Dublin!

Dublin! I could already tell at the airport and on the way to the hotel that there were a lot of people here for St. Patty’s. There is a lot going on tomorrow. The Today’s show is supposed to be here at the parade and I think Kara and I are going to try and go. It always seems like a better idea before you wake up horribly early.

I just got checked into my hotel about an hour ago. Everything went well with my flight and everything. This hotel is nice but it’s definitely going to be a little different from London. Not as many creature comforts but it’s comfortable, clean, and has a remodeled bathroom. Clutch. The biggest difference is that I won’t have internet in the room. There is an internet hot spot in the lounge which is pretty cool. Oh, and when they gave me the key to my room, it was actually a key. A real key. Go figure, Ireland…

Traveling to Dublin

I’ve had a great set-up in London. I’ve had free internet in my room so I’ve been able to come in and download pics and then write the blog.

I’m traveling to Dublin later this afternoon and I’m not sure my situation will be as good. So, I am updating the blog this morning just in case.

I’ve got everything packed up and I am about to go check out of the hotel. It has been a great place all the way around. I may even go ahead and book a room here for next Sunday before I fly out. I am going to grab some lunch and do a little more sight seeing before I head to the airport. My flight leaves London around 4:30 and I should be in Dublin-checked in and everything- by 7. Kara and everyone will already be there by the time I arrive so I plan on meeting up with them.

Here are a few pics I haven't posted that I thought I’d include.

For Whitney- London Bridge is somewhere between that first bridge and the Tower Bridge- I'm telling you the London Bridge sucks at life.

England's not all architecture and history- it has it's Jolly's...

English Countryside

Stonehenge, Bath, and Wes the Teacher...

Today was a great day!



I made a last minute decision to take a day trip to see Stonehenge and the town of Bath. So I was at my pick-up point at 8am which happened to be in front of a McDonalds. Yum. A sausage, egg, and cheese McMuffin. Not exactly a traditional English Breakfast but it's kind of like eggs benedict, right?



At my stop were a few other people taking the tour. Saya, an assistant curator for a museum in Tokyo, who was studying English in London for the month and Anna- a law-school grad from Yermany (Germany) also studying English. On the tour I met another Bloke named Alex from Canada, who was still in school. Basically, they made up my English posse for the day.


Both Saya's and Anna's English were good but they both occasionally had questions. Mostly Saya. She would read the descriptions of things and ask about words she didn't understand. I'm afraid that I may, actually, have retarded her grasp of the English language. Ha.


I've always wanted to find out where Whitney really came from and I thought Stonehenge might offer me some answers. I mean, it's strange, unexplainable, and associated with possible aliens- so basically the same thing as Whitney. Well, Whitney's still a mystery to me but I thought Stonehenge was cool. Ha.





While I was at Stonehenge there was a near tragedy. The Heel Stone began to fall.


Luckily, I was there to catch it. You're bloody welcome England.

The town of Bath basically began when a Roman settlement was built along some hot springs. The springs were believed to have healing properties and eventually became a hot spot for Royalty and people of means. It was a really cool city.

A Traditional English Garden
At one point people were taxed on the number of rooms in their house- judged by the amount of windows. So to avoid paying more taxes some people just bricked them up. My kind of people.

There was a half marathon in Bath today- I would have run it but time constraints... you know.

Bath

Inside the Roman Baths

The Roman Baths

A cool wishing pond- I threw a pence in and wished for a job- Psyche

A Bridge in Bath

A Park in Bath

Fish & Chips... and other stuff

I felt like a new person today. I forced myself to stay up until 7 last night and I bet I was out cold at 7:01. I woke up a little after 9 this morning. 14 hours of solid sleep and I needed every bit. It still took me a while to get going this morning and by the time I was out, it was close to lunch. I'd been told to try Fish and Chips while I was in London and I wasn't disappointed.

