Goodby beautiful Cardiff from this slow traveller

 So goodbye to Cardiff. A cool city with so much more potential. 

I think Cardiff will become even better than it is now. There is a separation between the beautiful bay and the center.  If they can somehow make it easier to get down there this city will explode. 

You can take a bus to the bay but we chose to walk. It’s about 40 minutes and you walk through a not so nice area.  The bus takes 30 minutes. It’s the regular city bus and not a tourist shuttle or anything.

The bay front has some development but has so much more potential. I can see hotels and condos in its future. Lots more restaurants. More use of the water with boating. There is only one boat that goes around the bay. There is a brand new arts building for theatre, music, dance that is really cool. The Welsh parliament is down there.

In the 1980s the bay entrance was restructured so there would be more of a consistent level of water and the entrance wasn’t all sand during low tide. 

If you walk around central Cardiff and take it at face value you won’t be impressed. The fun is inside the buildings and arcades. They hides lots of independents shops, markets and restaurants. 

Cardiff isn’t fancy but the River Taff and the gorgeous park along it on the castle grounds make it beautiful along the gorgeous bay.

This slow traveller loves Cardiff Wales

 Interesting contrast between London and Cardiff. London has 9.5 million people and covers a huge area. Cardiff has 485,000 and is compact. 

London is frenzy, Cardiff is calm. The biggest difference I’ve noticed between the two is the people. Londoners seem posh. It seems like nobody goes out of their house without making an effort to look good. Not everybody, but most. 

I don’t want this to sound classist. It is not intended that way at all. The people in Cardiff seem like regular everyday people. Working people. They aren’t trying to impress anybody. They dress how they want. Casually. Very few people here are made up like models or celebrities.

I feel more comfortable in Cardiff. They are more my kind of people. They will look you in the eye. Say hello. In London no one said hello. It’s probably just the difference between a big city and a small city.

Wales is like the working class cousin of England. There are rich people here but they don’t feel visible. They probably shop in London. Spend lots of time there. 

Cardiff gets 20 million tourists a year. The bay is beautiful and it feels like that area is going to to explode in popularity in the coming years. Cardiff has lots of shopping. Central Cardiff has lots and lots of small shops of all kinds, many in arcades and shopping centers tucked away. Lots and lots of pubs. Beautiful green spaces. Lastly it has rich history. 

Cardiff is a place you have to explore in the nooks and crannies and alleys to find interesting things. It’s worth it.

Cardiff Wales medieval history slow travel

 You really have to dig for interesting nuggets. Like today seeing the remnant of the town wall in Cardiff that was built for defense purposes in 1100. 

I like to look up what are the oldest places. This came up. So I went to find it. I looked and looked It was across from Cardiff castle by Pizza Hut. I just happened to look in the alley behind Pizza Hut and there it was! Looking at it you would never guess it’s history. 

It was part of a 1.2 mile defensive built around the city. It was 8 ft high and 10 foot thick. There was nothing identifying it as this significant piece of history. Just knowing that was built 1100 years ago and seeing it is so cool. 

There are also remnants of a 3rd century Roman wall in the Cardiff castle walls. It is outlined in red on the photo. Unbelievable.

Cardiff fascination’ history to this slow traveller

I never planned to go to Wales thinking Wales? Boring. It’s anything but…

Loving history like I do, it’s an interesting place. To me, anyway. This was one of the big coal capitols of the world. At its height it moved 11 million tons through Cardiff harbor a year. I cant even imagine what that must have looked like with train car after train car being loaded onto ships. Ships coming in from all over. The town was built on it. 

It made a lot of people very rich. During the Victorian era. I’m sure Cardiff was a mix of the wealthy and the working class who worked the docks. People from around the world who crewed the shipped coming into the harbor settled here, representing many countries including Somalia, Yemen and Greece. The area around the docks became a multiracial community. 

After World War 2 coal production almost completely ceased leaving Cardiff in economic decline. Refugees came from war torn countries in the 1970-80s.

The bay was redeveloped in the 1990s into a place for entertainment and water activities. The Welsh parliament is there. There is a large arts center there.

Nowadays Cardiff relies on finance, tech, retail and tourism. Cardiff gets 21 millions tourists a year! 

Cardiff Bay in 1890s and today.

