Leaving London

I headed out early the next morning, catching an Uber to London Paddington rather than taking my bags on the Tube. As I went, I took careful note of each step for Jerynn to navigate for their return. In London Paddington station, I took pictures of the lines on the floor that lead to the London-Heathrow Express. Using a markup app on my phone, I wrote additional directions. I continued sending pictures and directions through the airport, trying not to worry security with my preparations. I heard enough about the bus tour they were taking to be glad of where I was, especially given my love of bus tours.

I give great directions...

London

I woke up unreasonably early - at 5:30. The sun had come up and the birds were flying overhead. I couldn’t help remembering that Dani had pointed out the bird poop on the wall just above where we had placed our mattress, so I was unable to go back to sleep.

On the train to Watford Junction
From the left: Jerynn, me, Mom, Ann

Once everyone woke up, we walked over to the Tube Station. I picked up a few more Oyster cards and showed everyone how to use them. We took the Tube to London Euston, where we got a train to Watford Junction. Then the Tour bus to the Harry Potter Studio Tour.

Forced Perspective
Front: Jerynn
Back: Dani, me, Mom, Ann

I think the girls really enjoyed the studio tour, which was super fun to watch. I only wish Craig had been able to join us to see their reactions.

Dani, Ann, and Jerynn on the Hogwart's Bridge

A picture of my mom, taking the previous picture

Edinburgh to London

We got up early the next day to pack bags. I cooked bacon and eggs for mom. We all took turns using the hair dryer on Dani’s clothes, because hanging them around the flat for two days hadn’t been enough in the rainy weather. We got everything packed and took our bags down to Left Luggage at the train station because we had to check out of the AirBnB.

We walked back up the hill for our Eat Walk Edinburgh tour. We were joined by one other American. The tour was interesting, but the food wasn’t as good as I’d hoped. Some was good enough that Ann went back with the girls to pick up a few things while mom and I made our way to the train station. We retrieved our bags and got to our platform.

Eat Walk Edinburgh (wearing our trip shirts)
From the left: Jerynn, Ann, me, Mom, Dani

As we waited for our train, we noticed that the earlier train had not yet arrived and was displaying as very delayed. We consulted the boards and discovered that our train had been removed. I went to the Virgin first class lounge and was told we could wait there or take another train to a different station in London. I returned with the others to wait it out, but the agent now sent us to try and catch the other train.

We ran across the station to the other platform. The platform was packed with people and people were grumbling that there was no chance of finding a seat on this train. I left my bag with Jerynn and hopped into the first class train car to take a look. I could see plenty of seats open, so I told everyone to get on. We managed to find unreserved seats and find enough places to stash our bags.

This train ride was a bit longer than our reserved train would have been. This wasn’t an express line, so it made more stops. Still, it was better than the alternative - lines were down on the tracks and I’m not sure our train ever came through that night. Once again, they served us several meals.

We got into London Euston and took a taxi to our AirBnB. There was no problem meeting the check in person, but she said that the heat had been left on so the flat was very warm. It turns out the London was having a heat spell, the flat didn’t have air conditioning, and only the patio door opened (all of the door-sized windows were locked for “safety” and the management company didn’t have a key).

Ann, Dani and I walked out to get groceries and wander Kings Cross Station for a bit. We also picked up McDonald’s for Dani. We got back to the flat at 10:30 and it was still hot.

Dani and I lifted our mattress out of our room and took it outside to sleep on the deck. At least it was cooler there.

Me, on our mattress on the deck

Dani and I asleep the following morning

Edinburgh

Our flat in Edinburgh was brilliantly located on the Royal Mile. The only downside was that it was on the second floor, which meant we had to lug our bags up two narrow, winding flights of steps. In the flat, we had two bedrooms, a kitchen, one and a half baths, and an enormous living area. Dani and I stayed in one of the bedrooms, fully expecting Jerynn to come sleep in one of the two double beds with us. Both nights, she fell asleep in the living area on one of the sofas, which she claimed were very comfortable. Mom and Ann shared the other room.

It started raining shortly after we arrived, so Ann, Jerynn and I ventured out for groceries to make something in the flat for dinner. We found a shop and brought back a variety of things, hoping we had everyone covered. Ann, mom and I had all started reading the same set of books on our kindles on the train, so we had a quiet evening in.

We got a late start the following morning as everyone slept in a little. I was up first and had crumpets. Mom was up next and I made her some eggs. Ann was up soon after. We waited until the girls woke up before we thought about making train reservations. Ann and I walked down to the station while the girls showered and got ready.

We walked to Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle, getting there around 1:00. Dani, mom and I made our way through the self guided tour of the castle; Ann and Jerynn took off in another direction. We met up to watch the changing of the guard and get afternoon tea. We finished the castle around 4:30 and headed back to our Air BnB.

Enjoying tea at Edinburgh Castle
From the left: Dani, Jerynn, Mom, Ann, me

Dani and Jerynn pose with their first tea on the trip.

After another trip to the grocery store, we had dinner in. Mom wanted to walk down the rest of the Mile, so I went out with her. We saw the Hollyrood Palace, but it was closed because the family was in residence. We were able to get a video of the changing of the guard there.

