David and Shannon » Britain 2007

England Trip Highlights

David — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 00:06:07 +0000

I have finally put together everything for our highlight reel. This gallery has captions at the bottom of each picture. We took our favorite 2 or 3 pictures from each day. Hope you enjoy!

We Made It

David — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 02:31:31 +0000

We are home.

Britain Tip 1 – Daylight

David — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 02:31:06 +0000

Our first tip involves daylight. I know it sounds funny – but it is very important. First, I need to give you a bit of background. I wake up at 5:45am every day (except for the weekend). It is always dark at 5:45am. However, this is not true in England. We were in the middle of the island, and it started getting light at roughly 4am. It didn’t start getting dark until after 10pm. This was a big adjustment for me. Not only did I have to get past the jet lag, but I had to try and learn how to sleep when it is light outside. If you stay in a hotel, just be sure to pull the curtains at night. If you are staying somewhere without this luxury – you might want to get used to sleeping with an eye pillow.

Back in America

David — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 02:30:48 +0000

Well, the long flight is over and we are back in the United States. The flight from England is about 1.5 hours longer than the flight to England (due to winds and such), so this one felt pretty long. There were several kids near us – which made it seem a bit longer too. However, we made it back without any major incidents or problems. The people that were directing everyone after we went through Customs were incredibly rude here in Philadelphia (the Customs / Immigration people were GREAT). It helped us understand how visitors get the wrong impression of the United States. All in all, we are ready to get these two last flights over with and get back to sunny Savannah.

Traveling Home

David — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 02:30:28 +0000

We are currently in the air at 38,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean. We truly did love the trip, however, as stated earlier, we will be glad to return home. Once we land in Philly, we will have to go through Customs and then catch our flight to Charlotte – and finally home. I pray that everything is fine back home, and that I don’t have too much jet lag tomorrow at work.

Day 10 – Going Home

David — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 05:20:57 +0000

Well we are packed and ready to go. I am sitting in Martijn and Tucker’s living room – and in a matter of moments we will be on the road to Manchester Airport. We should be home by 9:30pm ET. We have connections in Philadelphia and Charlotte (we only had one on the way to England – oh well). I hope there are some good movies on the way home. We can’t wait to see and talk to all you guys.

Day 9 – Edinburgh, Scotland

David — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 05:20:50 +0000

For our last day – we decided to venture to Scotland. Edinburgh was three hours via train from Leeds. We got up early and took the bus into Leeds and got on a 7:10am train.

Once arriving in Edinburgh we quickly noticed how breathtaking it was. It was a gorgeous city with gorgeous country all around it. Take a peek below.

True English Breakfast

David — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 15:31:23 +0000

The morning after the big party, we chose to venture to a local restaurant to have a true English Breakfast. The picture below is not mine, but it is similar to what I had this morning (Shannon elected for a Panini). The meal consisted of: baked beans, stewed tomato, fried egg, fried toast (yes I said fried), sausage, bacon (similar to country ham – not like our bacon), and cooked mushrooms. Overall, it was pretty good.

Day7 – We Rested

David — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 10:47:17 +0000

We decided to just relax and rest today. It is Corrine’s and Martijn’s Anniversary. They are having a party tonight for Martijn’s birthday as well. We are still trying to recover from our whirlwind London trip.

Day 6 – The London Finale

David — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 23:48:21 +0000

We are currently on a train back to Leeds where we will catch a bus back to peaceful Cleckeaton. London was great. Today was great. We really only visited two places: The British Museum, and Westminster Abbey.

The British Museum was incredible. I knew they had a great collection of Egyptian antiquities, but I had no idea the extent of it. To begin with, they had the Rosetta Stone (yes, the actual one). They also had a whole section just devoted to sculptures and statues from Egypt. They also had an entire section devoted to mummies (and other funeral related items). I took tons of pictures, but many items were behind glass. Due to this, many of the pictures didn’t turn out well. I will try to filter out the bad ones before I put the gallery up.

Westminster Abbey was almost an afterthought in our minds beforehand. However, we were both blown away by how amazing it was. First, so many monarchs are buried there. Elizabeth I, Mary I, Mary Queen of Scots, Edward III, Edward V and his brother (the young princes), Henry VII and Henry III just to name a few (also buried there: Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin, Rudyard Kipling, and many more). We couldn’t take pictures inside, but there are a few of the outside.

Day 5 – A Bit Disappointing

David — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 20:57:27 +0000

Today, we got to see Hampton Court Palace – which was amazing! I must say that this has been the highlight of our trip to London (so far). However, we had high hopes of getting to see five different attractions today, but it didn’t quite work out that way. Our first stop was Hampton Court – but we also wanted to see Kew Gardens, The Mews, The London Aquarium, and Vinopolis (a museum about winemaking). We quickly ruled our Kew Gardens because the gardens at Hampton Court were amazing (see gallery) and Kew gardens were a bit far out. We then tried to venture to the Mews (where the Palace horses and carriages are kept), but we missed the last tour by 20 minutes (because we misread the book). We then went to the London Aquarium. It was a bit small, but still had a lot of good stuff. We also got to touch a stingray. At this point we ventured out to Vinopolis. It took us about 25 minutes of travel and about 15 minutes of walking, but we finally arrived. However, when we arrived we realized that they had closed several hours early for a private event. We were livid. However, we can’t say enough about how cool Hampton Court was. We also got to have afternoon tea at a restaurant on the grounds. That was great.