Beautiful Cardiff slow travel

 Beautiful day in Cardiff today. You can tell this is a port city because lots of seagulls flying around and calling loudly.  

I absolutely love Cardiff! It feels like you can breathe here and it’s not so dirty. There are so may less people and it feels more relaxed. Because of all this I am more relaxed. It’s nice.

I loved London, but like New York it is so fast paced and crowded. It’s like stepping into a whirlwind and trying to keep up with it. I’ve always  lived in the city but no where near that size. It’s fun to visit but wouldn’t want to live there. 

In order to really discover a city, I’m finding you have to look into its history. The basis of Cardiff and all of Wales for a very long time was coal production. It was once one of the biggest coal suppliers in the world. Brought lots of wealth here. Especially to Cardiff which had the port where the ships came in. 

In order to give the rich people something to do with their money back in the 1950s arcades we’re build in central cardiff. They are referred to as Victorian arcades. They are little shopping streets or alleys inside buildings. There are shops and restaurants. Really cool. The oldest is the royal arcade. 

I’ve only visited one but intend on going to all 8 of them.

Cardiff clear, Cardiff cloudy,etc.

 Cardiff is such a breath of fresh air. It is a much smaller city than London. It's under 500,000. The air is fresh. Everything is green. It's not congested. It's not hustle bustle. We don't have to use the train here. It's walkable or you can take the bus for really cheap. 

When we got here it was cloudy. We lucked into finding the bus to where we're staying. Then we went past it and had to walk back. No big deal. Our airbnb is very nice in a really cool neighborhood called Pontcanna. It has huge stone houses.

Todays weather has been interesting. Went down to central Cardiff for groceries. Beautiful and sunny.  On way back downpour. Took the bus partway. Get home sun comes out. Then thunderstorm. Then sunny again. Now thunderstorm. Really hard rain and hail. Thought the picture with galoshes appropriate.

When I looked at the forecast for the week we are here, I was worried. Rain everyday. On closer examination it looks like what happened today happens everyday.

Cant wait to explore Cardiff!

Snooze you lose slow travel

 Today we leave London and go to Wales.

The hardest part of this trip will be the traveling. Today we left the air bnb 3 hours early with idea of stopping at McDonalds (I know yuck) to get at least coffee. 

From there we just went to Paddington station. So we got there at maybe 10:45am. Our train is at 12:17. We had no idea how this was going to work so went way early. 

Our train wasn’t even on the board when we got there. Sat outside station for a while. Went back in and it was on the board, no platform. So how does this work?

M went up to info desk. They told him 15 minutes before leaving time, platform number will appear. Then you have 15 minutes get yourself on train and in a seat. 

So next it says the train is delayed. Uh oh. Oh did I say everybody waiting  or sitting in front the big electronic sign. Most people have to stand. It’s very bizarre that you have to stand there waiting the platform letter to appear.

So within 5 minutes the letter appears. All these people start moving toward where the platform is. It’s like a rush to get to the train.

When I ordered the tickets, you could choose a seat so I did. I think that was baloney. Everyone sat where they wanted. Did they rush to get window seats? Or a four seat table place? We’re they afraid they wouldn’t make the train?

I think it’s that people have been trained you better get your butt in the seat, no dawdling. This train has a schedule to keep. Snooze you lose.

An oasis in London

 I have talked about nooks and crannies and mews and alleyways. Hidden treasures. Yesterday I set out to find one: Neal’s Yard. It is a very small alley with shops and restaurants. It’s cute but I didn’t think it was anything special.

So M was getting his hair cut and I would meet him in a couple hours. So after Neal’s Yard, I  decided to just wonder around the area and I wandered into a hidden place that was really cool.

It was called Phoenix park. It is a small community garden with trees and flowers and benches. There are winding path. It is a little oasis in a busy city. 

The park was started by community members who still take care of it. There is a small building where they hold events. 

I sat there for a while just enjoying the greenery and listened to a church bell toll. There were pretty flowers and the usual pigeons walking around. London has thousands of pigeons and they are everywhere.

If was so relaxing. 

Met up with M and we decided to go to Borough market to have a really good street taco there. They were closing! We didnt get one one.

I went here on my own the first time and loved the taco. We went back the day after the tube strike last week and the whole market was closed. So this was a second try!  