My Lunch Spot- How could you not eat here

After lunch, I was back to sight seeing. (A little more slowly than yesterday thanks to the Fish and Chips) I stopped in a drug store later this afternoon and bought a phone card. It took a couple of tries but I worked it out and called home to touch base. It was also a good excuse to use a phone booth.



Yesterday I toured in the same clothes I arrived in. That included my boots. That was a mistake. My feet were killing me last night. So after some band-aids and a change to more comfortable shoes, I decided that I should probably reduce my walking some. So, I took a stab at the Underground. It's just like the Subway except maybe even easier to maneuver.

Below are some more of the things I saw:

St. Paul's Cathedral- The Largest Church in London
This was just part of it

In front of St. Paul's Cathedral- with my coffee

After I left St. Paul's Cathedral I headed to see Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. As I was crossing over the River Thames, on the Millenium Bridge, I saw it; The London Bridge. It looked cool so even though I'd been told not to go see the London Bridge I went anyway. I passed a lot of cool streets and shops as I made my way to see the bridge. The closer I got I realized that I was going to have to take a picture from farther away to get the entire bridge. So, I decided to take the bridge before the London Bridge, walk to the middle and get a good shot. I turned and walked toward the bridge that I was going to take the picture on- just a normal, dinky bridge. Just as I was walking onto the bridge I see this sign (below).

What? What a load of crap. I agree with the song; maybe London Bridge should fall down. I was so disappointed that I didn't even take a picture of it. I did, however, walk to the middle of it and take a picture of what I did think was the London Bridge, and now know, is the Tower Bridge. Much Cooler.

The Tower Bridge

Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament Palace of Westminster

Big Ben- This is the second Big Ben I've seen in weeks

Houses of Parliament Palace of Westmister

Buckingham Palace- again

And I passed this in a park on my way back to the hotel-

I call it a Michael Jackson Bird

EEEEE EEE!

Ello London!

I’m here, finally! It was a long day of travel but I arrived in London at 6:30am today. I think the flight over took less than six hours which was pretty good. I was comfortable on the flight but couldn’t seem to sleep for too long at a time. Luckily, the plane had OnDemand movies, music, tv, and games for free.

After a wait at customs I was free to travel. I had studied my London travel guide on the plane and thought I had an idea where my hotel- The Shaftesbury Metropolis, Hyde Park- was but honestly it was a wing and a prayer that I bought the right ticket, took the right train, and walked pretty much directly to my hotel. I was pretty pleased with myself. That’s about the time I got the news; the boiler had gone out in the hotel and it “might” be fixed by this afternoon or I “might” be without hot water for a couple of days… really?

Everything worked out well. They put me up in a sister hotel- The Shaftesbury Paddington Court- less than a five minute walk away. Check-in wasn’t until 2 so I checked what little luggage I have in at the hotel and did a little sight-seeing. I walked what feels like most of London but the most notable things I saw were Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park (5 minutes max from my hotel), St. James Palace, and tons of statues and parks.

My Luggage

My Hotel

Everything is kind of how I expected London to be… You know, funny old school taxi’s, red phone booths, tons of art and history but it’s surreal to be here. I’ve also caught myself practicing phrases I hear people saying to see if I can get the accent down. For example, Buut ef I get the feesh and cheeps fo lunch I woon’t wont anything lata, or something like that. Obviously, I didn’t really pick it up.

I’m calling it an early night tonight to get some sleep. Cherrio.

Carnaby Street

I fountain I passed on the way to Buckingham Palace

St. James Park next to Buckingham

Statue in front of Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace

En-Route

I wasn't going to update this until I arrived in London but it's been an eventful day already.

First of all, I am already struggling from lack of sleep. I didn't get in bed last night until around 11:30 and then I woke up around 3:15 and couldn't go back to sleep. John gave me a lift to the airport and I was there around 5:30 to check in for my 6:30 flight. I took a couple of awkward naps on the plane to Newark but didn't really get much more than a crick in my neck.

I've been at Newark airport since around 9:30 and I'll board my connection to London around 7:30. It is an insane layover. This is by far the worst part of the trip and the only thing I've dreaded. Having said that it has been interesting.