BritRail - Day Two - York to Edinburgh

The hotel receptionist had told us the shortcut to walk to the train station, so our walk took only about 20 minutes with our bags. Once again, we had reserved seats in first class, but it wasn’t obvious on the platform where the cars would actually stop. We made our best guess and were waiting in a less than ideal place.

Me, chilling with the bags on the platform

Unsure how long the train would be in the station, we hopped on and tried to make our way through the train to our seats. Mind you, we are a party of five with five rolling bags, four backpacks, a duffle, four purses, and one fanny-pack. At this point, we also had boxes of pastries, at least two coffees, and possibly a couple other drinks. After struggling through one car, I made the decision to get off the train and walk along the platform. Seeing how far we needed to go and not knowing how much time we had, I sent Jerynn running ahead. I urged Ann and Dani to go ahead as well, telling them that I would get mom on the train and we would make our way to them. Jerynn and Dani were already managing mom’s luggage, so I thought it best that they not take it through the crowded train.

Mom and I encountered a station employee and I asked how much time we had to board. He checked his watch and said we had four minutes. We all stopped running, except for Jerynn who had already boarded the train and disappeared from sight, having reached the appropriate car long before us. We were able to make the walk to our car, board and stow our luggage well before the train started to move. The car was relatively empty. Someone traveling alone watched us board and offered to move so that our fifth seat was across the aisle from the other four.

Given our experience the day before, we had come on board with pastries and coffee. We had no sooner settled in with these snacks that the cart came around, offering tea, coffee, biscuits, crisps and a menu for dinner. We asked how late we could order food, content with our snacks for the moment. Later on the journey we would have pasta and sandwiches, along with more tea, coffee, biscuits and other snacks.

As we were coming into Edinburgh, my phone decided I didn’t really need GPS. I gave the address to Jerynn and she pulled up navigation on her phone. Unfortunately, neither of us realized that you can exit Edinburgh Station several different places. As luck would have it, we walked a quarter of a mile to the exit we saw just to walk that quarter of a mile back on the street and pass the exit we should have used.

Unsure of our navigation, Jerynn and I decided to hike ahead of the others to find the Air BnB we had rented. We had no further mishaps, but we left our bags and ran back down to help the others with the rest of the bags.

York

I woke up early, but I was able to get back to sleep until 7:45. I got up and took my first good shower in a few days. (I’d been rushed in Combe Martin because I overslept. And, of course, the Taunton shower won no awards.) We went down for breakfast at 8:30, Jerynn and I running slightly behind the other.

After breakfast in the basement, we took our bags down to the parlor and left for the city-sightseeing bus. We rode around the entire city - one hour. I was a little cranky because I agreed to the bus tour thinking that we would get off every couple stops, walk around, and hop on another bus. Dani and mom road the circle again to the Shambles. Ann, Jerynn and I hopped off after completing the tour and walked to the Shambles. York is a geographically small town, so we were able to reach the Shambles at nearly the same time.

Dani demonstrates the importance of such warnings

After walking about a bit, we found a pub for lunch. Mom bought a new purse to replace her broken one and we walked to the York Castle Museum. This was a lengthy tour, but there was a wide variety of displays to interest all of us.

Clifford's Tower
From the left (back): Dani, Ann, Mom
Front: Jerynn

As we were walking back, Craig woke up and had questions about a shop we’d seen in the Shambles. Dani and I walked back while the others looked for a pastry shop - we wanted to have snacks for our next train ride. Dani and I sneakily took tons of pictures inside the shop to send to him for his research.

Dani and Jerynn outside the shop

We hung out in the parlor at our hotel with our bags for about half an hour. We took the time to repack a few things and cycle through the toilet before starting our next adventure.

BritRail - Day One - Taunton to York

We had reservations on a late morning train leaving Taunton, which left us plenty of time in our less than luxurious accommodations. Mom was up early, so when I got up, I figured out how to turn on the stove and fry up some eggs. The later start also gave us time to cycle everyone through the shower, which turned out to be a real blessing because the shower was somewhat lacking in water pressure and temperature control.

Mom, Dani and I started out a bit early to make a more leisurely walk to the train station. I had the BritRail passes and I wanted to get them validated and make sure I knew exactly where we were going. Ann and Jerynn were able to easily catch us up. The station was quite small, so finding the platform wasn’t difficult. We were only able to figure out where our car was moments before the train arrived. But we managed to get on and find our seats. Mom and I sat near the back. Jerynn and Dani sat together and Ann sat across the aisle from them. Ann made new American friends - mom and I could hear Ann laughing from the other end of the car.

The train reversed direction after a couple stops, leaving mom and I to ride backwards for most of the trip. We had been promised lunch on the train, but it never appeared, so we arrived in York hungry.

While we were still at the train station, we made reservations for the following day to take the train to Edinburgh. And we found the hop-on, hop-off city bus stop that we planned to take the next morning.

After checking into our hotel - a lovely place with locking doors and functioning bathrooms, we got directions to a street with several dining options. It was still a struggle to decide on a place to eat, but at least we had options.

