England Trip Report - Part I
Upon arriving to Switzerland, we quickly put together a list of the “Must See” locations before our assignment or two years of living abroad was up. Needless to say, that list included London, which we have heard only positive things about. Below you will find our trip report for England, where we visited the following cities: Birmingham (not Alabama), St. Albans, and London.
Tuesday, March 22 we headed out with luggage in tow to catch the bus to the airport. We do not have a car in CH (we have decided to live the “Simple” life) and made our way to the airport in a speedy 10 minutes. After getting to our gate, we realized we had a 2 plus hour wait for the plane. On a cool day this wouldn’t be a problem, however, with AC being illegal in CH, the 2 hour wait quickly became a saucy one, as we sweated through our jeans and felt the need to splurge on 4 dollar bottles of water to keep us cool. Boarding the plane was much like cattle finding their way into a stall, with no seat reservations it truly becomes a “free for all,” with masses of people finding their way onto the plane. No problem, we kept our cool and were happy just to be able to sit together. The plane ride was adventurous – Robert and I have now coined Easy Jet as the Sky Circus – between children screaming, not crying – screaming (though we do not have children yet, we can empathize with the parents of these poor children), but nonetheless, it does make for a long flight. We were also offered raffle tickets to win 20,000 pounds, which was rather interesting and our landing, well, the landing was actually a repeat of the take – off, right before landing we quickly, ok, forget quickly, as fast as you can imagine pulled right back up. Robert and I looked at each other after the flight attendant came over the intercom and announced, “this is normal procedure” and smiled, (happy to still be in the air, yet quite anxious to be on the ground) and said, “no, we don’t think that is normal.” Believe it or not, we were still in great moods, happy to be traveling to a new place and being able to check off one of our “must see” before we die and we actually felt after the “almost” landing that we were indeed close to expiring without having ever seen London! Yikes…at least let us check one off first…ok, let us check them all off at the ripe old age of 95.
Once on the ground, we boarded another bus, which took us to a train station, which according to Robert’s directions was a simple 5 – 10 minute walk to the hotel. Now, this is where we became Amazing Race contestants without evening knowing it! We walked, out of the station, bags (heavy, very heavy bags) strapped to our backs and headed to the hotel. After choosing several different routes, and getting a great tour of industrial, very tired Luton at 12:30 in the morning, we decided taking a cab would be the best way to go. Once aboard the cab, we realized the 5 –10 minute walk would have been more like an hour. Thankful to be in our hotel room with romantic twin beds, we crashed for the night only to wake up at 5:00 am so that Robert could make his appointment.
Upon arriving to Switzerland, we quickly put together a list of the “Must See” locations before our assignment or two years of living abroad was up. Needless to say, that list included London, which we have heard only positive things about. Below you will find our trip report for England, where we visited the following cities: Birmingham (not Alabama), St. Albans, and London.
Tuesday, March 22 we headed out with luggage in tow to catch the bus to the airport. We do not have a car in CH (we have decided to live the “Simple” life) and made our way to the airport in a speedy 10 minutes. After getting to our gate, we realized we had a 2 plus hour wait for the plane. On a cool day this wouldn’t be a problem, however, with AC being illegal in CH, the 2 hour wait quickly became a saucy one, as we sweated through our jeans and felt the need to splurge on 4 dollar bottles of water to keep us cool. Boarding the plane was much like cattle finding their way into a stall, with no seat reservations it truly becomes a “free for all,” with masses of people finding their way onto the plane. No problem, we kept our cool and were happy just to be able to sit together. The plane ride was adventurous – Robert and I have now coined Easy Jet as the Sky Circus – between children screaming, not crying – screaming (though we do not have children yet, we can empathize with the parents of these poor children), but nonetheless, it does make for a long flight. We were also offered raffle tickets to win 20,000 pounds, which was rather interesting and our landing, well, the landing was actually a repeat of the take – off, right before landing we quickly, ok, forget quickly, as fast as you can imagine pulled right back up. Robert and I looked at each other after the flight attendant came over the intercom and announced, “this is normal procedure” and smiled, (happy to still be in the air, yet quite anxious to be on the ground) and said, “no, we don’t think that is normal.” Believe it or not, we were still in great moods, happy to be traveling to a new place and being able to check off one of our “must see” before we die and we actually felt after the “almost” landing that we were indeed close to expiring without having ever seen London! Yikes…at least let us check one off first…ok, let us check them all off at the ripe old age of 95.
Once on the ground, we boarded another bus, which took us to a train station, which according to Robert’s directions was a simple 5 – 10 minute walk to the hotel. Now, this is where we became Amazing Race contestants without evening knowing it! We walked, out of the station, bags (heavy, very heavy bags) strapped to our backs and headed to the hotel. After choosing several different routes, and getting a great tour of industrial, very tired Luton at 12:30 in the morning, we decided taking a cab would be the best way to go. Once aboard the cab, we realized the 5 –10 minute walk would have been more like an hour. Thankful to be in our hotel room with romantic twin beds, we crashed for the night only to wake up at 5:00 am so that Robert could make his appointment.
Birmingham
Since Robert had to work each day, that left a lot of “down” time for me. I quickly boarded a train and found my way into the city of Birmingham. The city has a checkered, unique past and after going through a major revitalization, has become a mecca for shopping, restaurants, and cultural sights. You will see some photos of Birmingham, which apparently is the second largest city in England next to London. I spent my days in museums (I loved the museum there, some incredible paintings, I would have them on our blog, but I signed a waiver saying I wouldn’t reproduce the images, needless to say, if you are ever in Birmingham, check out the museum!), wandering in and out of bookstores (happy to be able to read books and magazines in English, it really is the simple things in life!). I became so familiar with the city that I started to give tours – well not really, but doesn’t it sound cool…I am in a city for a day and have already started to make some cash by offering tours! I’m like the Rock Star Birmingham tour guide with a funny accent! Right love?
Since Robert had to work each day, that left a lot of “down” time for me. I quickly boarded a train and found my way into the city of Birmingham. The city has a checkered, unique past and after going through a major revitalization, has become a mecca for shopping, restaurants, and cultural sights. You will see some photos of Birmingham, which apparently is the second largest city in England next to London. I spent my days in museums (I loved the museum there, some incredible paintings, I would have them on our blog, but I signed a waiver saying I wouldn’t reproduce the images, needless to say, if you are ever in Birmingham, check out the museum!), wandering in and out of bookstores (happy to be able to read books and magazines in English, it really is the simple things in life!). I became so familiar with the city that I started to give tours – well not really, but doesn’t it sound cool…I am in a city for a day and have already started to make some cash by offering tours! I’m like the Rock Star Birmingham tour guide with a funny accent! Right love?
City Building Dedicated to the City by the Queen
My favorite museum.
Cool, modern building.
The train station we nearly were stuck at all night.
Birmingham street canal.
Traveling Ballet Show.
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