British Isle Cruise--Day 6

July 31, 2015—Day 6, Leominster to Southampton

We had breakfast in the Talbot Hotel restaurant, which looked like the old coaching inn it had once been with low timbered ceilings and antique furniture.  Afterwards we visited the market in the town square, then wandered around the town one last time before loading up the car and checking out. 

I programmed the GPS to take us to Hampton Court Castle and Garden just outside of Leominster, then on to Southampton, and off we went following the directions. 

It only took us a few minutes to get there and we arrived just as they were opening.  Hampton Court Castle should not to be confused with the Hampton Court Palace outside of London.  The Castle was originally built in the 1400s and is much older than the more famous Hampton Court Palace by about 100 years.  The grounds included a typical English garden, a maze of hedges, and even a sunken garden with a small waterfall.  The tour of the castle itself took an hour and our guide was very informative about the different parts of the castle and which areas were restored and by whom.  A lot of the restoration was done by an American who bought the castle when it was in very bad shape and had it decorated to look like a medieval castle.  It did look very much what you would imagine a medieval castle would look like.

Then it was back in the car for the drive to Southampton.  I had printed a Google map as a backup to the GPS which said the drive should take almost 3 hours.  We followed the directions the GPS provided and it was soon apparent that it was not the same route I had printed.  I know that happens on my GPS at home too, so I wasn’t worried.  After an hour of driving on very, very narrow winding roads when I thought we should actually be on a motorway (freeway), I started to wonder where we actually were.  After another half hour, which means we should have been halfway there, I still had no idea where we were when all of a sudden we saw a sign that said “Welcome to Wales.”  This was clearly not the route I had intended to take, but at this point we had no choice but to continue on what must have been the “scenic route.”  We finally reached Bristol and were back in England and on the motorway headed towards London when the traffic came to a very slow crawl—and I do mean a very slow crawl.  A drive that should have taken 3 hours ended up taking over 5 hours due to the traffic jam.  The good news is that the GPS did actually get us here, and once again, my dad survived the nerve-wracking drive without having a heart attack. 

We checked into the Premier Inn West Quay Hotel, then walked across the street to a shopping mall and had dinner.  After the long stressful drive and the hectic pace of the past few days, I think we all need some time to unwind—good thing we’re going on a cruise!

British Isle Cruise--Day 5

July 30, 2015—Day 5, Leominster

The London portion of our trip has come to an end, but the vacation was far from over.  We had a very important part coming up—the reason we made this trip to England:  visiting Leominster, the town my dad’s side of the family originated.

The car service I had booked picked us up at our London hotel at 7:30am and took us to the Hertz Rental Car office at Heathrow airport.  I was about to do something I hadn’t done in over 30 years—drive on the left side of the road with a steering wheel on the right.  My dad and mom both wanted to sit in the back seat so they wouldn’t have to watch, but unfortunately, some of the luggage had to go in the backseat so one of them had to sit up front.  (I half expected my dad to kiss the ground when we finally arrived.) Luckily, the car had a GPS system so at least we didn’t have to try to figure out where we were going by looking at a map (whew).  I did manage to get us where we needed to go and we all survived, so it wasn’t all bad.  Some things came back to me, like entering a roundabout (they really do make sense) and some things I appreciated like the orderly way people drive with a distinct slower lane, medium lane, and fast lane where no one passed on the left (that would be our right) and how people will actually flash their lights and allow you to change lanes (instead of speeding up and cutting you off).  Other things I had forgotten, like double roundabouts are really confusing.  (Yes, I did do the European Vacation scene of going around a roundabout more than once.)  But the main point is, we made it and my dad didn’t have a heart attack while I drove.

Our first stop was Windsor Castle, a quintessential picture postcard of a castle that evokes thoughts of King Arthur, and knights, and all the other medieval images you can think of when you picture a castle.  It is still used as a royal residence today, so it has all the comforts and conveniences of modern times, but still conforms to the castle image.  We arrived before it opened and had to wait in line to get in.  Once we entered the gates, there was a lot of walking to do to get to the castle and we were glad to be out of the cold when we finally entered (yes, another cold windy day).  We spent over an hour touring the rooms, then made our way to the exit.  It seems we were ahead of the crowds since there were only a few people there when we entered, but it was quite crowded when we left. 

