UK TRIP 2022 – PART V

 May 11, 2022

London to Glasgow, Scotland

I couldn’t sleep all night, anxious about what would happen if we didn’t receive our laundry before we checked out in the morning. We were promised it would be delivered to our room by seven a.m. So, we set our alarm for six-thirty. Got up, showered, and dressed. Then waited—and waited. Nothing by seven-thirty, so we went down to breakfast.

Erika was off. (No wonder since she must have put in at least twelve hours the day before.) We said good-by and thanked the rest of the staff.

Thought about checking with the concierge desk again, but decided to go to the room first. When we got there, the laundry had finally arrived. Thank God!

We finished packing and got ready to leave.

The night before, we had checked in for our flight to Glasgow. Our original flight was supposed to be in the morning. However, just before we left California, Julie told us it had been changed to a five-p.m. flight, and everything had been adjusted accordingly.

We had tried to contact Hertz the night before, but they NEVER answered their phone, despite several attempts. We also had tried to contact them via their website, but there was no way to directly connect to anyone. Since we had been told they had been informed of the change and would be prepared for our arrival, we weren’t too concerned.

We contacted our transport company and verified a pick-up for one p.m. We were transferred to a couple of different people and weren’t entirely sure they really understood the change in time.

Check-out time was noon, so we went downstairs at about eleven-forty-five. Larry took care of the checkout. They only charged us half the price for the laundry because of the delay. Seemed fair.

Petra came out and greeted us. We had our photo taken with her and said good-by.

We decided to wait in the lobby until our pick-up time. We watched several groups arrive, including what appeared to be a wedding party. Some ladies, in their fascinator hats and party dresses entered. They appeared to be a group of friends gathering for a shower or ladies’ luncheon.

A mother and grandmother arrived with three little girls in party dresses and tiaras. They were obviously there for a “princess tea.” So very cute.

Our van arrived about ten minutes later than our scheduled time, but we were happy to see it.

The ride to the airport was without incident, even though many of the streets were under construction and were closed.

Went through the usual security checkpoint hassle. I was exhausted after two sleepless nights, so I felt more stressed than normal. And I had forgotten to get out my passport before we got into line. But I located it and got it out.

Our boarding passes were sent to our email. Because Larry’s phone had died the night before, I could access his on my phone. However, for some reason, I couldn’t open mine. Fortunately, Larry could open mine on his iPad. So, I checked him in, and he checked me in.

By now, it was after two, and we needed something to eat. It had been over six hours since breakfast.

We walked—and walked—and walked. We finally found a place that had something other than sandwiches and pasta. Well, sort of. I got two hard boiled eggs with about four leaves of spinach. No salt. No mayonnaise. Nothing. I also picked up a small container of mixed berries with a bit of yogurt and granola on top. Since I don’t eat nuts, I scraped the granola off the top with some of yogurt. Larry ate it.

Larry got an “egg salad” sandwich (hard boiled eggs with mayonnaise and a few sprouts—nothing special). But it was food.

I was nearly asleep on my feet and felt terrible. I had a raging headache, despite having taken half an extra-strength Excedrin.

Half an hour before boarding time, they finally posted the gate number. We walked over and waited—and waited—and waited. Boarding began nearly an hour late.

The flight was without incident. When we arrived, we went to the car rental center. No one at the Hertz counter where a sign directed us outside to the Hertz location there, about a quarter mile away. It was a bit of a walk, but we found it—locked up tight with no one anywhere around.

So, back to the rental center. Outside, we found one gal (from Avis). We asked about the Hertz people. She said, “Oh, they go home at four.”

WHAT?

We explained our dilemma and asked if she had any cars. “No, but Europcar might have some left.”

Since we had no choice but to find another rental car because we planned to visit family in the Glasgow area, we went to their desk. The clerk was busy for quite some time with another couple.

While we waited, the young couple, who were from Oregon and who had sat in front of us on the plane, came in. They had reserved a car with Hertz, too, so they were in our same situation.

He asked if we had a safety pin or a paperclip so he could change out the SIM card for his phone. We didn’t, but we asked if a staple would help. Our documents were stapled together, so we removed one. He was able to straighten it and use it to replace his card.

We explained about Larry’s phone, and he said he could create a hotspot Larry could use to reset it. And it worked! Well, at least he could log in with Google. However, when he tried to retrieve his backup, his phone only found mine. So he was without a few of his apps and shortcuts.