Relaxing in one of the rooms
Standing: Ann
From the left: Jerynn, me, Dani

After dinner, we went for a short walk on the walls. Then, back at our hotel we sat in the lovely garden while Dani had a snack (dinner had, again, not been her favorite). Mom and Ann decided to go to bed, but the girls and I decided to check out the nightlife.

Touring the walls
From the  front: Jerynn, me, Dani, Mom

We promptly made friends with the bar staff. The barback was fascinated by Dani’s shirt, which I had made with a map of our travels. And the bartender was fascinated when he realized we were American. Perhaps it was a good thing that the bar staff was so friendly, because we’d hardly sat down when Jerynn attracted a very drunk man who got her attention by crowing behind her. Yes, crowing…like a rooster.

Jerynn with her "friend"?

Both his friend and the bartender came over several times to check that we were alright. I snapped a few pictures and even took a short video of his very strange behavior. With a quick text, I established how Jerynn would let us know if she wanted to leave. It wasn’t long before she was tugging her ear and we were standing to go. The bartender walked us out. He also walked the drunk patron back into the bar to ensure that we were able to get away cleanly.

We took our more sober party back to our room and talked into the night.

In the hotel garden after dinner.
From the left: Ann, me, Dani

Conquering My Driving Fears, From the Wrong Side of the Road

[During our stop in Taunton, I took the opportunity to write about my reflections on driving in England.]

I’ve never considered myself a nervous driver, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve acquired a few driving fears.

I grew up driving various vehicles, not always with adjustable seats - giving me the feeling that I could drive anything, whether or not I could reach the pedals comfortably. But I settled into driving my little Mini, with the seat properly adjusted to my preference - a car I never shared, so things stayed the same. I’ve gotten less comfortable with new and different cars.

I remember learning to back around corners on gravel roads in Driver’s Ed. At the farm, I backed various vehicles around with ease, never giving it much thought. When I moved to LA, I found reversing in tight spots difficult. I realized that where I could “back up anything, anywhere,” my brother could reverse one semi-truck and trailer while my dad circled with another! Perhaps I wasn’t as skilled as I thought; I’d just always had plenty of space.

When I was fourteen, I drove through standing water and soaked my spark plugs. The car died, and died every time I touched the brakes for the rest of the drive home, in the dark, in the rain. This resulted in my first experience driving without power steering or anti-lock brakes - an experience that began at the top of a hill before an S-curve with my eleven year old brother screaming at me not to cry as that wouldn’t help anything. I haven’t voluntarily driven through water since.

When I was 18, I drove through a hail storm. With my car stopped on the side of the road and me curled into a ball in the driver’s seat with my jacket wrapped around my legs, the hail broke through my front and back windshields and dinged every panel on my car. Three balls of ice actually penetrated my front windshield and joined me in the car. I’ve experienced full-blown panic attacks while driving in heavy rain and hail ever since. This got slightly better when I drove with Court and the girls in Kansas last summer, but the fear remains.

When we started looking for a house in LA, I discovered that curving roads with one lane of traffic and parked cars absolutely terrified me. We crossed them off the list, because I was certain that buying a house in the hills would turn me into a hermit.

I’ve never been good with right and left, as I have a documented learning disability related to dyslexia. I expected to struggle with driving on the wrong side of the road in England. I did not expect to face and conquer every one of my driving fears in three days.

We rented a car in Salisbury. I drove on the wrong side of the road, with Ann trying to swap “right” for “left” even though she had the same disorder I have. Jerynn and I quickly settled into a “my way” and “your side” method with the occasional “follow the red car” or “where that silver car just went” for good measure. I navigated the unfamiliar vehicle to Sonehenge, parked there, got out of the parking lot, and navigated to Bath. We found our hotel and I made a five-point turn to fit the van into a parking spot. I would successfully back out of the tiny parking lot the following morning.

We left Bath the second day for Arlington Court. On the way, I drove through brief torrential rains. I drove on curving mountain roads that did not have a full two lanes. As I drove into Combe Martin, I navigated several two lane roads that had cars parked in one lane or the other. I made another five-point turn, this time to BACK INTO a parking spot off a one-lane, two-way road.

We left Combe Marin on one-lane, two-way streets with cars parked in the lane. I drove on roads that were “generally four meters wide,” with two-way traffic. I drove down one-lane, two-directional lanes with hedges and stone fences on either side. I drove through pouring rain. I drove up hills so steep that Jerynn offered to get out and run ahead to make sure the road continued…only to realize that the hedges and fences were so close that she couldn’t open her door to get out of the car. We met another car on one of these lanes and I had to back up, with things so tight that the collision warnings were beeping and flashing on all four corners of the vehicle. I drove through standing water on that narrow, single-lane track - not once, but twice where it completely covered the road. Dani offered to walk through the water to make sure it wasn’t too deep, but she encountered the same problem that stumped Jerynn earlier, and I talked myself into driving through.

Driving through Taunton, merely driving on the wrong side of the road - making easy lefts and challenging rights - even when the GPS was frequently wrong, was something of a relief.

But going forward, I know that things have changed. I may not be that fearless young driver with thirteen speeding tickets who thinks she can drive anything, anywhere. But I am a confident, experienced driver willing to take on the challenge.