I guess I wasn’t meant to have another one…too bad. Best food I’ve had here. Goodbye Taco Parde.

Discombobulation

 This blog has been discombobulated ( great word). I wanted to do it from the very beginning of the idea of this but I was already in the middle of it. Trying to do that didn’t allow to talk about the days events. So forget detailing everything from the start. This will be a daily blog of that or yesterdays experiences and thoughts. Hopefully that will make it more fun.

Highlights from slow travel in London

This has been quite the month. As of tomorrow we left the U.S. 32 days ago. 

At the beginning I had my doubts about the whole deal.  Sleep deprivation had me in quite a state. So got past that and here we are. 

I’m looking back on the month and feel like we have covered a whole lot of London. Most of central and all it’s tourist sites. Went to many different neighborhoods.

I’m not really someone who is into museums so didn’t visit any. I’m not saying won’t go to the Lourve, but nothing hear jumped out at me. 

I like to walk around and observe mostly. Sit in different areas. Look up funky areas or hidden places and go there. It’s more fun to me.

I did see the requisite tourist attractions: Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Tower bridge, the Eye, etc. that was cool but I enjoyed neighborhoods more where you can see how people live.

Thinking about what were  highlights, I can think of the top two. The first is coming out of the subway and seeing Westminster Palace was jaw dropping. It is such a magnificent place. Big Ben makes it even more beautiful. Then right next it is Westminster Abbey, another architectural marvel. Just unbelievable.

The other big highlight is at the opposite end of the spectrum. The neighborhood of Camden Town. It is a combination of hippy and punk with its funky storefronts and, shall we say, interesting people. I absolutely loved it.

I already have so many memories.

London Mews slow travel

 London has so many nooks and crannies, little alleyways. You have to live in the neighborhood or have someone tell you where they are. 

I noticed that in central London when we first got here. I also remember reading stay away from the tourist eateries, go to side streets, alleys to find good cheap food. 

Things are hidden here You won’t see them unless you know about them. There are churches whose entrances are not on the street, but back in a hidden corner. That was the case for the oldest church in London., St Bartholomew the Great. The entrance was down a very short street -Cloth Fair,into the small churchyard and down some stairs.

People live in Mews. Mews were originally stables and carriage houses with living quarters above them. They were behind big city houses and often had an entranceway that led to a row of dwellings or a courtyard. This was before motorized vehicles . They housed the servants, stable hands, etc. There are over 8,000 of them in London.

They have become fashionable and expensive.

You won’t forget Camden Town

 Camden town,, oh Camden town. I still see your garbage blowin’. Glen Campbell anyone?

So natch I looked up funky hippy neighborhoods to go to and near the top of list was Camden town. So off we go. We come up from the station and it’s like we are in a carnival. 

A storefront with  a gigantic dragon on the front of an all you can eat restaurant. A gothic tattoo shop named Dark Angel that has a woman depicting the crucifixion wrapped in black straps with a crown of thorns. A candy shop that has a ferris wheel on the front that is revolving. That’s probably my favorite.

We have entered the land of oz. It is  very crowded. It’s a big tourist attraction. People have to be herded like cattle out of the tube station. Hard to believe because it’s pretty edgy. I can imagine the Sex Pistols playing music here.

It’s one weird store front after another. There’s a guy with his hair shaped into very tall horns playing the guitar and trying his best to look threatening.

There were a group of young people hanging out on a small that have edgy punk look down pat. They were hanging off a light pole and dancing in the street. It’s like this is a big movie set.

One of the big attractions here is Camden Yards. It’s a maze of shops selling jewelry, clothes, trinkets. On the ground level outside is a good area with street food from around the world.

It’s also on a canal. It’s very gritty and dirty. It gives New York a run for its money.

It was great! A lot of fun. Like nothing I have ever seen.

No. Ain’t feeling groovy. Slow travel.

 Slow travel. That’s what we’re doing. It’s become a thing. You spend longer than a vacation in one place so you can get to know it. 

This is our last week here and we have seen a lot. Seen all the requisite tourists places. Seen a lot of neighborhoods. We have gone somewhere just about every day with one or two rest days.

I am realizing that I am going to have to figure out how to do this. I cant run every day. Even if the active part of the day is only 4-5 hours.

