The London/Paris Adventures - Entry #4

London Bridge is Falling Down...

Our First Sight of London.

We have arrived!!!!  It was an early August day and yet here we were in the beautiful weather of London and not back in the humid, hot days of home.  As the taxi cab zipped along into the heart of London and heading towards Kensington where our hotel was located on Queens Gate.  I couldn't keep my eyes from the windows.  I should be tired and I was.  We had been awake at that point for over twenty hours.  Yet, the thought of being in London and seeing buildings and fields and parks I hadn't seen before was so exciting.

My first sight of London, other than Heathrow, was of course waiting in line for the cute cabs.  My second was as we were driving to our hotel.  The first thing I saw out of the ordinary along the drive was a park full of ponies.  Ponies with big, bushy, hairy feet.  There were several parks we passed like that.  Finally though I started to notice the increase in traffic as we kept turning down road after road.  Several of the roads I looked down were narrower than in the United States but not as narrow as I remembered when I lived in France.  The names of the streets were much different as well.  After about twenty minutes we pulled up outside of our hotel...The Hotel Regency.  From the outside with its long awning and steps up to a glass door it looked so inviting.  We stepped out of the cab to the sight of this quaint hotel on the tree lined street that stretched too far for me to see all the way down. All the buildings were tall, white and looked almost like color coordinated row houses like in DC.

The porter took our bags and was very solicitous of us.  We stepped into an elegant lobby and checked into our hotel where no one behind the lobby desk was British. There was Italian and German and other nationalities but amusingly it did not seem that anyone that worked at the hotel was actually British.  The porter followed us to our floor in the elevator and set our bags inside.  He had to explain to me twice, mostly because I couldn't understand his foreign Italian accent at first, that the key card had to be placed into a slot and kept there for the lights in the room to work.  Good thing we got two keys. We kept one in that slot the whole time because we didn't want the air conditioning going out.  It was not humidly hot like in DC but hotel rooms still get stuffy. That is when TC noticed that the air conditioning does not go lower than 19 degrees Celsius.  Everywhere we went it seemed that air conditioning was not like in the United States.  Places were warmer in temperature. They were still comfortable but England definitely controls their AC usage.

After the porter left we look around the room and out the tiny window that sat high up the far wall.  There was a step on that side of the room with a chair and a place to put the big red monster and keep our items out of the way.  There was a desk and hanging from the wall a nice big TV.  The bed sat lower to the ground than I was used to but it was actually a comfortable bed.  It wasn't so soft and squishy like many hotels I have been in where you couldn't get comfortable.  Either that or....we were just that exhausted.

We walked the halls of the hotel a bit and then went to get something to eat.  Luckily when we were pulling up outside of our hotel I noticed a Gourmet Burger Kitchen just down the road on the opposite corner.  It was so close and I knew with how tired we were that is what we would be eating that night, or rather afternoon since it was still only about 4:00 in England (tea time).  We walked over to the Kitchen and saw a small, local place with wooden tables and booths against the wall.  On the tables were silver canisters that held forks and knives.  Inside were two servers, a tall, gangly blond young man who sounded like he was from Australia or New Zealand and and a curly headed Irish girl with freckles on her face.  They were very nice and welcoming and became the first official people we met in London, although still now local.  We had yet to meet anyone other than the cabbie with a British accent.  We proceeded to have some of the best burgers ever along with the best sweet potato fries and of course we had to try out the beer.

One of the things TC noticed as we ate were all the luxury, expensive, sporty cars.  No Hondas here.  It was Mercedes and Porsches and all other expensive car names you could think of. (I am not a car person so this fact would have passed by me completely if TC did not remark on it.)

Once we were fed, drank our beer, and satisfied with the new sights the waves of fatigue were starting to take over again.  The hotel offered a free glass of wine in the evenings and we ended our evening that way but barely made it through that simple glass before shuffling back up to our room.  I needed to take a shower and one of the things I noticed as I explored the desk upon arrival was that the blow dryer was not in the bathroom but in the desk where you could not remove it.  I showered quickly and when I exited the bathroom TC was already sleeping hard.  He was so tired that when I had to blow dry my hair in the sleeping area, still a strange concept to me, he barely moved a muscle.  I managed to dry my hair and then crawled into bed myself and that is about all I remembered for the next six hours.