Combe Martin to Shirwell to Stoke Rivers to Taunton

We had a lengthy list of things to do before we left Combe Martin, so mom and I decided to sleep in. Rather, this was the first time either of us slept through the night and we somehow managed to also sleep through our alarms. Ann came up from breakfast to check on us and woke us up.

After breakfast, I made a phone call to the car rental place. I had reservations allowing for an evening return of the car but the hours shown indicated that the location would be closed. With the following day a Sunday (on which the location would also be closed), I wanted to make sure that there was a way to return the car. I called Hertz and got instructions for returning the car after hours. Ann and I also had to finish submitting grades for the classes we were teaching that semester. She’d been working on hers the previous nights, but I managed mine fairly quickly.

Jerynn had gotten the instructions from the local, through the host, to the two graveyards we hoped to visit. We sat down with the very detailed map and plotted out the course. We would have to leave the map, so Jerynn made notes on our directions in keeping with our established navigation methods.

We left the BnB around 10:40 am, significantly later than we had planned. We drove first to Shirwell, where our directions led us straight to the single church and graveyard. We may have double parked, as it appeared someone was hosting a birthday party nearby, but no one seemed particularly bothered. The website I’d used to find the gravestones had included pictures, so we knew the shapes we were looking for, which was great because the day was gray and drizzly. Jerynn soon found the stones and we took some pictures.

My mom with the gravestone of one of her ancestors.

We drove on to Stoke Rivers - an adventure of a drive down one lane “roads”. We walked a bit in Stoke Rivers, because I’d found a place to park the van on the side of the road and wasn’t sure that I would find a better option. We were able to find the church and graveyard. Armed with pictures, the gravestones were not difficult to find. It’s worth noting that neither graveyard was particularly large, either. But we did have a surprisingly good time looking around. Jerynn, in particular, had not been looking forward to this part of the trip, but it turned out to be one of her favorite parts of the adventure.

Another Family Gravestone
From the left: Ann, Jerynn, mom, Dani

Then we were off for more adventurous driving. The roads did get progressively better as we went, at least until we got to Taunton. There, things got complicated again with one way roads and unclear road signs. But we managed to find the hotel and find parking on the street nearby. We unloaded the car and got settled into our “flat” - two bedrooms with a living room, kitchen, and single full bathroom.

It was one of our cheapest lodgings, selected because of it’s proximity to the train station. Location was probably the only thing recommending this place, as its list of faults continued to pile up. The outside door didn’t lock (this was fixed before the end of our evening there). The toilet didn’t have enough water pressure to flush several times in a row - a complication when five women would like to pee after a long car ride. The shower’s water pressure suffered as well. The oven was far too complicated for us to operate, though the hotel staff was able to get it going for us.

I left mom and Ann to settle into the hotel while Dani, Jerynn and I returned the rental car. First, we had to fill the car with fuel. We had seen a fuel station coming in, so we navigated back to it. Upon arriving, however, we could not see the entrance to the lot. I turned down a road, thinking it would lead to the gas station, but the markings on the pavement made both Jerynn and I think that I had turned the wrong way down a one way street. I made an abrupt decision to pull into the parking lot of a car body repair shop. Jerynn hopped out and ran down the road to the gas station. She turned around and called me, saying, “I’ll just stand here in the road and stop anyone who drives this way. Then you can safely drive into the gas station, even if you are going the wrong way down the road.”

Luckily, it was a two way road and the only person heading toward her was me, so we all survived the adventure. But this wasn’t the only time she had to jump out of the car in Taunton.

Next, we put the car rental return address into the GPS and confidently navigated to the address. Finding ourselves in the train station parking lot with no sign of Hertz, I hesitantly stopped in the taxi rank. We decided that I would stay with the car, as I was not legally parked, and Jerynn would take quick walk and look down some side roads to see if she could find Hertz.

Her adventures took so long that I called her twice. The second time I called, she had found the Hertz return but she could not describe where she was and decided it would be easier to walk back and provide directions. It was a good thing she did, because the Hertz rental car return was on the other side of the train station and set some distance off the road. (I would question her decision to walk back there, except that she found the place we needed to be.)

We stopped in at the train station to inquire about booking tickets for the following day. We should have had our BritRail passes with us to make the booking, but the agent took pity on us when the girls started talking about “getting mom and Grandma” and coming back to the station. She reserved five seats for us on the train the following day and explained what we would need to do to validate our BritRail passes.

We went back to the hotel with our train reservations. It was now three in the afternoon and we were all ready to find “lunch”. We tried a few places, but everything was closed between meal times. We found our late lunch / early dinner in a pub that wasn’t technically serving food at the time. It wasn’t the best food, but it was nice to sit down and eat something hot.

We walked around the small commercial area, picking up some snacks and a frozen pizza for Dani. This led to an adventure getting the oven in our flat to work, but we were all able to get enough to eat. We settled down to relax, collapsing in various places to read, write, or watch television. The journey was catching up to us.