So usually leave at 10 or 11 am. Go to the train, usually transfer to a different train. The tube system is easily navigated but…there are certain stations for certain lines. These transfer trains are never 20 feet away. They are half a mile away. Through a maze of halls, flights of stairs, escalators. 

You don’t need a stair stepper here. There are times you are going up five flights of stairs.The bigger the station, the longer away it will be. 

Then once you are outside, time to start the walk to where you are going. I have put in a minimum of five miles all the way to almost 8 a day.  I had been walking 4-5 miles at home a day so that helped. Still it’s exhausting for this 66 year old body. 

So we are 20 minutes from central London. It’s cheaper out here. However with the cost of transport and the wear on your body, I’m thinking it would be better to stay more central.

I’m worn out again. I just don’t feel good. Hard sleeping in the heat. I am coming to the conclusion that I don’t need to see everything. I’m doing this more to observe the culture more than anything. I need to slow way down if I want to get through the twelve months. 

Live and learn.

The oldest house and street in London

 OK I survived the 90 degree heat. Trying to sleep isn’t easy when you’re sweatin’. The windows here are not the pull up type. They are the open outward type. They don’t open very much. There are no screens  So I hung my head out window in the 6 inch opening all night. Har. This all reminds me of childhood when nobody had air conditioning. We maybe had one fan. it

Yesterday I had one goal: Visit Cloth Fair street. The oldest street in London. On it is the oldest house in London. 

It is named Cloth Fair because once a year merchants would awa was have a fair in the church yard across the way and sell, you guessed it, cloth.

The house was built in 1600. I’m sure the street had been in use way before that. The church across the street was built in 1123, St Bartholomew the Great. 

It just blows me away to stand on one of the original streets in London that dates back so far. To think what it must have been like in 1123. What were the peoples lives like?

 Their houses would have dirt floors. There would be animal pens, barns all around you. Surrounding the village would be farm fields. You were ruled by a king.  You would live til maybe 40. Women wore long dresses covered by tunics. 

The house and church survived the great fire of 1666 in which 50% of London was destroyed. Imagine half your city lays in ruin.

This is what I love about London, the history. It’s so interesting and it’s  around every corner.

London heat wave

 We take the central line tube every day. It’s hot as hell, always crowded. (Complaint department officially open)

So today it gets up to 91. Apparently there is one heat wave a summer and this is it.That should be fun. People stuffed in like clowns in a tube car, sweat pools forming on the floor. Slippery conditions. Yuck.

Fights may break out today in the race to get that one remaining seat. Those Instagram worthy makeup jobs will melt into a ghoul face. 

 A couple of edgy young men will still have their puffer jackets. I may have to slap one of them. I am unpredictable in hot weather. 

So off we went. M and I were going to different places. It was late morning so not as many people. Stuffy, but not as bad as expected. As usual, very few shorts, some sweaters sweatpants. I give up. It’s a cultural quirk. 

So we decided to meet up at the Westfield mall to cool off before going home. No one has air conditioning here. Had something to eat. I had Mexican. M had Nandos, a very popular ?Potugese fast food place.

How was the Mexican? They had the basics down but not nearly spicy enough.

This is a giant mall like the Mall of America. It was part of a redevelopment along with a huge park next to it,  for the 2012 Olympics. Apparently it was a run down area beforehand.. The park was where track and field, soccer events took place. There is a huge aquatics center where swimming events were held. The stadium that was built is now home of West ham soccer club. (SOCCER,SOCCER,SOCCER)

The area is now home to multiple high rise condos. Very expensive looking.

The mall is like something out of the U.S. 1980’s. It’s obvious young people come here to be seen. They all look like Instagram models. Everything from women in hijabs to midriff baring tops to athletic wear. If people are wearing it , it's on display here. Hair is sharp. Clothes are sharp. Looking good at the mall.

We head out.Standing on the tube platform and there’s a young man in jeans, shirtless. It’s obvious he works out. He is strutting back and forth like a peacock. “Hey ladies look at this!” I guess you can be shirtless in malls and on tube trains.

Only one stop to our stop Yeah.

London is old, very very old

This blog will sometimes jump back and forth in time

We took the tube from Heathrow to Leytonstone. The first thing that struck me is how old everything looked. Everything is made of brick. The majority of houses are row houses. Lots of brick with white trim.

They were made in rows so more people could fit in an area. Most have the same design: 1st floor has living room and kitchen, 2nd floor two beds and bathroom.

