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UK trip
Posted on Sun Sep 7, 2008 at 10:24 pm
I figured I'm overdue to summarize how our family trip to England went. So, here it comes.
I figured I'm overdue to summarize how our family trip to England went. So, here it comes.
We had a direct flight to Heathrow, which was swell. It left at 9:30 pm, which made for relaxing preparations as I had us 90% packed the night before and was therefore unharried and well-rested the next day. Kids were unimpressed with how much time is spent waiting around in the airport. We played cards and walked around counting plastic trees, trash cans, and video displays to pass the time.
They both stayed awake for a couple hours after takeoff, despite it already being past their bedtime. Everything was too interesting and new. I give BritishAirways full marks for having their act together -- free kid activity packs that would have been sufficient for entertainment without all the stuff I put in the kids' backpacks. Plus the onboard entertainment system is sweet: individual screens with a wide selection of movies, tv shows, and music. Kids sampled various things, but didn't stick with any of it for too long, and eventually followed suggestions to try sleeping. They each slept a good 5 hours or so. Unfortunately neither Kendall or I managed to sleep at all, but we at least had a few good relaxing hours.
After getting through long lines for passport control, waiting for the rental car shuttle, we finally picked up our car and got underway. Kendall adapted reasonably quickly to driving on the left, though it definitely had us both weirded out, especially any time we needed to turn right and one had to figure which lane to go into and which way to look for oncoming traffic. The bazillion roundabouts actually help with that, as there are few places to make a traditional right turn. We went to Stonehenge and stopped for the obligatory walk around while snapping pictures from every angle. Then it was on to Salisbury where we had a B&B booked for the night. After getting checked in, Kendall crashed for a good hour (can't recall why I didn't, except that I knew the danger of us both going to sleep without any sort of alarm to set). Just when I was contemplating trying to hook-up with K's parents and brother who were also staying in Salisbury for the night, Geoff knocked on the door. After strolling around the central part of town for a bit, we finally settled on a pub to have dinner in, and fine meal it was. And, in my quest to further my education in all things alcoholic, I sampled my mum-in-law's shandy which was quite tasty. After dinner we fell asleep and slept right through the breakfast hour the next morning...
The next day we drove north to Ambleside in the Lake District. The initial roads were narrow, minor highways which are sometimes barely wide enough for two compact cars to pass each other. We were much amused by a number of "tank crossing" signs, and I got a blurry picture of one. Finally we joined a real motorway (M5, then M6 as I recall) and it became like highways we're used to, only on the opposite side. I give the Brits a big thumbs up for keeping a strict hierarchy of fast-faster-fastest in the three lanes at all times. In the US, whenever roads have more than two lanes the notion of slow cars in one lane and passing only in the other lane goes right out the window, with the slowest cars usually liking to camp in the middle lane and people passing on whichever side seems convenient at the time. But England gets a thumbs down for over-congested roads at all hours of the day. No wonder you Brits don't like to drive anywhere, it takes for-ev-er! In the US it'd take 3 hours to go 200 miles, unless it's through a major urban area like New York City. In the UK, it took about double that, which is just painful when you're trying to get somewhere. We made it to Ambleside around dinner time, checked in to our B&B, ate, walked around the area a bit, and crashed for the night.
Next day we drove to the south end of Lake Windermere (Ambleside's at the north end, and the lake is just over 10 miles long) and met up with family again at a marina. Kendall's sister and her fiance had arranged for the rental of a 37 ft sailboat for the day, and we got to sail it from the marina up to the wedding hotel (the Langdale Chase, about halfway up the length of the lake). Brother-in-law Geoff is an experienced sailor, and Kendall and father-in-law Bruce happily helped crew. The kids had fun looking around, and playing down below deck. As usual, I took a bazillion pictures. My in-laws didn't bother taking more than one or two as I clearly had it all covered.
We were met by sis-in-law Karla and fiance Steve at the hotel's boat dock, with champagne. I have to say, that's the classiest way I've ever travelled to a wedding venue. We checked in, admired our beautiful room and the view and the grounds, and wandered around and visited with other guests for the afternoon. Kendall went to retrieve the car (which of course was at the marina, with all our luggage), and then helped crew the sailboat which Geoff took out with various groups of weddings guests all afternoon. My son had the most fun playing badminton, and suckered one of Karla's graduate students into playing with him for hours it seemed.
The next day there was another boat ride arranged -- this time a tour boat which slowly motored around the whole lake. I snapped another bazillion pictures, and the kids had fun playing with Steve's three nieces who bracket them age-wise. Then it was lunchtime followed by dressing for the wedding and...you guessed it, the wedding. A simple civil ceremony, and I swear half of it was the couple both swearing that there was no legal impediment to them getting married (that's not typical of a US wedding, I presume that having a wedding license is proof enough without announcing it to all the guests). That was followed by general mingling and a formal dinner and then dancing.
