silently. Your snoring, while clearly charming to someone at home, is irritating to the aforementioned two hundred people now forced to share your slumber. In addition, if ever in your life someone has mentioned that you snore, believe him or her. Kindly brush your teeth so that when you sit in your seat with your head thrown back in oblivion, the rest of the passengers do not have to smell what you had for lunch.

6. Once in your seat, kindly refrain from thrashing about, if at all possible. Those of us behind you do not appreciate the imminent danger of having our noses broken and are likely to shove you really hard completely accidentally while you are in the midst of sleeping. Please see #5.

7. If you are making a connection, expect that your flight will be late. This almost always happens. Knowing this is half the battle. Shamelessly crawling over children and elderly passengers to claw your way to the door when the plane arrives at the gate is simply bad manners and it makes us want to trip you to slow you down.

8. Please understand that if the shuttle says “Hertz” on the side, it is without a doubt not stopping at the Holiday Inn. This is a stupid question.

Now that you have been briefed, please feel free to employ these tips at your first opportunity.

It's Official

I am the worst excuse for a grown-up ever.

This evening my dinner consisted of a cup of raspberries and a cup of rice.

Not because I am on some weird diet, but rather because this was the best meal I could come up with with the food elements currently in my house.

I wish I could say that this is due to the fact that I am getting ready to do some traveling and I am purposely not buying any food products. But no. My refrigerator is usually pretty bare. Or has condiments that begin to look unsightly simply due to the mere fact that they are never used. It appears as though a bachelor in his mid-twenties lives at my house.

He does not.

If you hear a loud roaring noise in the west valley, don't be alarmed. It's simply one of those C-130 cargo planes used to deliver pallets of food to third world countries making a side trip to my house.

Whose services were no doubt retained by my mother.

A Car Chase and A Cemetery

What do these two things have in common? Both were experienced on the same day.

I spent last weekend in Washington D.C. My brother lives in a nearby suburb and it was going to be a great opportunity spend some time with him and see some sights.

The first day was spent at the Smithsonian Museum of American History. NERD HEAVEN in a town that can effectively be referred to as the NERD UNIVERSE. Abraham Lincoln’s top hat was in the house, along with all of the hoods delicately placed over the heads of the people who conspired to assassinate him at the public hanging in which they were the guests of honor. It was nothing short of amazing.

Two days later, we went into Old Town Alexandria. We passed this really old church and stopped to look inside the gates. It was one of those old churches that have a cemetery on site. We examined that and then moved towards the side of the church that faced the street and had the front doors. This church, like many of the time, had two sets of front doors. Why? Because there was a separate entrance for the men and women. In this particular church, there are also two separate staircases inside each set of doors. In the eighteenth century, it was considered unseemly for a man to view a woman’s exposed ankles. So separate staircases were built so that when the men and women climbed the stairs to the upper level of the church, the men would be faced in the opposite direction so as not to view the ankles. Fascinating.

As we are pondering the concept of eighteenth century women’s ankles, all of a sudden we hear this loud roar of an engine. Before we know it, we are forced to jump back from the edge of the sidewalk because a white Econoline van is charging towards us.

The van is going approximately ninety miles an hour. Three police cruisers with full lights and sirens are following it. It is careening towards the heart of downtown Alexandria with no regard for red lights, crosswalks, or the people in them for that matter. This is a fatality waiting to happen.

We get in the car and follow what we know to be the path the van was taking before it moved out of sight. We are at any moment expecting to see a horrendous accident. We finally come upon the van several blocks down. There are fire trucks and ambulances along with several police cruisers at the scene of the van’s accident. At first glance, the scene looks very bad. The van has crashed into at least two cars. It soon becomes apparent; thankfully, that the only person this yahoo has hurt in this disaster is himself. He is given a police escort to the hospital in an ambulance. Bastard.

A drink is in order now.

We head towards the main drag in Alexandria and proceed to engage in a timeless ritual: the pub-crawl.

After several drinks (mostly water and diet coke for me) it is soon near midnight. The previous night we had tried to get to an old cemetery, but hadn’t made it. Tonight we were on our way.

Now would be a good time to own the fact that this was my idea. What a silly girl I am. What I had thought would be a great opportunity to take some cool photos of old headstones. This is a giant cemetery that has a Confederate soldier section as well. This wandering through the cemetery is a good idea—IN THE DAYLIGHT. The night version of the cemetery is very unsettling.

As we enter the cemetery it is eerily silent. Except for the rustling that we hear as we walk. When we stop, so does the noise. I tell myself that this is some squirrel with a ridiculously sick sense of humor that can sense my fear. I am immediately aware that this idea is one of the stupidest I have ever had. But apparently, I am now committed. I am informed that I must press on.