Since it was almost noon, we had lunch just outside the castle, then got back in the car for the 2-1/2 hour drive to Leominster, arriving around 2:30pm.  We checked into the hotel, then headed out to explore this town where our ancestors had lived.  My dad had traced our family history and knew the address of the house some of them had lived in, as well as the church where some were buried. Leominster is a picturesque town with half timbered houses along cobbled streets; flowers were growing in window boxes and in planters along the road.  The streets were narrow and winding with some alleys for pedestrians only. 

We set out to find the “old family homestead” at 42 Etnam Street, but like many things from long ago, it was no longer there.  Instead, there were several apartments through the archway where the house should have been.  Still, it was nice to have located the area.  We then visited the Priory Church which had been around for centuries.  We even found some of the family graves just outside the church. 

We continued to walk around the town, taking pictures and imagining what it must have been like way back when our ancestors walked these streets.  The weather was sunny, and while not hot, was at least comfortably warm.  As evening approached (although the sun wouldn’t set for several hours yet), we stopped into The Dukes Head pub for dinner.  One of the ladies who worked there was really nice and explained how to order in a pub.  Each table has a number on it, and once you know what you want to order, you go up to the bar to place the order letting them know your table number.  The food is then brought out to you when it’s ready.  I decided to have the fish and chips again since I really didn’t think the one I had in London was “authentic,” but elected to have the garden peas instead of the mushy peas.  This time, the fish and chips lived up to its reputation and was really very good.

Then it was back to the Talbot Hotel.  The hotel is in a very old coaching inn (back when there were coaches and people didn’t have to think about what side of the road they should be driving on).  It’s been here for quite a while and its possible our ancestors had stopped in to have a pint or two since it’s in the center of town.  It was the perfect place to stay while visiting the town where our family originated. 

Finally, the descendants of the Leominster side of our family had returned, and my dad’s 30-year old dream to walk the streets of this town had come to fruition.

British Isle Cruise--Day 4

July 29, 2015—Day 4, London

Yay—I slept in until a little after 5:00am, a much more reasonable time to wake up.  We had a continental breakfast in the hotel’s breakfast room at 7:30 when they opened and lingered for a while just talking.  Afterward, as we were discussing what to do, my mom admitted that she wasn’t feeling well.  I think the jet lag, the lack of good sleep, and the cold weather had gotten to her, so we decided to just take a day off after all the activity of the past few days and just relax around the hotel. 

Letting my mom sleep undisturbed, my dad and I ventured out to Hyde Park, which was just across the street from our hotel, for a late morning walk.  Hyde Park originally started out as a deer park for Henry VIII way back in the 1600s and is now a large public park with man-made ponds, a man-made river (which splits the park in half with a west side and an east side), lots of trees, grass, pathways going in different directions, statues and monuments, and a lot of wildlife.  There were birds of all kinds, including pigeons, geese, ducks, swans, and some birds that looked a lot like large parakeets (not sure what they were, but they were pretty).  I’ve been to several cities where pigeons would land on people and eat out of their hands.  This is the first time I saw swans and geese eating out of people’s hands!

Our hotel sits about 2/3 of the way west of the park’s river and we walked east to the river then south, and finally made our way back to the park entrance near our hotel.  The weather wasn’t quite as windy or as cold, so we had an enjoyable walk.  The sun was even out which was a nice change.

We went back to check on my mom, and just relax in the hotel.  I curled up with a good book (it was really my kindle, but saying I curled up with my kindle just doesn’t sound as good) and munched on some snacks I had packed for the flight and never gotten around to eating.  It was actually nice to spend some quiet time after such a hectic travel schedule.

Later that afternoon, my dad and I again ventured out for another walk around Hyde Park, this time going west.  Within minutes, we were at Kensington Palace.  I knew the palace was along the park, but didn’t realize it was quite so close to us.  The gardens were beautiful.  I know my mom would have enjoyed it as well, but she needed the rest and we’re hoping her sore throat doesn’t morph into a full-blown cold (getting sick is never fun, but getting sick while on a vacation is somehow worse). 