They had a couple babysitters on hand for the 20+ small children in attendance, which our kids intermittently enjoyed -- it was very handy to have entertainment for them when needed but not simply have to abandon them too it for hours on end. They were well-organized with lots of activities and movies. G made a fleet of paper airplanes of various designs, all of which were tested from the 2nd floor overlook of the grand hall, and M made a lovely bead necklace. They joined the dancing for a while, and then to my surprise they decided they'd rather go back to our room and watch a dvd we had brought with than dance more (a year ago at another family wedding they danced until they dropped at midnight).
The next day we had a slow morning and eventually gathered at a pub for lunch, to be followed by a hike for any who were interested. I tried the very British drink of Pimm's at lunch and liked it very much -- I had a whole glass! Then it was hike time, a supposed easy-going 5 mile affair which we weren't sure the kids could really manage but figured we could start out with everyone and turn around when we'd gone far enough... Well, we didn't get far at all, as the walk to the start of the real trail happened to go right past the B&B in Ambleside that we were going to be staying at again. The kids were already tired of walking, and K and I were just plain tired (K picked up a cold the previous day and neither one of us slept well as a result on the previous night) -- oh, and it was drizzling. So we checked in, set the kids up with a video and both napped. For dinner that night we met back up with Kendall's parents and brother. We almost ate at the Glass House which was apparently featured on one of Gordon Ramsey's shows a while ago, but the prices were steep so we went back to a nice little Italian place that K & I had tried several nights prior.
The next day another more serious hike was planned for those that were interested, which was definitely not us. We had planned to drive north to see Hadrian's Wall, but it was pouring rain that day, so instead our family plus Kendall's parents opted for yet another boat ride followed by a steam train ride. The kids enjoyed both, as did we (many more pictures taken), and we stayed relatively dry unlike the crazy hikers. That night the whole group that stayed post-wedding (20-30 people) had dinner at a tapas bar. I now know what the heck a tapas bar is (basically you order a whole bunch of different appetizer-like foods and share them around the table, sooooo yummy!), and that I like sangria.
The next day we said our goodbyes and drove back to London, staying in a hotel near Heathrow overnight before our flight. The flight went well (love the BA policy of serving kids meals before anyone else's, if you remember to order it online in advance...), though it was long since the kids didn't nap at all and were bored with 7+ hours of sitting around. Right when we were supposed to put on seat belts for landing my daughter decided it was time for a potty emergency, and we impressed the flight attendants with her lightning quickness at getting business done (which was good as we got looks of horror at first as we approached the toilets). We passed through US customs a bit faster than the Euro ones (this time as citizens we got the quick lines!), but then waited forever for luggage -- and fretted over the last piece of luggage that was significantly after the rest.
All in all we had a fabulous time, things went smoothly, and the weather cooperated on the right days.
I figured I'm overdue to summarize how our family trip to England went. So, here it comes.
We had a direct flight to Heathrow, which was swell. It left at 9:30 pm, which made for relaxing preparations as I had us 90% packed the night before and was therefore unharried and well-rested the next day. Kids were unimpressed with how much time is spent waiting around in the airport. We played cards and walked around counting plastic trees, trash cans, and video displays to pass the time.
They both stayed awake for a couple hours after takeoff, despite it already being past their bedtime. Everything was too interesting and new. I give BritishAirways full marks for having their act together -- free kid activity packs that would have been sufficient for entertainment without all the stuff I put in the kids' backpacks. Plus the onboard entertainment system is sweet: individual screens with a wide selection of movies, tv shows, and music. Kids sampled various things, but didn't stick with any of it for too long, and eventually followed suggestions to try sleeping. They each slept a good 5 hours or so. Unfortunately neither Kendall or I managed to sleep at all, but we at least had a few good relaxing hours.
After getting through long lines for passport control, waiting for the rental car shuttle, we finally picked up our car and got underway. Kendall adapted reasonably quickly to driving on the left, though it definitely had us both weirded out, especially any time we needed to turn right and one had to figure which lane to go into and which way to look for oncoming traffic. The bazillion roundabouts actually help with that, as there are few places to make a traditional right turn. We went to Stonehenge and stopped for the obligatory walk around while snapping pictures from every angle. Then it was on to Salisbury where we had a B&B booked for the night. After getting checked in, Kendall crashed for a good hour (can't recall why I didn't, except that I knew the danger of us both going to sleep without any sort of alarm to set). Just when I was contemplating trying to hook-up with K's parents and brother who were also staying in Salisbury for the night, Geoff knocked on the door. After strolling around the central part of town for a bit, we finally settled on a pub to have dinner in, and fine meal it was. And, in my quest to further my education in all things alcoholic, I sampled my mum-in-law's shandy which was quite tasty. After dinner we fell asleep and slept right through the breakfast hour the next morning...