Crap.

Right about this time, I am informed that there is a ghost standing under the tree to my left. It is the silhouette of a man in a uniform and he puts his hand to his forehead and puts it back down. Then he is gone. As we move further into the cemetery, only the whites of my eyes illuminate the ground, as they are now as big as SAUCERS.

At this point I am no longer walking through the cemetery of my own free will. There is almost the need to carry me. I am being dragged.

There is a light over yonder. I am asked: “Would I like to go and check it out?”

NO @&%$-ING WAY.

At this point, this has been a very stressful day. A car chase and a visit to the cemetery are almost more than I can handle. And there is a decidedly cold feeling in the bottom of my chest, which I am becoming more and more convinced, is a ghost that is pissed off that I dared to walk in his final resting area in the first place.

I would like to go home please. As soon as possible. I wonder silently: “Is sprinting out of the cemetery disrespectful?”

Cell Phones in the Loo

This has happened to me so many times, it can't be only myself that's experiencing the unimaginable. The bathroom is a place of quiet solitude. Having only been in the women's restroom, I can't attest to the atmosphere in the men's. However, the women's bathroom is fairly mute, interrupted only by the idle chatter that happens amongst women: "Oh hi! How are you?" or "Hi! Cute top! Where did you get that?"

That is, until the following happens:

RRRRIIIINNNNGGGGG!

Never mind that someone has brought their cell phone into the bathroom. For women, this might be easy to do if one brings their purse with them into the bathroom. But here's the appalling thing. Women are bringing just their cell phones into the bathroom. As someone addicted to her own Blackberry, I understand the need to get every text message and IM. But I draw the line at TAKING IT INTO THE BATHROOM.

I overheard a woman have an entire conversation revolving around her daughter's attendance with the front office at her child's school while she was using the restroom. During this conversation the attendance office no doubt heard the flushing of various toilets and the washing of hands. How does one explain this to the person on the other line? I imagine the conversation goes something like this:

Background noise: "FLUSH"

Attendance Office Worker: "What was that noise?"

Woman in Bathroom: Oh, nothing. Now about my daughter...she'll be out today"

Unbelievable.

Ladies, please leave your cell phones at your desk when you use the loo. No-one needs to hear the background noise. No-one.

38.89 Degrees Celsius

This is what you get when you convert 102 degrees Fahrenheit to Celsius. This is how hot is was today in Phoenix. For those of you that are not from Phoenix you may be wondering what this feels like. Or perhaps you are from here and have moved away and you're feeling nostalgic.

Let me help you.

The next time you have a hair dryer nearby (any will do, really), turn it on and point it at your face.

That is all.

Breaking Up With the Dentist

Has anyone ever fired anyone in the medical profession? I did recently and it felt fantastic. My dentist is no longer employed by me. I think not enough people remember that medical professionals are not immune from the firing process. They are being paid to perform a service. You should not have to cater to them. It should be the other way around.

My former dentist's office, like most that I know of, requires a patient to schedule their next cleaning six months in advance. I sometimes don't know what the plan will be for the following week as far as my schedule goes, but I go so far as to make a leap of faith every six months and schedule an appointment. The last three appointments I have made with this office have unceremoniously needed to be rescheduled--by them, not me. Perhaps they decide they want to close the office that day (as has happened on two of the three occasions), or some other lame reason.

Needless to say, I received a call from the lady at the front office informing me yet again that they would need to reschedule the April appointment I made in October. So I did something I've never done before.

I broke up with the dentist.

I actually said "I don't think this is going to work anymore."

It was quite liberating.

I have since found a new dentist and look forward to beginning my new relationship with them soon.

Dogs and Their Feelings

I have been thinking about a discussion I had a week ago...

I am taking some classes at ASU because apparently I am a sadist.

Actually, the real reason is to finish a bachelor's degree I was close to finishing before I transferred to a school in New York and graduated from there. So, in order to be able to call myself a Sun Devil Alumna, I must complete this task.

Anyway, I am sitting in a 200-level English course (which I am taking as the last part of completing an English Literature minor) and we begin the course discussing a novel that we had read on the treatment of animals.

Anyone who has met me--EVER--knows that I am animal lover. My dog is like my kid for gosh sakes.

So this kid starts spouting off at the mouth about how dogs don't have feelings and can't communicate.

WHAT AN IDIOT.

I am unable to restrain myself from expressing my opinion of him. Although I do so in a little bit more decorous way, he gets my point. We begin a verbal sparring match. Which he lost.