After visiting Kensington Palace and walking around the park, we made our way back to the hotel.  My mom was feeling a little better, but instead of going out to eat, my dad and I went out for take out food and brought it back to the hotel, then the three of us went down to the breakfast room and ate our dinner at the tables there.  After dinner, we spent some time just talking about anything that came to mind (including politics…yikes!) until it was time to call it a day.

My dad and I had explored the entire west side of Hyde Park and had enjoyed spending time just wandering around.  My mom had gotten some much needed rest.  And we all enjoyed spending time together—I call that a very successful day.

British Isle Cruise--Day 3

July 28, 2015—Day 3, London

Although I slept well, I found myself awake much earlier than I had hoped (3:00am—yikes, it’s becoming trend).  I tried to go back to sleep, but no luck, so I finally got up and got dressed, then since there was really nothing to do that early in the morning and no where to go, I read for a while until my dad knocked on my door at a little before 7:00am.  After a continental breakfast at the hotel, we took a taxi to Buckingham Palace. 

Since it was early, it wasn’t crowded.  We didn’t really want to hang around in the cold wind to see the Changing of the Guard, so we just took some pictures (to prove we were there and can mark it off our list), then caught another taxi to the Tower of London. 

I had been to the Tower of London several times, although it was way back in the early 80s when I had lived in England.  I knew the wind would be blocked somewhat from the tower walls, so it was a good place to visit and since it was still early, it wasn’t crowded.  In fact, we only waited about 5 minutes to get inside the building with the crown jewels (later, the line was really long).  The displays prior to entering the vault with the crown jewels wasn’t that impressive, although the short film of the Queen’s coronation was interesting.  The crown jewels themselves, which were in the vault, were pretty incredible and I couldn’t begin to imagine how heavy wearing it all would feel.  I also didn’t realize that there were so many different crowns for the different monarchs, although they all seemed similar.  We took several pictures of the Beefeaters (the Tower guards) and the tower itself, then sat at the café and had hot tea—it hit the spot on a cold windy day.  After we had walked around, we found the exit which led us along the Thames River with a wonderful view of the Tower Bridge. 

We had a late lunch at KFC.  (For my friends who remember England back in the 80s, I can tell you that the chicken actually tasted like chicken.  For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, back in the early 80s, the British chickens had a slightly fishy taste due to their diet which included fish meal, versus corn meal.  We didn’t eat much chicken at all when we lived here and instead we ate a lot of beef—unfortunately, that was when the “mad-cow” disease was prevalent although we didn’t know that for a few more years yet.)  I know people may wonder why we aren’t eating “British food” while in England, but other than a pub, most of the restaurants we’ve seen aren’t necessarily British, and instead are Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, Indian, Chinese, and Italian, so after having the “fish and chips,” we decided there was nothing wrong with eating good ol’ American fast food (and something we won’t be getting on the ship once we board).

After lunch, we wandered around some more, then decided to take a taxi back to the hotel since we were getting tired after having been on the go since very early in the morning. 

We had a great taxi driver who took us to see all the places we would have seen on a city tour, and he provided a terrific commentary along the way.  He drove along the Thames and pointed out the London Eye (a huge ferris wheel similar to the ones in Singapore and Las Vegas); then drove passed the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey; pointed out the way to Knightsbridge where Harrods is located (I remember Harrods as a good place to look around, but don’t plan to actually shop there—unless you’re a lottery winner); he drove passed Buckingham Palace; pointed out the way to Covent Garden, which he recommended for shopping at places like Selfridges, and Marks and Spencer (I used to love to go shopping at both those places years ago—much better prices than at Harrods!); we passed Marble Arch, and drove along Hyde Park.  Our driver not only pointed out all the places, but told us a little about each place as we passed by, even telling us when we would be coming up to a good place for a picture.  I had heard that the famous London Black Taxi drivers were also qualified tour guides, and ours certainly fit that bill. 

We got back to the hotel around 3:00pm having spent the day seeing all the sights that were on our list.  With the cloudy day and the possibility of rain in the forecast, I’m glad we managed to see so much today.  Between the jet lag, the early morning start, and all the walking we did, we needed some relaxing down time (and possibly a short nap, although that might interfere with sleeping tonight).  We agreed to meet up again at 5:00pm to head out somewhere for dinner, but we ended up just talking since none of us was hungry. 