This morning on my way through security my bag was pulled off the line for a "BAG CHECK!" Of course, everyone's looking when the security lady follows up her "BAG CHECK!" with a "Who Bag is This?!" To which, I slowly raise my hand and say "me." I was racking my brain to think what could have triggered the alert. Between the lack of sleep and her barrage of questions such as "Is there anything in your bag that's going to poke me" and "Is there anything in your bag that's going to hurt me," I was about to crack. It was about that time that she opened my bag, instructing me not to touch anything, and went straight for my toiletry kit. Ah yes, 10 seconds later I was less a can of shaving gel and a bottle of shampoo and informed of the airlines restrictions on liquids and aerosols. I guess I'll be truly European- greasy and unshaven.

Not too much later, I decided to grab some sushi for lunch- to offset the 'hungry traveler' breakfast I had this morning, which consisted of about four different kinds of meat, hashbrown-like potatoes, and toast (Delicious). I took a seat at an empty table and it wasn't long before someone asked if they could grab a seat. I mean, of course, there's three extra seats, the food court is crowded, of course I can spare a seat... And then come the questions; "Where you traveling?" "How long?" "For what?" "Where you from?"...etc. You get the picture. I just wasn't in the mood to strike up conversation. Lucky for me about 10 minutes later the guys' dad shows up with a buddy of his- who is Hispanic and firmly believes that the US should be bilingual. They are both airline employees and for the next hour I was immersed in another world- The Airport World. 2/3 of the conversation had to be about all the different female airport employees and basically their hot-or-not rating. Of particular interest was 'Big Butt' who works at the Ice Cream place in the food court and has apparently lost a substantial amount of weight and is looooking gooood. Another topic of substantial time was Baseball and how the nobody Netherlands crushed their dream team and ultimately their souls. I eventually excused myself to get coffee and said goodbye to my new friends Alexis, Eduardo, and Andy, wished them well and thanked them for keeping me entertained. And on my way out I gave 'Big Butt' a wink and a grin. I felt just like Tom Hanks in that movie the Terminal.

This is going to be an awesome trip!

Europe- General Itinerary

I’ve wanted to travel to Europe for a while now. Looking back it may be one of the few regrets I have from college. That is, not trying to do a summer semester abroad or something to that effect. Having said that, I’m seizing the opportunity to hop the pond and visit a few places.

My trip won’t be very long but it’ll give me several days in each of the three countries I’m planning to visit. On my list are England, Ireland, and France. More specifically London, Dublin, and Paris. I had originally wanted to include Italy on my trip but logistically and financially it was becoming too much of a burden. Plus, when I do go to Italy I’d like a travel buddy or buddies.

Yes, I’m traveling alone on this trip but I’ll be meeting up with people in different places. A good friend of mine, Cile, has a younger sister studying in Wales this semester so I am meeting up with her and some friends of hers in Dublin for St. Patty’s Day. It should be a blast! In addition, I’m part Irish so this could be a really cool experience from an ancestry standpoint. I also have a friend of a friend who I’ve met a couple of times that just moved to Paris with his girlfriend so it’ll be nice to know someone there as well.

A rough itinerary is as follows:

Thursday Mar 12th- Fly out of Birmingham at about 6:30am - Connection in Newark, NJ and eventually an overnight flight

Friday Mar 13th- Arrive in London about 6:30am
I’ll have Friday, Saturday and Sunday in London

Monday Mar 16th- Fly to Dublin-
I’ll meet up with the other group here. St. Patricks Day is on the 17th so Dublin should be full of activities.

Wed or Thursday Mar 18th or 19th- Fly to Paris
Where I’ll spend the remainder of the trip until I take a train back to London

Monday Mar 23rd- Leave London and return to Birmingham. I should be back around 11pm.

It’ll be a bloody good time ole chaps. I’ll try not-n-be dodgy and keep up the blog.