I told Ozzie about this. He was most displeased. And saddened.

I would call these feelings, wouldn't you?

Note to idiotic college boy: my dog and I will both be in class tomorrow. You can look him in the eye and tell him he doesn't have feelings.

Panic Attack

I have not posted for a few days because my hard drive died. These words should inspire as much terror in your heart as, say, the abominable snowman.

I was at Paradise Bakery, minding my own business, and working on a paper. All of a sudden, the computer stops working. I am mildly annoyed, so I try restarting it. Instead of the pleasant sound of my computer starting up I am greeted with the blue screen of death and a flashing question mark. It is as if the computer is yelling "WTF???" at me.

I hastily gather up all of my belongings and make a bee line for the Apple store at Arrowhead. After waiting my turn for the technician, he unceremoniously removes my hard drive and plugs it in to some device. He then pauses, looks at me, and says "I regret to inform you that your hard drive is no longer with us."

AHHHHH.

The long and short of it is that I now have to go buy a new hard drive. I have no idea what to do. The hard drives are kept in the forbidden isle of Best Buy where all of the stuff I don't understand how to use is housed. The man from the Apple store had given me fairly specific instructions on what to buy, along with some rudimentary instructions on how to replace the hard drive.

I am definitely doubting my capabilities at this point. But I am going to attempt it anyway. Low and behold, I am able to get the new hard drive installed.

One of the most stressful days EVER.

Good To Be Home!

Ahhh...it is nice to be home. There is something to be said for sleeping in your own bed, no matter how luxurious the hotels beds were. Ozzie was really glad to see me, which always makes me feel good.

Today was a busy day, however.

It began at 5am, when I awoke to do the Cancer Society Climb to Cure Cancer. This climb goes all the way to the top of South Mountain...6.2 miles. I will confess that this was probably not the best of ideas, seeing that jet lag is completely kicking my crazy ass and I am still sick. But, still, I was at South Mountain this morning with my friend to do the climb.

After we left the park, we stopped to get some breakfast. Then it was home to nap...

I'm sorry. You must be new here. I don't nap. Too much to do!

The first thing to attack was the massive pile of laundry from the trip. Of course, had I the foresight to know that I would only need half of the stuff I brought on the trip, this section of the day might have gone a little faster. But no, I brought the summer and winter wardrobes to the United Kingdom, so everything had to be washed!

I got about 100 of the photos I took on the trip printed out and then spent part of the day putting them in frames and such. Some of them turned out so well and I am really proud that I took them. I will be uploading some of them to facebook so you all can see them.

Next was the pile of mail that was waiting to be opened. I absolutely love opening the mail. I don't know why...I think it goes back to the days when I used to get a lot of letters. I love it.

After various errands were run and the laundry folded and the dinner was eaten and the weeds were pulled, I would say that today has been a very productive day!

And I am tired.

Winding Down

Today was our last day in this wonderful city. We have had such an amazing time! Today we headed into London with the intention of seeing the changing of the guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace. However, we were out of luck. In the winter they only do the ceremony every other day. We did see the changing of the Royal Horse Guard, which was really cool.

From there, we headed to Westminster Abbey. This may be one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen. It is a beautiful working church that was once a Monastery. They still hold mass there about six times a day. I've included some pictures of the outside, as we were forbidden from taking pictures inside. Almost all of Britain's monarchs from the last 1000 years are entombed there. Except Henry VIII. Check your history books, darlings. He had this thing against the Catholic Church...

From there, we decided to get some lunch. We wanted to make it inside the Tower of London, but alas, the Westminster Abbey tour took a bit longer than expected, so we weren't able to make it inside in time. But there are some pictures of the outside. So amazing.

As of this moment, we are packing. Why did we bring so much crap? We didn't use half of it. Oh well, you live and learn, I suppose.

We head to the airport in the morning but don't get home until late evening, so it will be a long day.

However, I have decided that I enjoy writing this blog, and I will continue it after the trip. While the photos may not be nearly as exciting, it's fun to write and I love me some comments! Thanks to everyone who went on this journey via the blog. See you when we get home!

God Save the Queen!

Today we spent the entire day touring around London. It's a beautiful city with so much history! We did the tour, which turned out to be an awesome experience. We saw all of the points on the tour today, getting out at a few. Our plan is to hop back on the bus tomorrow and get off at the points we really want to see and spend some time there.