Double Chocolate Chip

We spent most of mom’s birthday in the car, but we decided to go out for a special birthday dinner. Our host made a booking at the “best” local pub (it may also have been the only local pub). It was a lengthy walk down to the pub, but we enjoyed the scenery and enjoyed being out of the car after a long drive. Dani took many pictures using mom’s phone, because her own had run out of battery due to the many pictures she took on the road. It took a bit, but we were seated at a large table at the pub. We ordered possibly the best meal of the trip (certainly the best to this point) - I got an amazing pie, mom had fish and chips…etc.

The service was fairly slow, but we didn’t mind having the time to sit and talk. We discussed the adventure so far - the driving, the search for the graveyards, the various adventures in eating. Mom told us about her previous trip with JB and talked about the trip her mother took with her brother. It turned into a very entertaining dinner. We laughed about some of the random statements that had come up along the trip, including mom’s random declaration as we drove down one very narrow road that: “I don’t know how anyone got married with these roads. How would you meet anyone?”

Just one of the roads I drove on during this adventure.
Believe it or not, two way traffic was allowed.

We had decided we would order several desserts to share at the table. But only one thing looked good to Dani - double chocolate chip ice cream. The ice cream, however, was only served in a “pick three” format. Mom promptly declared that we would get the “pick three” and order “double chocolate chip, double chocolate chip, and…double chocolate chip!” We all had a good laugh at that.

Combe Martin

By the time we arrived in Combe Martin, I was almost accustomed to driving on the wrong side of the road on a two-way road that only provided enough width for a single vehicle. Jerynn and I navigated the city with relative ease, even when the slightly wider roads invited locals to park on one side of the other. But when we got to the last turn, we sat for a moment on the road with the blinker on, uncertain whether I was turning onto a road or driving off a cliff. Jerynn may have offered to get out, run across the road and make sure there was a road over there and guide me in. But we watched a truck pulling a horse trailer turn down the road and I decided to follow them.

We arrived at our BnB. (The truck and horse trailer combination stopped just ahead of us - it turns out they were delivering a piano to the BnB where we were staying. They were very relieved to learn that we were staying there, so they did not need to hurry to move or try to figure out how we were going to get around them. I can promise you that would not have worked.) I made a several point turn to back into a parking spot at the BnB. I’m not usually one to back in, but I was happy to do so because backing out in the morning would not have been a happy start for me.

Our BnB host was incredibly friendly. She offered to call the local pub and make a “booking” for us for dinner. She picked the time to give us time to settle in before walking down. It was a really great house, with several rooms we could gather in to make plans for the following day. I went down to look through the basket of maps they kept by the door and met the host again. I explained which map I was looking for and she decided that one was probably in the family jeep, which her husband was using for a camping trip at the moment. He would be back that evening, so she promised to bring it up to us. She asked why I wanted it and I explained about these graveyards I was trying to find.

I eventually returned to my room to get the information I had about the graveyards and graves. She offered to call a local friend, who had lived in the area her entire life, and get directions. The next morning, her husband gave us written instructions to the two graveyards. He also explained the directions to Jerynn, because I had gotten a late start that morning (it was the first time I slept through the night). We were able to borrow the very detailed map we had been looking for, which helped give us a better idea of the roads and directions we would be traveling. Jerynn added notes to his directions including things like “technically a right, but more like going straight”.

Arlington Court

The drive from Bath to Combe Martin was our longest scheduled drive - google put it at 2 hours and 21 minutes. We planned to make a stop at Arlington Court, which was just slightly off the path and should have taken a similar amount of time. It took us at least 3 hours, perhaps closer to 4 hours.

Our hope in visiting Arlington Court was to find a better information about a couple graveyards I had found in my ancestry research. I had found 3 graves in 2 different graveyards, which we hoped to visit. But the address information I had was not very helpful with modern GPS or google. As a historical site, I thought Arlington Court might have staff familiar with the area (a bit like the museum in Burlingame) or better local maps.

Ann and I at Arlington Court

We arrived at Arlington Court too late to tour any of the buildings, but mom and I were able to talk to staff in the gift shop. They didn’t know the area, but they did know the type of map we needed - a special map made for walking, biking and hiking that provides far more detail than google. Of course, they didn’t have this type of map for this area. It was unclear if they were sold out due to being the local area or if they carried another area that was more popular for outdoor sports or if the locals already know the best routes in their own backyard. Armed with this information, we were prepared to search gas stations along the rest of our route.

The drive from Arlington Court to Combe Martin was not particularly remarkable after the roads we had taken to get to Arlington Court. Ann did offer to drive at this point. I was exhausted and nearly took her up on the offer. But I had finally gotten comfortable with the car and where I was driving. As terrible as the roads had been coming in, it seemed a terrible place to ask her to take over. (We learned later from a map that many of the roads we had taken were “generally over 4m wide”…for two way traffic.)

Bath

Google indicated that the drive from Stonehenge to Bath would take 48 minutes. Again, I’m not certain of the exact timing, but I know it was longer than the expected time. Jerynn and I settled into a comfortable navigation pattern, but the traffic in Bath did cause me some consternation. There were a number of one way streets and unusual signs and traffic markings. We followed the GPS and Jerynn picked out cars to follow through some of the trickier intersections.