The next day we drove north to Ambleside in the Lake District. The initial roads were narrow, minor highways which are sometimes barely wide enough for two compact cars to pass each other. We were much amused by a number of "tank crossing" signs, and I got a blurry picture of one. Finally we joined a real motorway (M5, then M6 as I recall) and it became like highways we're used to, only on the opposite side. I give the Brits a big thumbs up for keeping a strict hierarchy of fast-faster-fastest in the three lanes at all times. In the US, whenever roads have more than two lanes the notion of slow cars in one lane and passing only in the other lane goes right out the window, with the slowest cars usually liking to camp in the middle lane and people passing on whichever side seems convenient at the time. But England gets a thumbs down for over-congested roads at all hours of the day. No wonder you Brits don't like to drive anywhere, it takes for-ev-er! In the US it'd take 3 hours to go 200 miles, unless it's through a major urban area like New York City. In the UK, it took about double that, which is just painful when you're trying to get somewhere. We made it to Ambleside around dinner time, checked in to our B&B, ate, walked around the area a bit, and crashed for the night.
Next day we drove to the south end of Lake Windermere (Ambleside's at the north end, and the lake is just over 10 miles long) and met up with family again at a marina. Kendall's sister and her fiance had arranged for the rental of a 37 ft sailboat for the day, and we got to sail it from the marina up to the wedding hotel (the Langdale Chase, about halfway up the length of the lake). Brother-in-law Geoff is an experienced sailor, and Kendall and father-in-law Bruce happily helped crew. The kids had fun looking around, and playing down below deck. As usual, I took a bazillion pictures. My in-laws didn't bother taking more than one or two as I clearly had it all covered.
We were met by sis-in-law Karla and fiance Steve at the hotel's boat dock, with champagne. I have to say, that's the classiest way I've ever travelled to a wedding venue. We checked in, admired our beautiful room and the view and the grounds, and wandered around and visited with other guests for the afternoon. Kendall went to retrieve the car (which of course was at the marina, with all our luggage), and then helped crew the sailboat which Geoff took out with various groups of weddings guests all afternoon. My son had the most fun playing badminton, and suckered one of Karla's graduate students into playing with him for hours it seemed.
The next day there was another boat ride arranged -- this time a tour boat which slowly motored around the whole lake. I snapped another bazillion pictures, and the kids had fun playing with Steve's three nieces who bracket them age-wise. Then it was lunchtime followed by dressing for the wedding and...you guessed it, the wedding. A simple civil ceremony, and I swear half of it was the couple both swearing that there was no legal impediment to them getting married (that's not typical of a US wedding, I presume that having a wedding license is proof enough without announcing it to all the guests). That was followed by general mingling and a formal dinner and then dancing.
They had a couple babysitters on hand for the 20+ small children in attendance, which our kids intermittently enjoyed -- it was very handy to have entertainment for them when needed but not simply have to abandon them too it for hours on end. They were well-organized with lots of activities and movies. G made a fleet of paper airplanes of various designs, all of which were tested from the 2nd floor overlook of the grand hall, and M made a lovely bead necklace. They joined the dancing for a while, and then to my surprise they decided they'd rather go back to our room and watch a dvd we had brought with than dance more (a year ago at another family wedding they danced until they dropped at midnight).
The next day we had a slow morning and eventually gathered at a pub for lunch, to be followed by a hike for any who were interested. I tried the very British drink of Pimm's at lunch and liked it very much -- I had a whole glass! Then it was hike time, a supposed easy-going 5 mile affair which we weren't sure the kids could really manage but figured we could start out with everyone and turn around when we'd gone far enough... Well, we didn't get far at all, as the walk to the start of the real trail happened to go right past the B&B in Ambleside that we were going to be staying at again. The kids were already tired of walking, and K and I were just plain tired (K picked up a cold the previous day and neither one of us slept well as a result on the previous night) -- oh, and it was drizzling. So we checked in, set the kids up with a video and both napped. For dinner that night we met back up with Kendall's parents and brother. We almost ate at the Glass House which was apparently featured on one of Gordon Ramsey's shows a while ago, but the prices were steep so we went back to a nice little Italian place that K & I had tried several nights prior.
The next day another more serious hike was planned for those that were interested, which was definitely not us. We had planned to drive north to see Hadrian's Wall, but it was pouring rain that day, so instead our family plus Kendall's parents opted for yet another boat ride followed by a steam train ride. The kids enjoyed both, as did we (many more pictures taken), and we stayed relatively dry unlike the crazy hikers. That night the whole group that stayed post-wedding (20-30 people) had dinner at a tapas bar. I now know what the heck a tapas bar is (basically you order a whole bunch of different appetizer-like foods and share them around the table, sooooo yummy!), and that I like sangria.
The next day we said our goodbyes and drove back to London, staying in a hotel near Heathrow overnight before our flight. The flight went well (love the BA policy of serving kids meals before anyone else's, if you remember to order it online in advance...), though it was long since the kids didn't nap at all and were bored with 7+ hours of sitting around. Right when we were supposed to put on seat belts for landing my daughter decided it was time for a potty emergency, and we impressed the flight attendants with her lightning quickness at getting business done (which was good as we got looks of horror at first as we approached the toilets). We passed through US customs a bit faster than the Euro ones (this time as citizens we got the quick lines!), but then waited forever for luggage -- and fretted over the last piece of luggage that was significantly after the rest.
All in all we had a fabulous time, things went smoothly, and the weather cooperated on the right days.