We got off the Tube this morning and when we emerged from underground we were in Hyde Park. About thirty seconds later, a parade of about 16 beautiful black horses came through the park dressed in full regalia (with riders of course). Turns out they were on their way to the Changing of the Guard ceremony, which takes place at 11:30am each day. Since we missed it today, we will try to catch it tomorrow. This takes place at Buckingham Palace.

We are also planning on taking a tour of Buckingham Palace, The Tower of London, Westminster Abbey and the British Museum. I have posted some pictures here of the outside of these places as seen from our tour today.

We ate a wonderful dinner tonight and did some shopping, and then decided to head back to the hotel. On the way to the Tube station, I saw what is perhaps the funniest thing I've seen in my life:

There are many street performers near the Tube stations. Some of them even live inside the underground station, which is actually quite charming. Anyway, we see a young man playing his guitar for change. But then it gets better. Sitting next to his open guitar case, on the ground next to it, dressed in a very festive sweater, is his cat. Yes, go ahead and read this again. His cat.

I am completely unsure of what to say, although I am sure my face said it all. Then, to make things so much better, Laura decides to pet the cat. I am howling. Unable to control myself. The nice troubadour then informs us that his cat's name is Bob and he is his daddy. A man behind me approaches me to give me some flier. I am still not recovered, and seeing the totally unique look on my face, gives me one right back. I then feel the need to explain, so I do. He then is howling also, but in British. It is quite hilarious.

Laura will be tested for rabies. I am sure the cat was completely unsanitary, although she disagrees.

Tomorrow shall prove to be an exciting day, with lots more pictures. Enjoy!

London!

Laura and I have made it to London! We left Cambridge today about 1pm, and took the train into the heart of London, where we then got on the Tube to the airport, which is where our hotel is located. We were much more proficient at navigating the train and tube stations with our luggage, but it is exhausting. Laura and I both brought WAY too much stuff, thinking we would need more for the entire trip. It turns out that we needed only half of what each of us brought. Oh well. Lessons learned for next time!

We will be here for the remainder of the trip, and we are planning on seeing all of the sights while we are here. Tonight, after checking into the hotel, we headed into London to have a nice dinner, which was marvelous!

Tomorrow, we are planning on touring again--the hop on/off style that we've grown to like so much. There is a deal where if you buy a ticket it is good for five different tours and for up to two days. Since we are leaving Friday at noon, we will get to use the tickets all day tomorrow and Thursday. Yahoo!

So far, what we have seen of London at night is amazing. Our dinner tonight was in the theater district, which is so full of culture, restaurants and shops. Tomorrow there will be lots of opportunities for pictures, so there will definitely be some posted tomorrow.

For today's postings, I thought I would share with you some of the cool and amusing signs I keep finding all around the United Kingdom. Pay special attention to the scrumptious meal advertised in the third picture. Yum!

Sheep Run Fast

A few days ago, I promised to elaborate on this point, so here it is:

Sheep are not typically an animal one would think of in the racing spectrum of animals. I know I certainly didn't. However, they actually run quite fast.

Has anyone ever seen a sheep run? I didn't think so. And why would a sheep feel it necessary to run, anyway?

I'll tell you why: Because of stupid humans.

Sheep are generally a mosey-ing type of animal. The visitors to Stonehenge, however, had apparently never seen one up close. As we proceeded around the circle of stones (see previous post) there was a flock of sheep minding their own business, grazing fairly close to the walkway. A woman from god-knows-where, apparently can't contain herself and walks over to the rope dividing the walkway from the field where these sheep are eating their lunch. She then starts yelling the following:

• "Here sheepy, sheepy!"
• "Come here, stupid sheep!"
• "Over here! Come on!"

Wouldn't you run away?

The Last Two Days

Hi everyone,

We are packing our things, getting ready to leave Dublin in the morning. We arrived so tired last night that I didn't have a chance to post about our trip to Edinburgh. So here is a recap of the last couple of days!

Edinburgh
We spent all day Saturday in Edinburgh. It is an absolutely beautiful city. In fact, it ranks as our second favorite destination on the trip so far after Bath. Everyone in Edinburgh is so friendly, and they all sound exactly like the late night host Craig Ferguson, which I found highly amusing.

We decided to do one of the tours on the double-decker buses since we knew we only had the one day. We figured this would give us a good chance to see everything in a relatively short amount of time, as well as the fact that this tour would allow us to hop on and off wherever we chose, therefore spending more time at the points that interested us. It turned out to be an excellent decision. The buses pick up tourists right in the center of downtown Edinburgh. The first stop is the Edinburgh Castle, which is over 1000 years old and is still used in military capacities today. Although, thankfully the threat of Vikings has diminished.