I called and left a message for our AAA travel agent about what had happened and what we intended to do.

Larry was finally able to talk to the Europcar representative. He had three cars left: a BMW for £2000 (uh…no), a manual transmission one for considerably less (again, no), or a Toyota hybrid at a premium price. Since this was the only reasonable choice, we took it. (We assumed the young couple took the manual transmission one since Larry would have in his younger days.)

We soon discovered our car had no GPS. And since the youngsters had already left, we no longer had access to wi-fi. Which meant, we couldn’t get to Google Maps. Which meant, we couldn’t figure out how to get from the airport to the hotel.

Larry went back inside and asked for a map. The only one they had showed England on one side and Scotland on the other. Neither was a street map. The Scotland one did show the major routes, including the one into Glasgow.

So, we headed out on that one toward the city center. I called the Jurys Inn hotel and finally reached someone at the front desk—not an easy accomplishment. Unfortunately, NONE of the people were drivers and could not tell us how to get there. Their only suggestion was to go to the city center and locate the hotel once we got there.

I hung up, and we kept on to the center of the city.

Once we were off the motorway, I called back to the hotel and this time found someone who actually drove. BUT she said she didn’t know the street names. (And finding them is a real challenge anyway. IF they exist, they are shown on the side of the building, and you can’t read them until you are already there, when you can’t make the turn. And this was at night.)

It was now about nine-thirty. We were tired and beyond frustrated.

We kept calling out landmarks we passed for about fifteen minutes, changing direction from time to time, until we saw a landmark she recognized. The issue became more complicated because so many of the streets were one-way.

However, our navigator finally managed to get us to the hotel—in a somewhat dodgy area of town, judging from the graffiti on the walls.

We pulled up in front, registered, and dropped our bags in our room. Then we went back down and followed further complex directions to get to the car park facility across the street. (Of course, this involved going several blocks, taking a road in a loop to get back to a street near the hotel. Then another couple of turns until we finally found the entrance to the car park. We had to follow the route twice because we missed the entrance the first time.)

We finally got to our room after ten, thoroughly exhausted and hungry. We made instant coffee and ate protein bars before getting into bed for the night, thoroughly frustrated and totally worn out.

UK TRIP 2022 – PART IV

 May 10, 2022

London

Another lovely breakfast at the Rubens. Erika, the breakfast room manager, has been absolutely wonderful. She asked if we enjoyed our tea the day before. We told her the young lady who served us, Petra, was a delight. She smiled. “She’s my daughter.” We told her how much we enjoyed her and wanted to get a photo with her before we left.

We returned to our room and prepared for the afternoon’s visit to The Wallace Collection. Chris and Guy had suggested it when we saw them on Sunday. The current show was called “Inspiring Walt Disney: The Animation of French Decorative Arts.” Since we are Disney fans, this sounded like something we’d enjoy.

I had thought we’d walk, but Larry checked the route and thought we should take the tube. Another adventure!

Actually, it was quite simple and reminded us of the subway in Japan. Unfortunately, the ticket machine decided to eat Larry’s ticket. We found someone to open up the machine and free it. The gentleman smiled. “It happens.”

Once he was free to go, we found the right train and were on our way. Only two stops from Victoria, where we started. Then we had about a ten-minute walk to the location.

As expected, the exhibition was fascinating. However, in the middle of it, Larry’s phone went off. The only way to stop it was to turn off the phone.

After the show, we decided to eat lunch at the café. I thought about the quiche, but it was salmon. I don’t like salmon. Nothing else appealed, so I ordered the mixed leaf salad. Larry had an egg salad sandwich (eggs, mayonnaise, and sprouts—not original but edible). My salad, on the other hand, was primarily frisse, dandelion greens, and others I don’t care for. The dressing tasted like straight oil. I picked out the spinach leaves and left the rest. I also ordered a scone, which I never got. Not a great lunch.

We walked through the rest of the museum. Larry loved the huge arms collection, especially the weapons and horse armor.

We found our way back to Victoria, where we wandered a bit before returning to the hotel.

Our laundry was supposed to be back by five o’clock since we had taken it down to the concierge desk at about six the night before. It was nearly five. Our clean clothes weren’t in our room, so we went down to the New York Bar for a couple of cold diet cokes and dessert. Larry ordered rum vanilla ice cream. I had limoncello sorbet. Delicious and refreshing!