We slept hard for a long time but ended up waking up about two in the morning and decided to explore the neighborhood around us before we went back to sleep. Along our walk I felt like I had stepped back in time and entered a Victorian novel.  All the buildings were cute and even in the dark I could see the allure and simplicity and yet elegance of my surroundings.  There was a small alley way that led back to our hotel and on the corner was a blue door.  The rest of the homes surrounding it were standard black but this had a blue door. Along with edges of the doorway there was ivy climbing up the walls.  It truly was like stepping back in time minus the uncomfortable corsets.

We were starting to get tired again and ready to go back to sleep.  Our first official full day of exploration of London would begin tomorrow and we needed our rest.  I knew though that I had already fallen in love with London.  The clean, crisp summer air, the small black cabs, the Victorian buildings, the parks.  I grew up hearing all about London most of my childhood from my father.  Walking back to the hotel that evening I felt a sense of familiarity and I could almost here my Dad's voice, "Welcome to London. One of the loveliest places on Earth."

To be continued...First full day in London - Shakespeare, Cleopatra, and a little thing called Big Ben.

The London/Paris Adventures - Entry #3

Welcome to London via Moscow...

We boarded our Russian plane, Aeroflot.  They name each flight after an important Russian figure from literature, science, or the arts.  We picked our seats prior to our trip and of course got a window and aisle seat near the wing. I am fascinated by the wings of planes. I don't remember who each of our flights were named after but I liked the idea of it.

We settled back in our seats which each had monitors in front of them and giant monitors at the front of the plane.  While we were taking off we got to watch just what the plane was seeing as it took off which was pretty awesome.  You could sit in your seat and pretend you were flying. Of course take off is not my favorite part of a flight.  In fact with each flight I held onto TC's hand so tight he may have felt like if I held any tighter the bones would start cracking.  Once we are in flight though I am much better.  It is just that moment of take-off. Yikes!

We managed take off though and the 1950s flight attendants came around for drinks. The first leg of our journey was a 9 hour flight to Moscow and then a two hour layover at Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport.  I had never been to Moscow.  The flight home was going to have an almost 11 hour layover and we had hoped when we were planning our trip that during that layover we would get to explore Moscow.  Unfortunately, if you are an American you need a visa to even leave the airport and enter Moscow, even for 10 hours.  We did not realize this until a week before our scheduled vacation so that was not possible. It also is a long complicated process and just on principal I probably would not have done that anyway.  Luckily the layover once we arrive at Moscow for the first part of our trip was only a little over two hours.

We spent the flight eating airline food which included seared salmon, TC enjoyed the lamb. It was not bad for airline food.  It was a lot fancier than I would have thought.  I had a glass of terrible white wine to start.  The red wine was better but not five star.  Overall, the dining and drinking experience was very airline with the small surprise at the attempt of fancier cuisine.  My first experience with Aeroflot on such a long, cramped flight was not going to badly.  Other than the rude Russian flight attendant who did not appreciate the fact that I did not speak fluent Russian it was still the plane that was taking me to London. TC was braver and tried out some of the Russian words we had been trying to learn for weeks.  The same rude attendant was still not appreciative but her co attendant was very nice and smiled with delight at the attempt.

So, what helped us get through a 9 hour flight.  There were a few things.  One was the map. We were able to track where our plane was flying.  It was so exciting to think about the places below us like Canada, Iceland, Finland, etc. Since we left mid afternoon we had a lot of light to see below us for several hours of the trip. Once night fell it got more difficult but seeing the lighted areas surrounded by dark areas was still a sight.  It was like looking at a telephone operator's old fashioned 1910 phone board where one side was lit up and one side dark.