The castle sits on top of a hill that overlooks the whole city. There is the castle itself, along with the normal castle accoutrements: dungeon, prisoner barracks, canons, gift shop, etc. We spent probably two hours there exploring and taking pictures.

After leaving the castle, we headed down on foot on a route called the Royal Mile.It is so named because it the route heads down the mountain for one mile's distance and at the bottom of the mountain (and the elapsement of one mile) the Queen's Holyrood Castle awaits you. This castle is a residence for the monarch of The United Kingdom. When the Queen is in residence, the Royal Mile is closed to tourists, but we lucked out and she was not visiting Scotland.

Along the Royal Mile are many beautiful religious and governmental buildings. I have included some photos here for everyone to see! We then picked up the tour at the bottom of the mile and finished seeing the other sights. Then we headed back towards downtown for lunch and shopping!

After all of this, we were pretty pooped. Also, we had a flight to catch that night to Dublin! So we packed our bags and headed for the airport!

Flight To Dublin
This requires it's own section of the blog entry.

We arrived at the airport well ahead of our scheduled flight. RyanAir was our airline, and this is basically like a bus in the sky--the fares are dirt cheap. Along with those cheap fares however come some pretty interesting restrictions. For example, the cheap fare assumes you will have no luggage whatsoever. Humorous as this may sound, it is true. If you choose to take any of your belongings with you at all, you will need to pay for the bag. OK, fine. Then, the bag can only weigh a maximum of 15 kilograms (multiply by 2.2 and you have your weight in pounds). Long story short, we were way over our allotment. By 10 kilograms. The penalty for overweight baggage is 14 Pounds Sterling per kilogram. This would have resulted in an overweight baggage fee of 140 Pounds, which is roughly two hundred dollars. Asinine.

So to solve this, we visited the lovely airport gift shop and purchased another suitcase. Because, you see, the fee to check another bag is only 19 Pounds. Significantly cheaper. So, 52 Pounds later (33 Pounds for the suitcase and 19 Pounds for the extra bag fee), we finally headed towards security.

The United Kingdom continues to amaze me. For, you will be amazed to know, RyanAir has done what citizens of the United States are terrified will happen in their country--they have allowed the use of cell phones on flights. Yup. A picture of the sign is included for your enjoyment.

When we landed in Dublin, we had to go through immigration. I was extremely excited about this, because I was jonesing for an Irish stamp in my passport. Laura was not nearly as enthused by this. As she had not had a smoke in quite some time, her patience with my jubilance was running a little low. She was about to get to her breaking point.

We get in line to have our passports reviewed and go through immigration. And then the longest wait of our lives begins. Apparently, people from other countries have no idea that a passport is required for international travel. Laura is completely coming unglued. About an hour later, and after watching two persons and a child denied admittance to Ireland, I finally got my stamp.

Upon arriving at our hotel, we collapsed into our beds. It had been a long day.

Dublin
We awoke this morning feeling refreshed. We were ready to see the city of Dublin, so after breakfast, we headed towards the bus that would take us to the center of the city. After the bus driver stopped to pick up his lunch sack from his parents house on one of the country routes, we were on our way. I am not making this up by the way--the guy's dad handed him his lunch.

We had decided to again do the hop on/off bus tour around the city since we only had today to visit. Dublin is not very big, so the entire tour only takes about an hour and a half. The first place we decided to get off was the Guinness Factory! Yay beer!!

We took a tour of the factory and then we exchanged our ticket stubs for our complimentary pint. Very tasty! The bar is located on the seventh floor of the factory and this floor is encased in windows from floor to ceiling, so you can get an excellent view of the city!

St. Patrick's Cathedral is here in Dublin, and you get an excellent view of this beautiful church from seven stories up.

After the Guinness excursion we hopped back on the bus to finish the tour. There weren't too many other places to get off and see an attraction, so when the tour concluded we headed back to downtown Dublin for lunch and shopping.

Dublin is beautiful, but this leg of the trip has definitely been the most expensive. Everything here costs a lot more than in either England or Scotland.

Tomorrow we head back to London on RyanAir (I will fully charge my BlackBerry before the flight). We will head back to Cambridge to stay the night at our friend's house. Tuesday through Thursday we plan to be in London and will actually stay in London the last two nights we are here.

Whew! That pretty much sums up the last couple of days!

Cheers!

Top O' The Morning To You!

We are in Dublin! This will be a very short post, as we are heading out to explore for the day. We got in very late last night, so tonight's post will include our adventures from both Edinburgh and Dublin.

An Appearance

The sun appeared today for eight minutes.

That is all.

Off to Scotland!