Finally we decided that even if we weren’t that hungry, we should probably get going.  We left the hotel and headed for the nearby Hilton certain that we could order a pina colada to start the evening.  Alas, the bartender said he didn’t have the ingredients to make it (gasp!!).  Disappointed, we resigned ourselves to waiting until sailaway on board the ship.  Trying to work up an appetite, we crossed the street and wandered around Hyde Park (as if we hadn’t already walked most of the day), and finally headed to Burger King since it was quick, close by, and we were tired.  It looks like we’ll be having a lot of fast food over the next few days until we get on board (where the first night will be the usual prime rib, and the second night will be formal).

It was another early night for all of us, and hoping to sleep a little longer tomorrow morning, we made plans to meet at 8 for breakfast.  With all the “must see/do” items on the list accomplished, we aren’t sure what we’ll do tomorrow, but I’m sure we’ll figure it out.  

Good night all.

British Isle Cruise--Day 1 and Day 2

July 26-27, 2015—Days 1 and 2, Flight, and Arrival in London

We’ve been planning this trip for almost a year.  The England portion of the trip has been something my parents have wanted to do for a very long time, and in fact, they actually planned to go twice before and had to cancel.  My dad had traced our family tree to his roots in England, and he’s always wanted to visit the places where our family had lived.  When we looked at the British Isle cruise, we decided this would be the perfect way to both embark on a cruise and at the same time, visit all the places that we had read about in the Family Tree my dad had put together.  This trip was a culmination of a life-long dream, and after almost a year in the planning stage, it was hard to believe the day had finally come and we were on our way.

As we’ve done in the past, my parents flew Southwest into LAX, and my son dropped me off a little before their flight arrived.  Once we collected their luggage, we walked from Terminal 1 to the Tom Bradley International Terminal.  We had booked premium economy on Air New Zealand hoping it would be a little more comfortable since the flight was going to be long and we knew we’d be jet lagged, compounded if we couldn’t get at least some sleep.  Flying business class was out of the question; none of us had won the lottery or hit a huge jackpot on a penny slot, so we weren’t willing to spend the big bucks flying on those lay-flat seats up front.  But we thought paying a little more for some extra space would be worth it, so we upgraded to premium economy and chose Air New Zealand since it was nonstop to London from LAX, and because I had heard the Spaceseats in their premium economy cabin was roomy and comfortable (plus the pictures looked cool).

Right from the start, Air New Zealand proved to be a good choice.  Premium economy had a separate check-in line, and throughout the flight we were treated closer to business class than to economy.  Not only were we quickly checked in (we were first in the premium economy and business class line), but our luggage was tagged with orange “Priority” tags so we knew they would be quickly offloaded at the other end.  There is also an increased baggage allowance, but since we were only travelling with one checked bag each, we didn’t need to take advantage of that. 

After heading through security, we had a late lunch, then went to the gate.  We started boarding at a little around 4:10pm and again, premium economy was included with the business class folks for priority boarding.

My first impression was that I had boarded a futuristic flight—the Spaceseats were really cool looking (Google Air New Zealand Spaceseat if you haven’t seen a picture).  A bottle of water was provided at each seat (nice touch), along with an amenities package, a much better, full-size pillow, and better, larger, thicker blanket.  We spent the rest of the time on the ground getting familiar with the seat controls, finding the little cubbyholes to store little things, figuring out how to make the seats recline, and putting away our carry-on luggage.  The only negative I had was that there was very little space to store carry-on luggage under the seat in front of you, which meant that unless the carry-on was very small, it had to go in the overhead compartment.  Luckily, there was plenty of room overhead, and not all of the bins were used—probably because there were only 6 people in each row. compared to 10 people in each row in economy.

Once settled, the flight attendants provided warm washcloths to freshen up, sparkling wine (not quite Champagne) or juice, and a menu for the meals we would be served on the flight.  Then we sat at the gate for an hour.  We had heard announcements throughout the terminal that the LAX automated luggage handlers had broken down and that luggage was being manually sorted and loaded, causing delays.  The captain assured us that we would be able to make up most of the delay in flight.