While we ate, we noticed Erika serving in the tea room. As she went through the bar area, she spotted us. I commented on her long day and asked about Petra since I didn’t see her working.

Erika said Petra was celebrating her birthday by having tea with her best friend as a guest. I told her again that we wanted to get a picture with Petra before we left.

We stopped by the concierge desk and asked about our laundry. They said they would check again and guaranteed it would be delivered by seven o’clock that evening.

It wasn’t. So, we called about seven-thirty. They told us housekeeping was gone for the night, but everything would be delivered by seven in the morning.

Larry tried to restart his phone, but it wouldn’t sign on to the hotel wi-fi nor would it allow him to sign onto Google (because there was no wi-fi). We hoped he could get it to work once another wi-fi source was available.

We packed the rest of our stuff and decided to eat a couple of protein bars before retiring for the night. We hoped our laundry would arrive in the morning so we could finish packing before leaving for our flight.

UK TRIP 2022 – PART III

May 8, 2022

London

Larry had brought me a lovely Mother’s Day card and gave it to me when we woke up. Very thoughtful.

Since we were meeting Christine Jenkins and her husband, Guy, for lunch, we decided to do a repeat of the lighter breakfast of the day before. Delicious once again, and just enough.

We had arranged to meet them at Colbert in Chelsey at one o’clock. Chris had sent us the menu, and I was thrilled. This place was an authentic French restaurant. (She had me at “French”!) It reminded us of a favorite spot across the river from Notre Dame in Paris.

We decided to walk from the hotel. It took about thirty minutes, quite a pleasant jaunt on a Sunday. We arrived about fifteen minutes early since we had allowed extra time. We found a spot to sit on the steps of the building next door. (Several others were already there. It appeared to be a common meeting location.)

At one o’clock, we gave the hostess Christine’s name, and we were seated. They arrived about fifteen minutes later, but we already had secured a table.

What a delight to see Chris again. We have known her since she was in high school. After she graduated, she went to Spain to study, and we replaced her doing contemporary worship music at the church. (Chris—or CJ as she is known professionally—is a terrific jazz singer.) We continued to lead worship for fifteen or more years. Larry played rhythm guitar, and I sang.

After college, Chris moved to London, where she still lives. Whenever she came to California to visit her mother, we tried to get her to sing in church with us. Sometimes, she agreed to do so. Chris’s mother remains a close friend.

When we moved to Japan, we led worship again for most of the time we were there. And it all started with Chris.

We had only met Guy once before a few years ago at the get-together after the death of Chris’s father. Because of the event, we did not spend much time with him. Now we got to know him a bit better. What a lovely man.

Their choice of restaurant was brilliant. I had an omelet, and Larry chose Eggs Royale, a variation on eggs Benedict, but with salmon. Both were delicious. Guy and Chris chose items from the prix fixe menu: starters and a fish entrée. Larry finished his meal with crème brûlée. I got one bite, and he finished it off.

On each of our trips to France, we did taste tests of this delightful treat. The one he chose compared favorably to our favorites: creamy, rich, and smooth.

We enjoyed the long, relaxed meal with delightful conversation and shared memories. This was a perfect way to spend Mother’s Day.

After lunch, we walked back to our hotel. The weather had been nearly perfect our entire time there. We kept being told it was unusual for this time of year. Once again, we brought the sunshine!

We needed a cold drink, so we went into the New York Bar again. It had become a favorite place. Once again, Frank took care of us. Along with our cold diet cokes, we were served a bowl of green olives and tiny whole grain crackers. Of course, I didn’t try either, but Larry managed to eat everything.

Before returning to our room, we stopped at the desk and made reservations for Afternoon Tea. Each day of our stay, we had watched a particular young lady going back to the kitchen and emerging with racks filled with plates loaded with the most beautiful pastries. In addition, she had taken plates of finger sandwiches to the tables in the tea room. It didn’t feel right to leave England without experiencing a real English tea.

After our long walks to and from the restaurant, we were tired, so we lay down to read, rest, and watch a bit of TV before turning in for the night.