Today is day seven of our trip and we are having a fantastic time! We spent the morning in York and then got on another train to Edinburgh! So this evening we are officially in Scotland. We got here too late this evening to do anything so we had dinner in the hotel restaurant and then we're going to head to sleep. We plan on getting up really early tomorrow morning because we really only have tomorrow here. So we are going to cram a lot in!

As a side note, let's have a little discussion about the bathrooms on trains, ok? I had the distinct privilege of being forced to use one today and they are abhorrent. Think to yourself what it is like to try to go to the bathroom on an airplane. Then imagine that the airplane is rocking from side to side. Also, permit yourself to imagine what it would be like to have sheets of Kleenex for toilet paper and no seat covers. If you know me at all, you know that I found this to be deplorable. Completely unacceptable.

Also, since there were no new sights seen today, I thought I would share with you all a smattering of the unusual signs we have seen so far on our trip:

• The English are especially proud of their trouser presses. Unbelievably proud. There is one in every hotel room in England. The first picture is extremely detailed instructions on how to use one.
• Talk about setting up your children for disappointment--their child care centers are called SmartyPants. Where might you send a less than intelligent child? Dumbasses?
• The final one is my favorite. This requires no explanation. I am five years old.

That is all for now! More tomorrow!

What A Day!

As the title suggests, today was quite a day! Let's start at the beginning. To start at the beginning, you must know that I have contracted a cold. Yes a cold. In the cold and damp climate, it is no wonder. So while I am taking pictures, I am alternately blowing my nose on the sleeve of whomever happens to be passing by. This definitely reinforces positive sentiment towards Americans. But I digress.

This morning Laura and I took the train from Bristol/Bath to York, which is in the northern part of England. It is a stop on our way to Edinburgh, where we head tomorrow. We have been inordinately spoiled as a result of riding first class on our train ride here, so riding in Coach this morning was a bit uncomfortable for our newly snooty selves. The train ride took approximately three hours, and was through some very nice countryside.

After arrival, I got into a slight disagreement with the woman at the ticket counter as I attempted to obtain our tickets (already purchased ahead of time) to Edinburgh tomorrow. She insisted that I present the credit card used to purchase said tickets. This posed a slight inconvenience as this credit card is in Arizona. And I am not. She did not see the logic in this explanation. After winning the argument, because of course there is no other logical end to this argument, we headed for the taxi stand to get to our hotel.

After settling in to our new digs, we ventured out to town via Double Decker bus. This is as scary as it sounds. They drive these buses as if they have some sort of wish to die, or at the very least, kill all passengers on board. Relieved to exit the bus, we found ourselves smack dab in the middle of the quaint village that is York.

For those of you that are unaware, York is one of the few remaining medieval castle areas in England. It is most famous for York Minster, which is the most enormous cathedral you will ever see in your life. I have posted a photo of the front of it so you can see. The Cathedral is so large that in order to get it all in you would probably have to take about five pictures beginning from left to right. It seats 4000 people for services, which are still held regularly.

After going to church, we decided it was time to drink. So we headed over to a pub called the Yorkshire Terrier. Upon entering and asking for a pint, two men at the bar struck up a conversation with us, noticing that we very clearly did not have British accents. These gentlemen were from Norway, and extremely fond of Vikings. And not the ones from Minnesota. As a matter of fact, they were in town for a Viking convention. I am not making this up. And it gets better. We decided to grab a table with these two gentlemen, whereupon we learned several things:

• Norwegians are especially excited that George Bush is no longer our President. Laura, being a conservative Republican, wisely kept her mouth shut, although her lips were straining.
• One of the gentlemen was enraptured by Meryl Streep, who came up in the conversation multiple times.
• The other gentlemen recommends Amsterdam for their recreational activities (to include red light districts and cannabis). Again, Laura kept silent.
• Periodically, the conversation was conducted entirely in Norwegian. No one knows what was said.

After leaving the pub, Allison decided that she was sick of feeling like crap so we headed approximately 8 miles (just kidding, only 2) to the nearest thing to Target that exists in England.
Here is where things take a turn towards the dark side.

Medicines are not the same in England, except, ironically for Johnson & Johnson products. But anyway,. I spent several minutes deciding if the cold medicine for sale would kill me. Deciding it would not, I went to the checkout to purchase my items. As I paid for them, Laura consulted another cashier on some questions we had about the map. When I looked back, my wallet was gone.

Insert heart attack.

Since I knew that I had just used it to pay for my purchases, the likelihood of it being lost was quite small. Just to be safe, we searched around the immediate area. No wallet.

The cashier watched us search and when we arrived back at her check stand, she was gone.