Day 4 – London

David — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 20:07:44 +0000

We made it to London without any issues at all. Once we got it – it took a while to find the place to buy a London Pass. The pass is super cool – because it gives you free admissions to tons of places. If you order it ahead – you can get it with a transportation option. However, we just bought a day pass for the Tube (Zones 1-4) and it worked fine. So our stops today were: The Tower of London, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and Kensington Palace. Finally, after a day of not having real meals – we ate at our hotel (which is just a bar with some rooms attached to it). They serve Thai food, and it was amazing. We have full bellies – and now we are sleepy. Good night.

Off to London

David — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 07:39:14 +0000

We awoke at 5:30am this morning, so we could catch the early train to London. We got the 6:10 am bus to Leeds Railway Station and boarded the 7am GNRE Train to London King’s Cross. This train is amazing compared to the regional trains that we have ridden so far. First, there is a complete restaurant aboard. First class looks more like a gourmet restaurant than a train car. Alas, we are not in first class. However, standard class is good too. We have to walk to the next car for the restaurant where we can get coffee, toast, bacon, etc… The trip is a little over two hours. This is the “fast train”, which means that is makes minimal stops between Leeds and London. We also will be taking the fast train when we go to Edinburgh, Scotland later this week.

I want to give a quick Happy Anniversary to mom and dad today. They are probably traveling all about Nova Scotia today in the land of Tim Horton’s (have to go to Canada to figure that one out). Mom and Dad – I hope that you guys are having an amazing time on your trip. I tried to call you guys last night (I was the one who called – but you couldn’t hear me). I will try again today, if I can find a Skype headset somewhere (I left mine at home).

Cheers.

Day 3 – Return to York

David — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 19:15:12 +0000

We woke up this morning, and quickly realized that we were still thoroughly exhausted. We spent some time this morning planning out trek to London (which will be Wednesday through Friday). We have realized that any trip here takes quite a bit of planning (if you want to avoid the public transit nightmare). However, after gaining a bit of energy, we took the train back to York (where we briefly visited on our first day here. We have some more pictures below. We visited the crypt and treasure at York Minster (which is the largest gothic cathedral in Europe). We also ate at a pub and spent some time shopping.

Day 2 – The Fun at Sizergh Castle

David — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 18:59:10 +0000

Day 2 was really great. However, as mentioned previously, the public transit system has a steep learning curve. Sizergh Castle is really more of a large manor house. The same family has been on this estate property since the late 1200’s. The house itself is an accurate representation of houses from the 1400’s (in the older sections) – and as they have added on rooms – it gives you a view into architecture and style of later centuries. Oh, and by the way, we couldn’t take pictures outside the house, but we snapped away in the gardens.

Public Transit 101

David — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 21:43:30 +0000

Public transportation is great, but only when you know how to use it! The day started in an interesting manner. We took the correct bus number – but in the wrong direction. Then when we finally got on the right train – we got off a stop early (and the next train was an hour later). To avoid the wait, we took a cab (and the cab driver helped us quite a bit). Today we were on 4 trains, 3 buses, 1 cab, and mostly two feet.

Day 1 – York

David — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 18:33:52 +0000

We got here – and we were bound and determined to not go to sleep. Every article that we read said that you needed to tough the first day out if you truly want to defeat the jet lag. Corrine and Martijne were an enormous help. We wanted to go tour somewhere local – somewhere that we could get to by car. We went to York and man was it amazing. The highlight for me was York Minster (you can see some pictures in the gallery). It just was an awesome day … but it is SO tough to fight “the lag”.

Britain or Bust (We Arrived)

David — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 17:48:24 +0000

After a seven hour flight, we touched ground in the United Kingdom. The flight was uneventful and uncomfortable – but overall very bearable. We got to catch up on some movies that we hadn’t seen (I got to see “Breach” – it was pretty good).

Probably the weirdest thing was seeing the sun rise at 2am (Savannah time) on the plane ride over. We didn’t have dinner last night until 10:30pm – so I can officially say that my internal clock is amazingly messed up.

The line to customs / immigration took forever. I felt like I was waiting for space mountain. Two hours later we got through – after taking some lip from the immigration lady. Tucker and Martijne picked us up – and we are now chillin at their cool English crib.

Foot Race in Philly

David — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 17:48:15 +0000

Yeah, things were pretty delayed coming out of Savannah. The other interesting thing is that neither Shannon or I had ever been to the Philly airport. If you look at a map of the Philadelphia airport and pick the two gates that are the furthest apart…that is what we had to travel to get to our flight. We made it to our gate, and they were doing final boarding.

UPDATE: We rushed to get on the plane, but we sat in the plane for 45 minutes before we moved at all. Not such a rush after all (hopefully it allowed our bags to get on board).

A Little Late

David — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 17:46:42 +0000

We are currently coasting above the clouds somewhere in South Carolina. The airport was crazy. So many flights were delayed. We managed to get off about 45 minutes late. Assuming that we get there on time – we should catch the connecting flight to Manchester. However, our hope is that our baggage also catches the next flight. This flight should only take about 1.5 hours (nothing compared to the 7.5 hour flight that we have coming up). To pass the time, I figured we would share some pictures of our wonderful puppy Nala (until we get somewhere that we can take pictures of something, lol).