A second item was watching all the people.  As a writer I am an avid people watcher and here I got such a mix of cultures.  The third thing that got us through our flight, and the one that got us through the most on that long trip, was the Walking Dead.  I recently discovered the show Walking Dead and have been trying to catch up on it.  I love it so much that even though I did not quite finish season three before the trip, I bought the whole fourth season.  That was a God send.  The monitors in front of us did have movies on them and quite a few movies but nothing beats the allure of zombies.

Towards the end of the 9 hour flight after it had been dark for a while I did start to get sleepy.  We were about to land though and sleep was not really possible.  TC was not sleepy.  When I tried to close my eyes he was excitedly taking pictures of the windmills you could see below us.  It is so impressive to know that Finland and Norway have these areas where there are so many of the modern windmills.  The funny part is that there is an area in the ocean that seem like a small city of windmills in the ocean.  There was so much to see and I was starting to get tired but ready to land in Moscow and then head on to the final flight of our trip and land at Heathrow...London Baby!

We finally landed in Moscow.  It was warm, very warm, in the terminal.  We found the international transfer area.  This is where we had one of the funniest moments of our trip.  We were standing in line where a very Russian woman was standing in what looked like a toll booth and would look at your passport and let you pass through to go to the security check.  She was an older woman probably in her 50s and had dark brown hair that was a bit curly and big like a 1960s bouffant style.  She looked a lot like a middle school lunch lady who glared at you as she scooped out a wad of mashed potatoes and slapped them on your tray.  She did not smile and was actually very intimidating.  I would not want to fight with her.  However, she was the most amusing person too.  She would look at everyone's passport and most passing through did not speak Russian.  Instead of just saying go ahead and pass through to security she yelled at everyone, "Go! I say Go!" Then waving her hands wildly to dismiss them to pass the gate and get out of her sight.  It was so funny watching this I could not help laugh...until it was my turn.  Expecting her reaction though I did not give her a chance to yell at me and immediately scuttled my butt out of the gate and toward the security check.  I remain unscathed from the Russian wrath of the passport lady.

I did not fare so well at the security check.  Security checks in America are large rooms with long lines and intimidating security individuals that pat you down and look through the scanners at your carry-on bag.  The security check in Moscow was such a small area with only one scanner.  I took my shoes off and my belt and did everything I should.  My carry-on was my laptop bag and it got its own bin.  I pushed everything through and walked through the scanner.  I checked out but the man watching the screen at my bag shook his head, glared at me, and said, "No, do again. Go! Do bag again." In his best Russian English.  Oh boy! Once again I was the one getting checked.  Once again it all ended well and he finally let me pass once I turned my bag upside down so he could see what was on the other side.

I was just happy to be that much closer to London. A two and a half hour layover and then a four hour flight and we are there.  The terminal we were in had narrow lanes full of people making it feel crowded...crowded and hot.  It was very warm in the airport and we were already so tired that even my carry-on felt heavy.  There are these AC tubes that look like hair curlers throughout the place.  The problem is most do not work.  We found one though that shot out heavy cool air and we claimed it as our own.  We leaned against it in fatigue and just sighed.  TC named him Philip. Philip was a God send.

After we cooled off for a bit we did manage to go into one of the small kiosks to look at all the Russian wares like the nesting dolls, magazines, newspapers, and crystal all etched with Russian images. Putin's image was everywhere and there was even a nesting doll of Putin. We had one mission though...water.  I picked out two bottles of water that I recognized, Evian.  Went to go pay and give my credit card to the old Russian lady at the counter.  She was not like the transfer lady though.  Oh she was about the same age and had the same curly bouffant hair type only in blond but she smiled.  She was so nice but when I went to pay she started speaking in fast Russian to me and I could not understand a word. We were having communication issues.  Finally we realized she was recommending the Russian water bottles because they were fewer Rubles than the Evian water. Plus, now we have a memento in Russian.

Then it was back to stand by Philip until our flight was going to leave for London.  We did not have as long to wait this trip and finally boarded the flight to Heathrow.  It was the same type of plane, named after another famous Russian, with the same 1950s style attendants.  This time though fatigue was certainly settling in on us.  Luckily this flight was only a little over three hours.  Once again Walking Dead got us through those hours and there was little excitement on the flight and we made the quick hop over to Heathrow.