We arrived at our BnB, Aquas Sulis, which we had packed primarily based on the availability of overnight parking. It had a tiny lot in front and with a five point turn, I was able to park the van in the only open spot. Once parked, I announced that I wasn’t sure what we were doing for the afternoon, but I wouldn’t be driving. Perhaps having seen the harrowing drive in Bath, noticing the very limited street parking, or not being comfortable with the wrong side driving, Ann didn’t offer to drive into town. Instead, we got checked in and carted our bags inside. Mom and I shared a room on the top floor, while Ann and the girls shared a room on the floor below.

Taking the direction of the BnB operator and the map he drew on for us, we walked into Bath. We stopped at a convenience store for water and at a sandwich stop for a very late lunch.

Standing: Jerynn, Ann
Seated: Dani, me

We cut through a park, following the instructions given to us. We walked to the Bath Crescent and travelled on to the Bath Circus (basically a roundabout). We walked down a high street and stopped in a few shops, looking for things Jerynn might take back to friends at home. We toured the Bath Abbey; Ann again making a donation for our entry. This was smaller than the Salisbury Cathedral and they were about to start evening services, so we didn’t spend long there. We wandered Bath for awhile, stopping at a tourist information shop, a gelato shop, and a shop selling hand blown glass decorations.

We eventually settled on an Indian place for dinner. It wasn’t my new favorite and didn’t deserve the high trip advisor rating it had. We ended up going to Waitrose (a grocery store) to pick up dinner for mom, Dani and I, as well as snacks for the evening. We tried to find playing cards, but were unsuccessful in that endeavor. We called an Uber to take us back to Aquas Sulis because we had walked more than two miles getting to downtown and didn’t feel like repeating the trip back.

From the left: Ann, Dani, Jerynn, me

The following morning, we took a city bus back into the downtown area to avoid the lengthy walk. We toured the Baths and picked up lunch at Pret. I think we continued our search for playing cards. I know we found them eventually, but I can’t remember where.

Dani at the Baths

Mom at the Baths

Dani with lunch from Pret

Jerynn, showing off in a shopping area in Bath

I mailed a post card from Bath to my dad, which arrived in Kansas on August 12. That card took an 86 day trip, including a stop in the Philippines (where it was postmarked, for some reason).

Stonehenge

Google said that the drive from Salisbury to Stonehenge would take 21 minutes. I’m not sure exactly how long it did take, but it certainly felt like longer than 21 minutes. This was my first time driving on the wrong side of the road. We were very lucky to have a new car (less than 100 miles), with all the features - navigation, back up camera, distance sensors, etc. Jerynn sat up front, as she is the most susceptible to carsickness.  Ann sat in the middle of the backseat, to give her the best view and reduce the likelihood that she would get carsick. Dani sat behind me and mom sat behind Jerynn.

Craig had very specific instructions for me about driving in England for the first time. He said I should have a designated navigator, to provide turn by turn direction and help determine which lane I should be in as we entered a roundabout. Another person should focus on traffic signs and signals. Another person should keep an eye on traffic, to warn me of cars coming from an unexpected direction. In this way, I could concentrate on driving the vehicle in the wrong lane in an unfamiliar place.

Ann initially offered that we should use “left turn” for making a right and “right turn” for making a left, because we were on the opposite side of the road, which reverses these turns if you think about them as the number of lanes you are crossing to make the turn. Considering that neither Ann nor I can consistently identify our right and left, this was a plan for failure at every level. Instead, she focused on keeping our spirits high, providing encouragement to me as the driver, and reassuring our more nervous passengers that, in fact, both I and the other drivers were on the appropriate sides of the roads for our location.

I had Jerynn as my navigator. With her operating the car’s GPS and providing additional instruction such as “keep tight to my side” and “ get in the lane the red car is using,” we were able to manage our first short trip. Jerynn and I quickly settled on the “your way” and “my way” method of describing each turn, with additional comments like “this is the easy turn” (a left, which is into the closest lane without crossing as much traffic) or “keep to the middle lane” (as we entered a roundabout) or “third exit, which is like going straight through” (because so many roundabouts have more than exits than you’d expect).

Dani turned out to be very good at spotting speed limit signs, as soon as we had figured out what a speed limit sign looked like. She was very good about noticing the sign and providing that information each time I asked, which was usually some distance after passing the sign because I had to take some time getting comfortable with the road before I worried that I might be speeding. She was also adept at spotting other important road signs and determining which required comment and which could be described at a later time.

Mom and Dani also tried to keep up with taking pictures as we drove. It was very difficult to get the view we could see to show up in the picture. All too often, a hedge would appear just as soon as they had a camera out or the picture would be blurred by the movement of the vehicle. Eventually, I think they worked out a better system for taking pictures on either side of the vehicle - pictures certainly improved later in the drive. But I was too busy simply driving on the wrong side to listen much to their picture communication.

Stonehenge had a large parking lot, but I wanted to park in the back with the RVs because I wasn’t entirely confident about the new vehicle. I dropped Dani and mom off at the entrance while I found a wider spot near the far end of the lot. We paid for our tickets, took a bus to Stonehenge, and walked around the path. It was good to get out of the car. Dani and Jerynn took a silly snapchat video in which they said “here we are at Stonehenge” while showing a selfie of themselves pointing at Stonehenge (which was in front of them, not visible in the video).