In Leytonstone* there is a back garden. In front is an area for your car to be parked in front of the house. I don’t know if this is true in other neighborhoods. 

The street signs are weird here. It’s weird, they appear at random places on walls. At least in my neighborhood.

The row houses are old. Most around here were built 1870 to 1910. The condo building building I stay in is old. One of the locks requires a skeleton key. The other is one I remember from my childhood.

There is also a lot of very modern housing here. Tall apartment and condo buildings in different places. There seems to be a housing boom here with this kind of housing.I’m sure they are very expensive. It reminds me of all the expensive apts they keep building in downtown mpls. only these are way fancier and taller.

*This picture looks exactly like the houses in my neighborhood.

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Stranger in a strange land.

 Let’s get serious folks. (Dramatic pause) 

Adjusting to all this tomfoolery(!) I’ve got myself into hasn’t been easy. Just getting here was, shall we say, challenging..

Then living in someone else’s place with someone’s else’s stuff is just weird. Especially for a whole month. It’s not my place, not my stuff and that kind throws you off. It’s not like being in a hotel. 

So the refrigerator has stuff (food) in it. One of the cupboards has stuff in it. Are you supposed to use that? Who knows? I’m not using it because there’s nothing I want to use.  Plus it feels weird to use it. (Lots of weirdness going on on my part)

We are living in a five condo building. We hear and see the other peoples lives. There is a little baby in one unit we hear crying. There are kids in a couple places. They play outside.

We have turned our lives upside down in every way you can. Left our home. Left our stuff. Left our neighborhood and city(and country).  Left our family and friends. 

We fit what would be a years worth of our lives into a carryon suitcase and a backpack. What did I pack? Mostly clothes of course. Short sleeve shirts, long sleeve shirts, shorts, jeans, sweatpants, undies. It will be in the forties some places we go. I brought a Jean jacket. Figure I can layer. Three pairs of shoes. Meds, small amount of toiletries, tablet, phone, chargers. That’s about it.

Passports, vaccination cards, credit cards (2). In my research I found out that schwab checking/debit card (I’m sure there are others) is the best one for me. No foreign transaction fees of any kind.  

Bought international health care insurance. None of my Medicare/VA/supplement works here. I will have to refill meds here. Haven’t had to figure that out yet. I did bring letter from doctor. 

Getting back to the mental, emotional part. I thought this would be similar to U.S., English speaking, similar culture, etc. It’s not. People here are different. They are stoic, polite, neat, they don’t do much laughing and cavorting in public. Nobody is showy. People don’t wear bright colors. 

We have found if you say hello to a stranger walking down the street, they won’t say hello back. However, it is easy to strike up a conversation with people.

Perhaps it is my naive observation but people here don’t seem to fear each other like the U.S. They definitely have a problem with stabbings here. It pales in comparison to the U.S. violence, shootings. There is no mass violence. 

There are so many different cultures here. It feels like more people here speak another language than English. It’s weird to hear all these different languages. It’s fun though. 

We’ve had to figure out an elaborate public transport system with underground, overground, trains, buses. We bought a monthly card. Really expensive. We’ve managed it pretty well because it’s pretty easy to understand. 

Changing tube lines can be easy or elaborate. Sometimes the next tube you want is close. Sometimes in the bigger stations with more lines you are going up and down steep escalators, walking  up and down several flights of stairs. 

London is an enormous city with many neighborhoods. You couldn’t possibly visit them all. The biggest lesson so far is you really have to pace yourself. Sit down a lot, Take days off. Relax. 

To think it will be a new place, culture, people every month is kind of overwhelming but so exciting!

. 

We ain’t in Kansas anymore

 So it’s day 3 after we got here and even though we’re still exhausted, we can’t hold back any longer. We have to go into central London! 

We decide to get the”just kill me now” ridiculously expensive monthly travel card. That HURT but it makes travel easy. The line we live on goes across London and stops throughout central London. 

So we are official tube riders. Down the corridor, scan the card, upstairs to the platform and voila(!), we’re on the train..

Turns out this is one of the busiest lines so it’s often crowded. When the train door opens, there’s a scramble for empty seats. It’s a dog eat dog, snooze you lose, situation. 