Allison at this point is officially upset. My passport is thankfully safely locked in the hotel room safe. But that is the only thing that is. All other identification and cards are in the wallet. I immediately go into banker mode and call the bank to cancel all cards. During all of this Laura is cool as a cucumber. Allison is not.

After leaving my information with the customer service desk, Laura decides that we should grab something to eat at the restaurant in the immediate area to regroup. Her motivation, as a side note, is the fact the they serve ONLY American cuisine. She has decided that she is giving up on British food as it is most generally terrible.

While we are sitting there, I am on the phone with the bank, a phone call which will cost me $30. I cancel my debit card and credit card and thankfully in the 30 minutes since it was taken, no unauthorized purchases have been made. About 30 minutes later, the store calls. The wallet has just been turned in. The girl on the phone says that everything appears to be in it. All cash and cards seem to be present. We go back to the store to claim it. When we arrive, we are told that two non-English speaking foreign men turned it in after finding it an hour later. Hmmmm.

Laura then relays her theory about what she thinks happened. You decide. Her theory is that the cashier took it from the counter and then realizing that we'd create a scene about it and that her actions were likely on camera, felt guilty and decided not to keep it. You may think this is an odd assumption on Laura's part. But here's what's weird: the kind woman who I reported this to at the customer service desk said that this was not the first time this had happened this week.

Something was definitely amiss. All that said, the wallet is now returned and with the exception of ten years being removed from my life, all is well.

Tomorrow we will head back into town to do some shopping. Our train for Edinburgh leaves in the afternoon so we will have some time to do some more sightseeing in the morning here before leaving.

We are both really looking forward to seeing Edinburgh.

All's well that ends well. Cheerio!!

What An Adventure!

Today was filled with all kinds of fun! We began the day as we have for the last three days--in the train station! We are starting to get the hang of it, I think. Since we stayed in the hotel here in Bristol we did not have to lug our luggage from train platform to train platform. What a relief!

As a side note, if you are a disabled person in Britain, you apparently are housebound. Not due to a lack of interest in doing activities, but for the simple fact that many train stations do not have elevators. Only Stairs. You are out of luck!

Today we started of by taking the train to Bath. This was a twelve minute ride from the train station nearest the hotel. Bath is the site of the ancient Roman baths. They are absolutely stunning. They have been well preserved, and there are a couple of photos to the left that were taken there.

Jane Austen lived in Bath and several of her books are set there. It's a beautiful town with a lot of things to do once you finish seeing the Baths. We had tea today at the Jane Austen Tea Room. We had tiny sandwiches with tea! They were delicious!

From there we headed over to the Bath Abbey. What a magnificent sight! Then it was on to our next adventure: Stonehenge!!

It is so amazing! It was pretty cold, but we didn't care! There are about 200 more pictures than what is here, but this will give you a taste!

Tomorrow we head to York, which is in the northern part of England. We are having a stupendous time!


Some more lessons learned today:

• Tipping is not expected in restaurants. In fact, they will return it to you or make you feel uncomfortable for giving it to them in the first place.
• Bangers and mash (sausage and mashed potatoes), while a favorite here in England, was not enjoyed.
• The dental problem in this country is staggering. If you were an orthodontist here, you would be the richest in all the land.
• Sheep run fast (this will require a separate blog post).

Cheerio!

Shopping for Castles

Ah....it's funny that a little bit of sleep makes all the difference! We are finally getting on somewhat of a normal sleep schedule. Allison and Laura--1, Jet Lag--0.

Here are some more pictures from yesterday. We arrived in Bristol via train yesterday afternoon. What a cool city this is! And this is in no way influenced by the fact that they have some of the best shopping EVER. Not at all.

This is a photo of something that looks very much like a castle, but is actually a church. In fact, it was pretty severely damaged during the bombing raids of the second World War. There are a lot of these types of structures all around here in Bristol and then you have the very modern shopping and hotels. It's kind of a cool combination.

Also, per the photo here, one must apparently schedule when one wants to use the loo. All other times are not permitted, per the Department of Health and Environmental Services. However, nappy changing is always permitted.

Today we are heading over to Bath, which is the site of the ancient Roman Baths. Then we will have lunch at the Jane Austen Tea Room. She apparently took tea there and one of her books, Persuasion, was set in Bath. Then we are heading over to Stonehenge to take a look at the big rocks. There will definitely be some cool photos from today! Cheerio!

Drinking In England

Laura and Allison are very tired. We have had a very busy day! I will write more about it tomorrow, but for now, here are two pictures to prove we tied one on!