Finally, it was wheels up and we were in the air and on our way.  Dinner service began shortly after take-off beginning with the starter of a chicken salad, and choice of bread—whole wheat sourdough, garlic bread, or black olive bread—along with drinks including a really good New Zealand red pinot noir (which I hoped would help me sleep afterward).  For the main course, I had the chicken—specifically, chicken with kumara miso mash, edamame beans and wilted spinach with chili pickled shitake mushrooms and red dates, and spiced pumpkin squash.  Dessert was a dulce de leche mousse cake with whipped cream and shaved chocolate.  All of it was served on real dishes with real utensils and a cloth napkin.  This was probably the best airline food I had ever had!  A second glass of wine was offered, and afterward coffee (which I declined since I did want to try to sleep).  I will say that the service was excellent.

Then it was time to settle in and try to sleep.  My mother quickly dropped off, and surprisingly, I fell asleep as well.  When I woke up, I was surprised that several hours had passed, and that we were only 2-1/2 hours from London!  Unfortunately, my dad said he didn’t sleep at all (there was a boy of about 11 or 12 in front of him who kept getting up, turning on the light above him, calling the flight attendant to ask for a soda or something else, and generally just fidgeting around—he did this the entire flight while his mom slept and since my dad is a light sleeper, he was disturbed enough that he wasn’t able to sleep). 

Breakfast service was as good as dinner the evening before and started with fresh fruit, yogurt, a warm croissant, and a choice of cereal.  This was followed by a choice of scrambled eggs or French toast.  I actually skipped that course and was happy with a light breakfast of fruit, yogurt, and croissant, along with coffee of course.  Because there was so much space and the layout of the seats was unique, I didn’t have to wait until the breakfast service had been cleaned up before heading to the plane’s restroom to freshen up.  I do have to say that the premium economy cabin’s (yes, we were in a separate cabin area) toilet was nice—there was plenty of room, it was actually decorated with wallpaper of books so one wall looked like a library, there was soft music playing in the background, and instead of paper towels, there were little individual “disposable” washcloths.

We landed about 10 minutes later than scheduled (not bad since we took off a little over an hour late).  It was a very long walk to passport control and we had no sooner joined the long line once we got there when we decided to step aside so we could use the restrooms.  One of the airport employees noticed, and said not to worry as she would be sure we could get through.  Sure enough, once we had finished, she opened up a separate line and we were through passport control just like that.  We made our way to the luggage conveyor belt and in less than 5 minutes our luggage came down (those priority tags worked and our luggage was one of the first ones out). 

I had scheduled Just Airports car service to meet us an hour after landing at 12:30pm thinking that we probably wouldn’t actually get through passport control and customs till closer to 1:00pm.  We were outside customs by 12:20, even before our driver arrived.  Luckily, we found him at 12:30pm, when he was scheduled to arrive, and he helped us transfer our luggage to the van and took us to the hotel.

London hotels are very expensive, and since we were staying 3 nights and needed 2 rooms, we didn’t want to spend a lot.  I ended up making reservations at the Comfort Inn at Hyde Park because of the price, the fact that breakfast and wifi were included, and the reviews I had read.  Although a chain hotel, it was typically British, meaning that the rooms were very small, it was a little worn and “tired” in places, but it was clean, which is just what we needed.  We tried to stay awake the rest of the day despite wanting to sleep, so we went for a walk down a shopping street not far from the hotel.  We got back at around 3:00, then decided to get together at 5:00 to go to dinner.  Trying to stay awake, I decided to get started writing this post, and finally we went to dinner down the street where I had the fish and chips (hey, we’re in England after all) and hot tea.  Getting back to the hotel, I took a long hot shower, and now I’m ready to finally get completely horizontal. 

Before I sign off, a couple of things I had forgotten about England:  no wash rags in the hotel (plenty of towels, but nothing small to wash with) and no soap (we bought a bar of soap on the way back to the hotel), but best of all, the heated towel racks—my dream house will definitely have these (when I win the lottery—which reminds me that I really ought to start playing someday if I expect to win).

Hopefully, we’ll all be able to get a good night’s sleep (although I suspect that might be difficult with the jet lag).  Tomorrow, our London adventure really begins.