We had arrived!  My fatigue abated a bit in the adrenaline rush of excitement.  Of course that excitement soon faded when I saw the line I would have to wait in for customs.  It looked like it was five miles long...it was probably only two miles long. I jest but it was very long.  Once we got closer we had to snake back and forth stepping closer and closer.  We learned that we could have purchased an attachment to our passport that would have allowed us to use the England/EU line versus the international line. It would have been worth it.  There wasn't anyone in the England/EU line.  We made it to the customs lady though.  She was very sweet and welcoming.  She told us of some sights and said it was unfortunate we were only going to be in London for four days.  I had hoped she would stamp my passport but instead she just approved us through.

We walked out of customs and the airport and stepped outside and realized...We are in LONDON!  The air felt the same but the sight already looked different.  The first thing we saw were the cute taxi cabs that looked old fashioned or like bowler hats with wheels.  The sounds were different.  It was not loud, American voices we were hearing but smooth, clipped British accents.  We got into the taxi line where I was asked, "Where are you going love?"  Ahhh, I love British people already. The taxi driver pulled up and opened up the front door to put the big red monster in a space next to him.  When I told him we were heading to Hotel Regency in Kensington on Queen's Gate Road he replied, "Jolly good.  We're off."  I couldn't believe what I was hearing, or even saying.  "Queen's Gate Road, Kensington."

I smiled to myself as we zipped along on what felt like the wrong side of the road in delight.  Welcome to London.

To be continued...First day in London - magic, beauty, amazement, and walking, walking, walking.

The London/Paris Adventures - Entry #2

Leaving on a jet plane...

Of course before we did that we had to be prepared.  That required more lists. Lists of things to buy and then lists of things to pack. My list of course included buying some clothes.  It was the little necessities though that became important. Buying the travel size toothpastes and soaps which are very cute and make it so much easier to pack.  Plus, it makes us adhere to all those flight security rules like not having bags over a certain weight limit.

When I was initially planning on the trip I figured I would go minimalist and just take my big backpack. I would be like a college kid heading off to Europe for a fun backpackers vacation.  I am not a college kid though and there are certain necessities like the aforementioned toothpaste and soap that I want and so I ended up having to pack the big red monster.

The big red monster is my huge suitcase on wheels.  It probably could fit a small adult in it if needed.  It is big and can be cumbersome but at least it has wheels to make the transporting of it much easier.  It is still a monster though so wheels or not the thing is big and not what I had hoped to take but became necessary to fit all my girlie needs into.  And, he did the job. He stretched himself out and fit all my clothes and shoes (yes, plural, a girl needs multiple shoes) and toiletries.

I had not traveled in a long time overseas, but I was more systematic this time in doing it.  I wrote out all the clothes, electronics, toiletries, shoes, everything really that I would be taking. It became a very long list.  I used that list as I packed and started the packing two days before the trip. That way, if I remembered that I forgot anything I still had time to add it into the bag or onto my list. Of course things still need to go into the big red monster in a set way to maximize space and remembering something that should be on the bottom requires unpacking and repacking.  Yes, that did happen. With a two day lead to pack though it gave me time to do all of that.

For me another necessity is not to have a flight that leaves too early. I am not a morning person and for all those items that need to be packed at the last minute it is key that I am awake in order to think about them and get everything I need.  In fact, we woke up excited the morning of our trip with plenty of time for showering and last minute packing...or so I thought.

I had run downstairs after I thought I was done packing but before I was about to shower before a 16 hour trip.  I remembered that I hadn't checked us into the Aeroflot airline online. Not having flown Aeroflot before I thought that was another necessity that I forgot to put on my list.  I opened my email, found the website, clicked to check us in and boom. (And that was not a good boom). I had the wrong code. Oh no, what if they didn't have us on this flight really.  This was all a trick to get me excited. London and Paris I tried to get there but couldn't.

