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Family Books
Last day
June 1, 2004 - 2:28pm — DavidBreakfast. No, no sausage rolls, yum-yums, or pasties. We had oatmeal. And it was actually kinda nice. It also turned out that we're going home with more than we came over, so we had to borrow a suitcase from Matt. Hopefully, we'll remember to give it back to him when he next comes to the States. It's another long drive to Manchester, and though we're sad to be leaving, it'll be nice to get home. If only there weren't that long plane flight in the middle...
In the airport, security seems much easier than at home. We're not sure how to take that, but given how much of a pain Dulles was on our way out, it's a relief. We find some lunch (Andrea's caprese sandwich was horribly lacking), mailed ourselves a postcard, and got on the plane. The flight was uneventful, though it might have been nicer to get some sleep (David spent most of the flight reading and watching movies). We got back to the house, spent some time unwinding with our cats (who seemed very happy to see us), and crashed. Fortunately, the next day was a holiday, so we had plenty of time to sleep in and relax.
Edinburgh
June 1, 2004 - 2:26pm — DavidNow it's time for us to do some travelling with our hosts. We had our usual breakfast (sausage rolls and yum-yums), and walked over to the train station. Turns out the train's late. Twelve minutes late. They gave us a "pass" to use at York, that'll get us onto another train, in case we miss our connection, but we ended up not needing that, as we just barely made it in York (thankfully the Edinburgh train was on the same platform as ours). Once in our seats, we relaxed, did some journaling, and tried to add some cache information to the GPS. After a couple hours of very beautiful countryside and ocean views (fortunately, we were on the east side of the train), we pulled into Edinburgh, and found our way to the hotel.
Harrogate and York
June 1, 2004 - 2:26pm — DavidThe very next morning, our last day in London. Got up, cleaned up, packed up, and then ate up. We ate in the hotel, where they had two different breakfasts -- a regular "continental" and a "fried up" breakfast. We had the fried up, 'cause it included things like eggs and sausage and other hot stuff (as opposed to cold meats, cheese, and fruit). Turns out it wasn't free (which we'd've known if we'd looked a little closer at the hotel pamphlet). it was £14.50! That's $28! PER PERSON! We were not impressed with the price, and less impressed with the food. We're just happy that we hadn't been eating that every morning, thinking it was free!
London
June 1, 2004 - 2:25pm — David
We woke up Tuesday morning, got cleaned up, packed a smaller subset of bags, and ran out the door for the trek (3 blocks) to the train station. We took an Arriva train (basically, commuter rail) to Leeds, about 40 minutes away, then transferred to a GNER (Great Northeast Railroad) train for the trip to London. We got to Kings Cross station about 1:00 in the afternoon, and promptly dragged our bags over to Platform 9 3/4 (where you can catch the train to Hogwart's, if you're not quite as much a Muggle as we are). Then, it was a quick cab ride to our hotel (The Montague on the Gardens), lunch (at the London Cafe, a few blocks away), and then off to the Underground!
Flying out and Visiting in Harrogate
June 1, 2004 - 2:19pm — David
We left the house Friday afternoon, taking a cab to Dulles. We got to the airport, stood in line (after line after line...), got screened (and screened again, our luck to be randomly selected), and finally boarded the plane. Several hours and very little sleep later, we arrived at Manchester International Airport.
Finally, some content
May 31, 2004 - 7:40pm — David