On the train are ordinary people of all shapes and sizes dressed in their understated black, beige, brown English clothes. Little color. It’s in the upper 60’s but there are no shorts. Some people have on winter coats. OK…

Nobody is yelling. Nobody is talking to themselves. Nobody looks too threatening. Just minding their own business. This isn’t what I’m used to in Mpls. where if someone isn’t a complete wack job every time you get on, there is something wrong. 

So off we go to dazzling downtown. We come up from the oxford circus station and are blown away. Magnificent beautiful old buildings surround us. 

It immediately strikes me that we are in a city that is thousands of years old and it’s right in front of me. 

To quote a clique, we ain’t in Kansas anymore.

Almost homeless in London

 On the 3rd night things take a dramatic turn. 

I always ordered my groceries for delivery at home. So I thought I’d try it here. So I order it just like usual, pick a time slot for delivery. Everything’s cool.

Get a message saying they are behind. Okay, that’s alright. Time goes by.  I had ordered a evening delivery and it’s getting late. I had told them ring the buzzer and I’ll come down and get it. So I thought maybe they had just left it at the door. So we thought we’d go to check.

So we went out to the hall to go downstairs. The door shuts behind us. We go downstairs. It’s not there. Come upstairs and discover THE DOOR IS LOCKED! Do we have the key? Ah no…we were just going 50 feet down to the door. The lock is from the 1920s or something and automatically locks.

So we are staying in a five unit condo building. We are on the second floor. WHAT THE HELL ARE WE GOING TO DO NOW?! Remember I told you the owner is in France? Neither one of us had our phones with us to call anybody.

I am picturing us spending the night on the street, homeless in London. I’m picturing the police breaking down the door.

So we think- hey maybe there’s a sort of caretaker in the building who has e very one’s keys or something…So we knock next door. No answer. Okay go downstairs.

Door #2: Guy offered to help us force the door open. Ah no…Door #3 The guy knew the owner and had her number! He said he’d call her. I fell at his feet to worship him. Har.

So he calls and comes out to tell us her parents will be there ion 10 minutes to let us in. Hallejulah!

She comes. We apologize profusely. We go in. I superglue the key to my hand. (!) All is well. Another crisis averted

Forgive the messy blog

 I have had a blog before (see favorite blogs). Last entry was five years ago. So I have forgotten how to format things (See weird margins,etc.) but I’ll catch up. 

I was a nurse for 34 years. I started in med/surg. Went to ICU. Four years into the 34, I went to ER and stayed for 30 years. Why did I stay in ER for 30 years? Because I am completely insane.

I retired in 2019, a frickin’ year before the pandemic! In the nick of time. Someone was watching out for me.

I cant even imagine what it was like to work in a hospital during that. I thought a lot about my co workers and really, all nurses, through all of it.

I have one son. My husband of 43 years died a little over a year ago.

So come along with me if you want.

Fox in the henhouse, except there are no hens

So it’s our first night at the airbnb. I am in a blissful deep sleep when I am startled awake by some snarling sounds. There is some kind of wild animal outside! It goes on for about a minute. 

Naturally I yell to my son: What’s that?!! He thinks it’s some drunk guy outside! I tell him no human makes that that sound. It’s some kind of animal. So it stops and we are so tired we go back to sleep. We are so tired that as long as it went away, who cares? After all, it ain’t comin’ in here.

Earlier that evening we had had an interesting experience. There was a fox in the front yard. What???!!! A fox wandering around in a city neighborhood? 

Well it turns out London has a population of 10,000 foxes! So not an uncommon sight. We heard it a couple nights after that (though not sounding nearly as mad as first night- har), but haven’t heard it sense. I kind of miss it.

Murphys law

 We got to the airbnb and I was done. I was distraught. I started to think I had made the biggest mistake of my life. I was questioning everything. It was really something. I was mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted. 

An hour later I crashed.  Five PM. I slept until 10 pm. Got up for a short time and went back to bed and slept til 9 am the next day. Fifteen hours. I felt better but was still exhausted. That was May 26.

That day we discovered we hadthe wrong electric converter for the wall sockets. I had bought a European one and the UK has a different configuration (of course they do). So we walked down to the business street in Leytonstone and bought the right one. It didn’t work. We couldnt get any of the sockets to work. M went down to the electronics store to get an iPhone charger that went directly into the socket. Nope. WTF??!!