Lessons Learned

Let's have a little lesson on the London transit system, shall we? There is the Tube, which is conveniently accessible from the airport and has many different lines going many different directions throughout London. It's very similar to the subway in New York City. However, if you want to venture outside of the metropolitan area, you must either take the National Express (which is the equivalent of Greyhound in the States) or a train. All of this sounds simple, yes/no?

NO.

It is not simple. Right about the time you have become comfortable with having someone's butt in your face as you are seated on the Tube, you dreadfully realize that the next stop is yours. Thus, you must then maneuver yourself and two large suitcases off the train without injuring yourself or, God forbid, holding up the endless stream of British citizens. You are constantly reminded as you exit to "mind the gap!," which is the lovely subway woman voice's way of telling you not to fall on your ass as you exit the Tube.

Once you have successfully removed yourself from the entanglement of Britons, you then realize, that by some civil engineer's idea of a cruel joke, you must then drag yourself and your luggage up 56 steps. This is not as funny as it sounds. Really.

(As a side note, a lovely gentleman volunteered to help Laura with her bags. She was thrilled until he asked if her daughter needed any help. She was not amused.)

The next step is to purchase your ticket for your connecting train to your destination. Again, one might think this to be a relatively simple procedure given that it is disguised as a friendly looking kiosk from where you can purchase said ticket. Not so. Another twenty minutes passes as you try helplessly to figure out the kiosk. And you have no excuse, as it is in English. Again, a nice gentlemen helps you and points you towards Platform 9, which as luck would have it, is the furthest one.

You are growing especially fond of the idea of ditching your suitcases at this point.

Once arriving at Platform 9, you are relieved to find an open seat and collapse from exhaustion.

You think to yourself "ah...a few minutes of shut-eye..." NOPE.

The man behind you strikes up a conversation whose topics include the following:

• real-estate prices in England
• fish pie (which is comprised of exactly what you think it is plus the delectable addition of mashed potatoes and cheese. I'll wait while you go vomit)
• kidney pie (also comprised of what you suspect it is)
• English money and the various coins and their denominations
• beer

Once your train ride comes to end, you are overjoyed at the fact that someone is there to meet you. Your joy is short-lived again when you realize you must find your ticket and exit through a gate. Which, conveniently, is not wide enough for you and your suitcases, resulting in a situation whereby you become stuck. Teenagers, who presumably think fish pie is delicious, find this situation incredibly amusing and make no secret of the fact. By this point, the lack of sleep and patience causes you to momentarily think abut causing an international incident.

But you do not.

It is a good thing, as you will be required to take the train again tomorrow, this time more schooled.

Settling In For the Night

Wow! What a day! I for one am exhausted, having not slept in over twenty-four hours. I am about to rectify this, by the way. We flew to Philadelphia before catching our connecting flight to London's Heathrow airport. And by "catching our connecting flight," I mean just that--literally. We caught them as they were closing the doors. We ran from one terminal to another, as is customary when one is traveling internatinally. Or out of Newark. But that's another story...

Anyways, we made our flight and thus began the seven hour flight across the ocean. And so here we are!

We are here in England, all settled in at my dear friend's house. Tomorrow we are rising early to go to Bath, aptly named for the large Roman baths that the region was famous for and still remain today. We are also going to try to see Stonehenge tomorrow as well. There will definitely be some photos in tomorrow's post. The weather here is quite pleasant. It was in the high forties.

Thanks to everyone for the wishes for a good journey!

At the Airport!

Well, we are through security. Yahoo!! We are waiting to board, which will begin in about 30 minutes. We are both very excited. Here is a picture of Laura waiting at the gate! Our adventure begins...we are off to see the Queen!

Poetry and the War of 1812

How are these things related?

Well they were both topics of my conversations this week as I sat in classes at ASU. I am generally the oldest person in the class, evidenced by the fact that a boy (yes, boy) in my Tuesday evening history course is decidedly not even shaving yet. Most of the students in my class were born in the 90s. This is strange to me because they have no idea what an analog cellular phone is or any clue that people once got from point A to point B on campus without the use of a freaking skateboard.

Oh well.

Ten more days until I leave for England. I have been practicing my British accent.

Not really.

OK, perhaps just when Ozzie is around.

I think he's annoyed with me.

Good Morning, Good Afternoon and Goodnight

Hello all! I am new to the blogging scene. It was actually required as part of a class I am taking, and I thought I might try it out. I am traveling to the United Kingdom in less than two weeks, so I thought this might be a good way to keep everyone updated on the travels!

Please feel free to leave comments or suggestions.

Signing off for now,

History Nerd