From the left: Mom, Dani, Ann

Salisbury

We planned to spend very little time in Salisbury. We arrived later than planned, well after everything had closed. Not that we expected to arrive before things closed, but we certainly hadn’t had time to explore the night before. We planned to walk to the Salisbury Cathedral first thing in the morning. I had hoped that Jerynn and I would walk from there to pick up the rental car and return to Qudoes for everyone and the bags. That didn’t work out.

We did walk to Salisbury Cathedral as soon as everyone was awake. Mom had tea, biscuits, and oatmeal in her room. I had tea and biscuits in my room. Dani had pop tarts. Jerynn had tea and Belvita. Ann had tea. We wanted to have everything packed before we left, so that all Ann, Dani, and mom would need to do is bring the bags down. Between getting all of us fed and packed, it got a little later than planned. Still, we made it to the Salisbury Cathedral in good time.

It was a short walk from Qudoes to the Salisbury Cathedral. Ann gave a donation for our entry. We walked around the Cathedral, stopping in the gift shop for postcards. Jerynn and I wrote post cards. We were going to stop at a house on the Cathedral grounds, but it didn’t open until well after our check out time. I wasn’t sure I would be able to find parking to return. Instead, we all walked back to Qudoes, stopping along the way for Jerynn and I to mail our post cards. (My post cards sent from this location arrived early August, about 80 days after mailing.)

We ended up all making the one and a half mile trek, hauling all our bags, to the car rental place. This jaunt provided some entertainment as members of my party struggled to look in the proper direction when crossing streets. We were stuck at one intersection for ages before I saw that there was an underpass system in place for pedestrians like us - but getting up and down the stairs for that detour, with all our bags, was a good reminder of why I had practically insisted that Ann’s family figure out how to pack everything to carry on. I had changed bags at the last minute and found myself annoyed the entire trip by my useless rolling duffle. England’s cobblestones require a different level of wheels than my throw away bag had.

We eventually arrived at the rental car place. All the rental car companies have congregated on one road in Salisbury, so we passed several others. Several places had different models of Mini’s, including my current car - Mini Countryman. I would have loved to drive a familiar sized vehicle, but I doubted that would be what we got because of the size of our party. I’m afraid, even with the carry-on limitation, we would not have had room for the five of us and all our bags.

Jerynn and I walked ahead to start the paperwork process. We got everything settled and went out to the car - a minivan. After some discussion, we returned inside to inquire about adding Ann as a second driver. It only cost £10/day to add a second driver. We were only keeping the car for three days, so we decided it was worth having the option. (Ann never drove, but it did relieve some pressure to know that she could have done.)

Our rental car for the trip
From the left: me, Jerynn, Ann, Dani

London-Heathrow

Customs in London took forever. I’ve gotten a little spoiled by Global Entry coming home. But we waited and made it through without incident. Our initial plan had been to take the London-Heathrow Express in to London, using our BritRail pass. We would then transfer from Paddington to Waterloo, where we could take another train to Salisbury.

With our bags at the airport
From the left: Jerynn, Dani, Ann, me

Ann’s neighbor, however, had offered a “faster” plan. We took a taxi to the station in Woking and took the train from there to Salisbury. The taxi to Woking cost $125 and took an hour and a half. We should have used our BritRail passes for the train from Woking to Salisbury, but we didn’t get them validated because Woking was such a small station. This may have saved us money if we had used that unused day of train travel, but our trip was pretty tightly scheduled so we didn’t get to take advantage of that. This may have been faster at a different time of day, but with the traffic we encountered, it unfortunately did not feel any faster.

We arrived at the train station in Salisbury and walked to Qudoes, where we were staying that night. It was just under a mile walk from the train station. After that walk and given the time of night, we decided to eat dinner at the pub at Qudoes. Perhaps we were hungry because it was a very good meal. That night, I shared one room with Dani, Ann and Jerynn shared another room, and mom had the third room. We were on the second floor above the pub. There was a game on when we were finishing dinner, so we worried that it would be loud. But by the time we went to bed, the game must have been finished because we couldn’t hear the shouting from below.

Our first meal in London
From the left: Jerynn, Mom, Dani, me, Ann

I woke up sometime in the middle of the night. Dani woke up shortly after and we lay in the dark talking for entirely too long. I managed to get back to sleep. I’m not sure if Dani did, but she made the best of it the following day.

Hectic Start

On May 16, the Kansas contingent would fly from MCI to LAX, arriving in LA just after 5:00 p.m. We would all be on the same 9:18 p.m. flight from LAX to LHR. To add to the adventure and challenge of coordination, we were flying Delta in the midst of “the largest relocation of its kind in US aviation history.” (footnote: https://www.wired.com/2017/05/lax-pulling-off-massive-frenzied-terminal-reshuffle/) Shifting 20 airlines between 4 terminals in LAX, without interrupting flights, requires more than a little planning.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Before I could leave town, I needed to finish a few last minute details. I needed to submit the homework that would be due while I was traveling, because I was missing two weeks in the middle of the semester. The past few days had been a mad dash of errands, homework, packing, and other preparation. I started my day with an eye doctor’s appointment, followed by dropping off my homework in Pasadena and attending another appointment there. I finished packing and got ready to go to the airport the suggested FOUR hours early (remember that little airline moving project at LAX? Delta recommended allowing at least four hours for an international flight). In all of the rush to get myself ready, I didn’t notice until after the Kansas contingent should have been in the air that not a single one of them had bothered to text me and let me know they were on their way.