So we ended up calling the airbnb owner. She was in France it turns out. After talking it through, she had us look at the fuse box and some dumb idiot had turned off the sockets. We turned them back on and life was copacetic.

Walked to the grocery store to get a few things and spent the rest of the time in the apartment that day.

Oh, I forget to tell you what happened during the first night. Something woke us up outside and it definitely wasn’t human.

I melt down

After going through customs at Heathrow, we decided to just take

the train to Leytonstone where we were gonna be. 

Customs is easy for Americans. Basically you get in a line that winds around for half a mile. Then at the end you put your passport straight down on a scanner and a picture is taken of you. Then voila! You are let loose in England.  

We get a SIM card for the phone at the airport(probably a mistake).

So by now it’s 8 am. We find the tube and start the trip to Leytonstone. My back pack is so heavy, almost unmanageable for me. We take the Piccadilly line to Holton street and change to the central line. We go down stairs, up escalators, through halls all while dragging the bags. 

We arrive in Leytonstone and leave the tube station and we are in a small business district. We immediately sit on a bench. We made it! We are here! We’re in England!

Now we have to figure out how to stay awake for the next 8 hours til the airbnb is ready. We sit there and realize that most people around us speak different languages. This is a very diverse area. It’s great! 

So we go to Subway of all places, our first meal in England is at an American fast food place.

 Now what? What are we gonna do for the next 7 hours? This business area is only two streets. We go to a coffee shop, a library, sit on various benches, end up at McDonald’s. Sit there a couple hours til 3:30.

We are in a state of desperation at this point. It is Wednesday afternoon. We killed ourselves moving the apartment Monday. Slept very little Monday night. Spent 8 hours in JFK.on Tuesday. We were already exhausted. Got no sleep Tuesday night. Now we had to stay awake for 8 hours Monday. 

By the time we arrived at the Airbnb we (shall I say I) were on the edge of losing it completely. 

After we got the keys, that’s exactly what happened: I had a complete meltdown.

On the plane to London

Jet Blue did an absolutely fantastic job on the NYC to London flight. I’ve never been on an overnight commercial flight so had no idea what it would be like. Left at 6pm.

We get to our seats and there is a blanket, sleep mask, socks, earphones, ear plugs, champagne, caviar (OK just kidding on those last two). Soon after takeoff, drinks and snacks. Should have downed a couple of vodka shots to sleep, but alas, did not.Not too long after that, a meal was served that was pretty good.

So it’s about 8 pm now and everybody settles in to sleep. Except me and Mike. We can’t sleep. Two hours later. Lights come up a little bit. Water is given out. About an hour later drinks. Land at 6 am. We actually only spent six hours on the flight but we are six hours ahead so it’s 6 am. It’s midnight back home. 

Our second night with little to no sleep. We will have to stay awake until 4 pm when we can go to our air bnb.

The layover from hell

So we were so tired from lack of sleep and moving. The flight to New York was fine . Arrived at JFK at about 8 am.

We started our 10 hour layover. Our flight to London left at 6 pm. That’s what you get for a cheap flight. 

M originally had wanted to go into the city while we were there but I really didn’t  want to drag a suitcase and backpack around Manhattan. The way we felt, we never would have gone anyway. 

So try passing 10 hours in an airport when you are exhausted and sore. I started to realize just how heavy my backpack was during this time. My 66 year old body was protesting. So somehow we got through 10 hours in the jet blue terminal which has little to offer. Mike slept maybe 20 minutes on the ground of the terminal. 

So finally got on the plane to London. I was in the window seat. He was in the middle and there was someone beside him. Another 6 hours of misery was ahead of us.

Off we go

 So we left the keys to the apartment and off we went to the new adventure. Light rail to hotel near airport. Exhausted to the bone. Dumb idea #2: move the day before we were leaving. 

We would have to get up at 3 am for a 4 am shuttle to the airport. I slept off and on for 5 hours maybe. M really didn’t sleep at all. 

So off to the airport we go. (hippity hop) Hadn’t flown in a long time so nervous about security. Liquids. Electronics. Shoes. Etc. what goes in the tray. Actually it was pvery easy.

EXCEPT….I was picked out for special screening because  they thought “we saw metal near your rear”. Most have been my buns of steel. Har.

