3. I had a blast
2. Enjoyed being perpetually lost
1. Couldn't have asked for better weather.
I might as well start off by stating the obvious...I have defininely been slacking in my blog up-keep. In my defense, nothing too exciting had been happening since my "talk" with my daughter. Well nothing out of the ordinary argument between myself and my son as to whether homework and chores had been completed and to get off the XBOX; or the forever attitude of my pretween and her unfailing reminders of us knowing nothing and her wealth of knowledge on all subjects! Duh! Like, dang, Mooooommmmm! Don't cha know anything, really (sigh, rolling of eyes and pivotal turn on heel stomping out of room). Oh the joy of ensight into what's to come. I know my mother warned me about this, so I am suprisingly prepared for drama. Thanks for the heads up mom and dad!
London Bound 2010
Aside from my perpetual stupidity, my husband was preparing to attend a management training in London; therefore, I decided to pig-back on his coat-tails and crash the party. I booked a flight too! Whoop whoop!! Initially we were extremely excited about this adventure, just the two of us getting to spend some overdue quality time --at least in the evenings after his training classes. Well, as you know, everything in my life is affected by all things Murphy. Luckily, I have learned to embrace Murphy and find the bright side of the situation. It was definitely a challenge in the begining finding the bright side, but I have turned it into a craft. To continue...the week before we are scheduled to leave the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull (I cut and paste that insane name) decides to become highly active and spurts out volcanic ash that is then carried via wind and covers Europe. Shutting down all flights going in and out of London, Italy, Spain, Germany, etc. Well, of course they are to resume flights by Friday, April 23rd. HUH? That is the day I fly out. Heck no! I won't be a guinea pig test flight passenger!!! No way am I that insane. Crazy, maybe. Insane, not yet.
Well, as the week progressed of course so did the weather and the volcanic ash; thus, allowing some windows of opportunity for flights to resume by Wednesday. My cousin, who currently resides in Sweden with her husband and 2 kiddos, were scheduled to fly back to the states the same day, so we had Facebook communications and joking...she said, this was like being 9 months pregnant...you have to have your bags ready to go just in case. LOL. We did. When we first learned that our flight might possibly be cancelled, we were slightly disappointed. Then I began to think (yes, it happens on occassion) that I would prefer the trip be post-poned and we possibly rescheduled for the summer, that way we could take our kiddos. We could not take them initially because of state mandated testing they had to take the week we would be gone. Unfortunately, that dream was interrupted by the resuming of flights. Go figure, get your mind and heart set on a new scenario and then boom, back to the original. C'est La Vie or Que Sara Sara....your choice.
So bags are packed (last minute of course) and my husband and I are off to London. Now we have learned a little trick that makes traveling in Economy Class very comfortable and accomodating. However, it is a secret and should I share this tid bit of information it would no longer work to our benefit. How do you like that cliff hanger. I will share that for some reason every single time I travel I am randomly selected for a search. Murphy again. I got searched twice each time. Once when I initially went through security and the second time right before I entered the plane. LMAO. I find it slightly amusing, my husband on the other hand is slightly irritated that I am always and forever tagged. We have decided that it must be that I always look too happy getting on a plane. I love to travel, what can I say. However, I think that tends to be offensive to the TSA. I must learn to frown before getting on a plane. Problem is I have tried and I am always to dang happy to be leaving reality for a week or two that I can't stop smiling! So I guess I am resigned to enjoying my searches.
Of course once aboard we did enjoy our flight and had the best airline attendants ever! My husband of course, dreading the presentations and work ahead of him fell asleep quickly. I on the other hand broke out my handy-dandy Rick Steves Guide to London 2010 and started marking pages and also finished reading Water for Elephants an excellent read I might add. I finished the last page as we taxied into the Heathrow airport.
Since we left on a Friday evening we arrived early Saturday morning in London. Upon the advice of my husbands collegues we took the dart train from Heathrow to Paddington Square. However, being completely confused, tired and slight disoriented due to the hustle and bustle of the train station we decided a taxi would be appropriate. Plus lugging all those bags on and off the tube would be miserable! Now we happened to arrive in London the same weekend as the London Marathon and therefore we had to take a slight detour, but were lucky enough to have a taxi driver explain to us that he would not typically take us this route, but due to road blocks for the upcoming race we would be getting a slightly different route. Oh, by the way, you still have to pay the detour rate versus the straight shot. We were shocked, typically the cab drivers don't advise you of their detours, they just do it for the higher cab fare.
We were also extremely lucky to be in London when it was clear bright and sunny beautiful weather! According to an awesome tour-guide/ticket clerk for hop-on/hop-off bus with The Original Sightseeing Tour outside our hotel; we lucked into one of the two beautiful weeks they get during their summer season.
Back to arrival. We were privileged enough to stay at the Club Quarters on Ludgate right next door to St. Paul's Cathedral, the second largest dome in the world! It currently still dominates London's skyline! I loved waking to the bells of the cathedral in the morning.
So maybe someday in the future I will post more of my awesome trip, but life has been on ffwd since we got home. More to follow....