I decided this was because each of them thought someone else was keeping me updated and didn’t want to overwhelm me with texts. Side note for anyone traveling with me in the future - I would rather hear six times that you’ve gotten to the airport than not hear at all. I hailed my ride-share and made my way to the airport, hopeful but uncertain that they would be joining me there. I decided to go to the terminal we would leave from instead of trying to meet them and get us all across the airport.

When they landed in LAX, I got several text messages. The Kansas contingent, unfamiliar with LAX before the Delta move, was unable to determine which terminal they were in. And the Delta employees were even less helpful. Upon boarding a bus they hoped was bound for our terminal, Jerynn asked the driver where they would be dropped off. (I had asked, by text, hoping to learn where I could most easily meet them.) The bus driver actually said that she did not know where she was taking them, she just drove where she was told. This did not inspire confidence in anyone. But as it turned out, they were able to quickly find the gate where I was waiting.

From the left: Ann, Jerynn, me, Dani

We walked around the terminal to determine our dinner options before settling on a hamburger place. The burger was good, but it was ridiculously expensive - even by LA standards. After eating, we returned to the gate. We still had some time before departure, so we decided to set up a phone charging station around a nearby pole. The new seating had built-in plugs between the seats, but the whole thing wasn’t connected to power yet, due to the move. I pulled out Craig’s travel adaptor, which allowed us to charge multiple devices on a single plug. Soon we were taking turns sitting with the devices while others sat nearby on the slightly more comfortable chairs.

From the left: Mom, Dani, Ann, Jerynn

The flight to London was largely unremarkable. The Kansas contingent was sitting together some distance from me, owing to the fact that we had purchased tickets separately. I was able to find them on the seat chat and we exchanged messages periodically through the flight. At one point, I walked back to visit. I could see that Ann, Jerynn, and Dani were asleep, but my mom was awake. They were on the other aisle, so I had to make my way back and around. By the time I returned to their row, my mom appeared to be asleep. I made my way back around to go down my aisle. I looked back and saw that my mom was awake again! I went back, determined that I would tap her on the arm even if she was pretending to be asleep by the time I got there. She was awake, so we stood back in the galley for awhile and talked before returning to our seats.

Trip Prep - Ladies Take London

I was at school when Ann texted to ask what I was doing at the end of May. My calendar was free, except for my current class which ran until mid-June, so I asked what she had in mind. She replied that she was planning a trip to celebrate the graduations - hers from grad school, Jerynn’s from college, and Dani’s from high school. We had talked ages ago about this trip, when it was still a pipe dream. So I responded, “I guess I’m going to England.”

Ann came up with a tentative list of locations she wanted to visit in England on this trip and Craig helped me come up with an itinerary that worked with the geography.  Because of the timing of the trip, I would be joining for the first part of the trip but leaving a few days before the others. I decided I most wanted to join the exploration of England outside of London, both because I’ve been to London several times and because I expect I will visit London again. I knew that searching for mom’s ancestors would require driving a car and I knew that I would not feel comfortable driving in London, so we decided we would take a train out to Salisbury and rent a car there to begin our adventures. We would drive to Stonehenge, Bath, various locations in Devon, and return the car in Taunton. From there, we would continue by train to York, Edinburgh, and return to London. We would take a short train trip up to Leavesdon, to visit the Harry Potter Studio Tour. And we would spend our remaining time (of which I had very little) in London.

The graphic I made for our shirts, which shows our planned itinerary.

We researched the price of train tickets and quickly learned that a BritRail pass was the only way to go. (This was verified later when we learned that the price of our first train trip from Taunton to York would have cost about 75% of the entire BritRail pass.) We settled on a four-day Brit Rail pass, anticipating that we would use it (1) London Heathrow Airport to Salisbury, (2) Taunton to York, (3) York to Edinburgh, (4) Edinburgh to London. I ordered the BritRail passes to be delivered to my house.

I created an online document that I could share with the others, indicating our travel plans each day (including mode of travel and length of time between each location), I listed various activities in each location (including opening and closing times, as well as admission prices), and I found a variety of accommodation options for each night.

As our trip quickly approached, I grew anxious about settling our accommodations for the trip. As I wasn’t the primary stakeholder, I didn’t feel comfortable unilatterally making decisions about where we would stay. We finally managed to set up a FaceTime call when Ann and the girls were at mom’s house, so we could hammer out some details. With several computers searching, we were able to make reservations for each night of our trip. When we had these details settled, I finalized our rental car reservation. Ann and I discussed various tours that we might prebook, but we ultimately only booked a tour called Eat, Walk, Edinburgh before we left.

I kept the online document updated throughout our planning. And I created a journal spread for my journal, including the weather predictions. I printed a condensed version of the online document for my journal. I also printed confirmations for the things I had booked and the research I had done for on mom’s ancestry.