So, I found the phone number AND saw that you could chat with them online to get the right code for online check-in.  I was starting to worry about the time so I did the logical thing.  I started a chat AND called the airline.  One of them would be faster and one of them would respond.  Luckily, or strangely, they both answered at the same time.  The chat attendant reached out at the same time the phone attendant got on.  I couldn't close down one.  That would be rude. So, I had both people working for me at the same time.

I will say I preferred the chat.  Not because it was faster because they also both got me the right code at the same time and that was not fast.  It took forever to get the code.  Nope, it was because the person on the phone was not the most pleasant.  There may have been a slight language barrier.  I spoke English and they spoke mean Russian. That is okay. I got the code and plugged it in and it said we were good to go.  London here we come.

This meant though that time had run out. No shower before the 16 hour flight.  Good thing I packed deodorant in my carry on.  I would have to do a Polish shower for the trip.

We drove to the airport and Aeroflot was the first airline.  We parked in the parking garage and in our excitement parked at the farthest end of the parking garage to the long tunnel that connects the garage to the airport.  We didn't care.  Only the big red monster cared when he wheeled along and tried to overturn on me a couple times.  He did not prevail though.  Half way to the tunnel we stopped to document our trip with pictures of the airport.  We have been to this airport a million times but it wasn't taking us to London then as it was today.  It was a beautiful sunny day and the airport looked like a giant happy place that takes people on wonderful adventures.

After a few photos we made the long hike through the tunnel to arrive inside the airport.  There was no turning back now.  In front of us was the Aeroflot counter with some of the cutest flight attendants I had ever seen. The Aeroflot attendants look like they belong on flights from the 1950s.  The women had on orange skirts and jackets with white tops and orange scarves around their necks.  Their hair was perfectly coiffed and the picture at Aeroflot even showed one blond attendant with white gloves on.  It was like stepping into a 1950s airline fashion magazine.

As rude as the woman on the phone for Aeroflot was the ladies at the desk were very sweet.  They had Russian accents of course and luckily the big red monster passed the weight test.  A feat anyone can appreciate when having to be weighed in public.  The line to get to the desk was a bit long and slow but watching all the people that may be flying with us that day was fascinating.  There were couples and families, young and old.  Everyone seemed excited.  Unfortunately, we had to rush to get to security though because the long line did not give us as much extra time as I had hoped since I know security check-ins can be long grueling lines of anxious people.

That is exactly what is was also.  It was a confusing mass of people.  I don't know why but it always seems that most individuals look excited at the ticket counters and anxious going through security...anxious and annoyed.  I don't mind the long security checks if I stay safe so we got through the long line, took of our shoes, our belts, and put our laptops in separate bins. I got yelled at for not doing that the last time I traveled.  I was going to make sure that wouldn't happen again.  Then you stand ready to go through the scanner and I was not worried.  I walked in, turned to the side, and put my hands up. BEEP!

"Step over here ma'am."  (Side note: I hate being called ma'am, especially by someone who was probably older than I am.)  I had to get checked by the lady.  I passed.  Of course TC laughed when he made it through the scanner no problem.  TC enjoyed watching me squirm I think.  It was funny though. I was so confident and then here I was the one being checked.

Security line was completed and we now could shuttle to our terminal.  Once in the terminal we had just enough time to grab a bite to eat to take onto the plane.  There was no waiting around at any point for the flight to London. We timed everything perfectly and a little by the skin of our teeth.  Getting all the passengers onto the plane was a long line that we patiently, or impatiently really, stood in.  I found a way to amuse myself though as I watched one woman inch ahead of everyone very slowly and slyly so they wouldn't even know she was doing it.  Every time the line moved forward she managed to get in front of the person ahead of her.  She started out behind TC and I and now she was already ten people ahead.  The girl had mad line-cutting skills.

We made it through the third line of the day though and got onto the plane and found our seats.  Once we sat down we realized why Aeroflot may be the cheaper way to fly.  It would be easier to cut your legs off and stick them in the overhead bin to free up some space.  We were all like cramped sardines on the first leg of our journey, a 9 hour flight to Moscow.