So I could off to another area for the pat down or stay there to do it. I just told them to it.

They pat down EVERYWHERE. It is bizarre. 

So that’s over. We find our gate and settle in to wait.

The moving nightmare

So M and I rode the bus to get the truck. Never drove a truck before. Wasn’t that hard. Only thing different was mirrors on the sides instead of a rearview. 

We went back to the apartment. Managed to park in the little entry road.We we’re about to find out how stupid our moving plan was. It was just M and me moving. Yeah 66 year old me and 29 year old M. Neither one of us thought it would be that bad. We had this appliance mover thing. No problem to get the couch moved with that! Not. Didn’t really work. 

So the smaller part of the sectional couch fit in the elevator. We got it to the truck by carrying it. The truck wasn’t right in front of the door. So it was hard, but got it done.

Then the bigger part of the couch would not fit in the elevator. No matter how much we tried. We had to take it down a back staircase that was 3 flights and spiraled and had low ceiling corners. In other words it was a complete nightmare. Somehow we got it through withought me falling and breaking my neck.

There were tables and beds and stands and tvs. Really I had a lot less than most. It was still a lot and left us completely exhausted. 

I was shocked I was able to do it at all at my age. I am in pretty good shape, have developed strength with yoga. I walk 4 1/2 miles a day. Seems it all paid off. I was still still sore and bruised though. 

We went back to the apartment. This would be our last time there.

Okay the time has come

Lots of stuff to do as date to leave moves closer.

Give notice. Nice area I lived in. Will miss it. Apartment just OK . No big loss. Rent storage locker. What do I know about storage lockers? Nothing. Found one close to where I live. Outrageous monthly cost but cheaper than a lot of them.

Stop gas service. Stop electricity service. Suspend phone service. Pay off cellphone so can be unlocked to use SIM card in other countries. 

Change address. Get virtual mailbox. In order to go to virtual mailbox you have to fill out a special form and have it notarized. It’s a big deal to say someone else can handle your mail. Stop subscriptions- Netflix, Spotify, magazines, instacart. You have more than you think.

Make sure you have right clothes for year long trip. Go through all your stuff and get rid of what you don’t need or want. Pack what you need for your life for one year into a carry on bag and backpack.

Get moving truck. Move contents of two bedroom apt to storage locker. (That’s a whole other story)

The details

 It did take me a while to book air bnb. First time I’ve done it. Figured out fast staying anywhere near central London wasnt happenin’. So looked outward. 

Looked at 2 bedroom. Not happenin’. Too expensive. Two beds? One sofa, one in bedroom? More probable. Is the area safe? Does it have a washing machine? Most do but but no dryer. No big deal. The one we booked my son would, and is, sleeping on the couch. Went with it anyway. 

So Leytonstone. That’s where we ended up. Convenient to central London. Ten minute walk to tube. 20 minutes ride to central. Leytonstone has a couple shopping streets with lots of small stores. It has a supermarket. There is a McDonalds, Subway and KFC. Sounds bigger than it is. All of this is right outside the tube station. 

The average American would think it looks run down but I like it. A very diverse area, with people from all over the world living here. 

So we’re really gonna do this?

Twelve countries in 12 months. One month each. Are we insane? Probably.

I starting thinking about traveling or living in another country in 2019 when I retired. I had always loved traveling. And frankly I just wanted to get out of this crazy country for a while.

My husband died suddenly at age 64 just over a year ago. I had planned to go with him. Or shall I say, I was going to convince him to go. Would I have succeeded? Probably not.

How it all started

I think I started talking to M

in summer of 2021 about doing this trip. He encouraged me, probably thinking it was a good thing to think about after T died. Did he take me seriously? I don’t know. 

So I started taking it seriously, looking into it in the fall. Watched a lot of videos about people who were nomads or living in other countries. Gained practical information. 

Next step was to get passports. Got pictures. Filled out the forms. Went to post office with form, pictures and birth certificates. 

Received passports. Never had one before! I had been to other countries but with the military and at the time I didn’t exactly need a passport.

Determined UK would be first destination. Booked cheap Jet Blue tickets to London. Next was accommodations. Decided on air bnb. So frickin’ expensive in London! Finally bit the bullet and booked one. In Leytonstone London.

Next gets suitcases and backpacks. We would be doing carryons.