Our excitement was not to be deterred though.  We were on our way to London.  This was going to be great.

To be continued with Entry #3 - Moscow airport introduction and London arrival! Oh yeah!

The London/Paris Adventures - Entry #1

Oh Where? Oh Where Are We To Go?

I had a big birthday last year...no, I will not mention which one...and, I had said I was going to go on a trip to celebrate, or commiserate, whichever you choose. It did not seem like it would happen but it did. I finally took the time and the money and I went for vacation.

Since I am a writer I thought I would take this trip and write about it as well.  In many ways this was like writing a novel. You start with an idea and you outline out the idea until you finally sit down and put pen to paper, or in modern times open up that word document and start to put those ideas down in words. When planning a vacation there is only one idea that you need to start...

Where are we to go?

I had several choices. I could make this a more exotic trip and go outside of my element by visiting Israel or Turkey or even Romania. I could go traditional and visit London or Paris which is one of my absolute favorite places to visit. It also gives me a chance to speak my beloved French. We could do tropical and go to an island. We could do historical and go, well anywhere really. We could pick a location in the US like Alaska or Hawaii that we have never been. So of course, if you knew me at all, you know I started to plan by making a list of all of the cities and places I would have loved to have visited.  My list looked a little like this:

London/France

London/Ireland/Scotland

Israel

Bulgaria/Romania

Iceland

Cuba (Just Kidding!  LOL)

Thailand

Greece

Egypt

There are so many places to visit on the map.  I lived in Avignon, France at one point in my life and got to visit many places in France while there including Paris, as well as Italy, Germany and Austria. Unfortunately, I ran out of money to go anywhere else. Plus, that was many moons ago. Seeing those places I had visited again would be like seeing them for the first time after so much time had passed.  The decision was finally made and we decided to visit...drum roll please...London and Paris.  I checked ticket prices, which is very easy now with all the site comparisons that are done online.  We selected to fly Aeroflot and save a bit of money on the airline versus the hotel.  I had never heard of Aeroflot prior to this trip.  It had the best prices though.  I learned it was a Russian airline and the lower prices also came with a long, 10.5 hour layover

Oh this was going to be exciting...of course that leads to the next question.

Where will we stay?

Although, the where will we stay question often can go hand in hand with What will we do?  There where will we stay was harder to answer than the where will we go.  In fact, it took me an entire day of looking through hotels and options to pick a London hotel and then another two full days to pick the Paris hotel.  Picking a hotel should not be so simple that you just select the first nice picture you see.  When traveling abroad it is often easier and cheaper if you pick a hotel that offers breakfast for example.  Although, not many of those to see in my Paris list.  I want a hair dryer and, believe it or not, air conditioning.  Not every hotel has standard air conditioning like in the United States.  You may want a gym or twin beds or a restaurant, or you want it in a certain area.  Whatever your amenities and preferences are it is important to look through them, decided which are MUSTS and which are LIKES and then run a list and start parsing through it.

A piece of advice though, don't always take the reviews to heart but don't discredit them either. Some of the problems with finding a hotel is that people love to post their negative comments on the hotel and yet, you may have a wonderful time.  They are good to read but scan them thoroughly to conclude which are still okay even though they do not offer the amenities you want.  For me it became a daunting task of look at a hotel, like it, read the reviews, get scared.  At one point, I walked around my office asking if anyone had suggestions for hotels in Paris or London.  Each of the hotels I found came after great review and a decision that I finally found the right one...well, and I couldn't stand to look at another one and just made the decision.

Next up was deciding what we really wanted to see in those cities.  We were not staying weeks with ample time to do everything.  It was four days in London and three days in Paris.  That is not really a lot of time but we managed to cram so much in just four days (more on that later though).  We are not really travelers that plan out our whole itinerary down to the last minute.  We are much more casual about our approach.  There were certain places and monuments that were on our MUST list though which helped.  We learned along the way to plan out our routes better based on what we wanted to see and where we wanted to go but I write this with a satisfied feeling that I got to see all the MUSTS of our trip.

More to come with Entry #2...Leaving for London