May 9, 2022

We spent the morning exploring the area around the hotel. I was looking for a couple of small art prints for our guest powder room. I have artwork from many places we have visited through the years. The hunt proved to be a challenge. While going in and out of the local shops, Larry found a t-shirt and hat he wanted. I bought one more postcard in addition to the three I had purchased at the Tower gift shop. The store also had postage, so I got enough stamps to mail all four.

Still no small artwork.

The clerk in one of the shops suggested going to the Queen’s Gallery gift shop at the palace. Their current exhibition is of Japanese art. Having spent nearly three years there, we weren’t too interested in seeing more. But we went into the gift shop. After a thorough search, we didn’t find anything to work. We talked to the very helpful young lady in the shop and explained what we were looking for.

She suggested checking at Harrods. (We never got there.)

We stopped at the Palace Gift Shop and purchased a couple of gift items for our friend, Pat, who is a lifelong anglophile. We made arrangements for our items to be shipped directly to her home.

As we walked back to the hotel, we passed a shop we had seen before. I had noticed some placemats with drawings of London scenes on a rack outside. They were exactly what I wanted, but the placemats were too large. As we passed this time, Larry moved the rack and discovered smaller versions. Absolutely perfect, and two for one pound. The price was right. Success! [I need to get them matted and framed to put into our travel powder room.]

Back at the hotel, we prepared for our Royal Afternoon Tea.

What a delight.

The young lady we had noticed earlier was our waitress. We discovered her name was Petra. Of course, as usual, I began a conversation with her. I found out she was from Hungary. I had noticed many eastern Europeans seem to be employed in the hotels and restaurants. Another of the young ladies in the breakfast room was from Romania.

First, we were given our choice of several teas. I chose the Ruben’s tea because when in Rome… Larry picked the same one. He mentioned Earl Gray, his favorite, but I reminded him we had it at home, and he could find it everywhere.

The tea was light with a slight honey undertone. Lovely and refreshing.

Next, we received a plate of tea sandwiches. As usual, several of them contained items I don’t eat, so Larry got mine as well as his own. He didn’t eat all of mine in order to save room for the sweet pastries.

And they were worth waiting for! When we’d booked our reservation, we were told we would receive enough food to take extras with us for later. And we did.

The experience more than fulfilled our expectations.

Afterward, we returned to our room and read, wrote, and relaxed. Later in the evening, we made tea and coffee and finished our delicious pastries. I felt as though I was on a sugar high since I had eaten very little in months. However, it was worth it for the experience.

UK TRIP 2022 – PART I

May 5-6, 2022

L.A. to London

After several years without travel, we were finally more than ready to head out again.

In June of 2020, my oldest friend, Kathleen [Murphy] Stewart passed away. A few years before, when she was about to undergo very serious surgery, we had a long talk about what she wanted to happen following her death. She wished to be cremated. Although her husband wanted their ashes to be place together in the columbarium at their church, she wanted to be on the Hill of Tara in Ireland. Larry and I promised her, if her husband saved a small amount of her ashes, we would take them to Ireland for her. (Larry and Kathleen started kindergarten together, so he was also her close friend.)

Of course, we were unable to make the trip until now. We had originally intended to leave the first week in May, starting in Ireland. However, we discovered the Hill of Tara would not open until May 19. [When we got there, we discovered the visitors’ center wouldn’t open until the 28^th.] We reversed the trip, so we could fulfill our promise to Kathleen.

Visiting London had been a longtime item on my bucket list. So, we began our trip with a flight there.

We set our alarm early, but we both woke even before it went off.

Our driver arrived at 1:00 p.m. as scheduled. Very few services will drive from Dana Point to LAX. If they do, the price can be more than the price of the flight! However, our AAA travel agent, Julie told us about Angels Transportation. Their rate was considerably lower, and although not cheap, far more reasonable than our other choices—including long-term parking in an outer lot. The trip was efficient, and we didn’t have to drive or leave a car while we were gone.

This was our first time traveling on British Airways, and the flight was lovely. We flew on a Boeing 777-300. Julie, booked our seats in the section with only two seats on each side. This meant, we had a row to ourselves.

Although it was a “red eye” flight, departing at 5:30 p.m. from LAX, we both watched movies for the duration. Neither of us slept. We were able to enjoy a couple of films we had wanted to see: The Lost City and Belfast. Then we each watched a couple of other films.

We arrived close to noon on the sixth.

We were supposed to be met at Heathrow by a driver to take us to the hotel. We chose to walk to the arrival area rather than taking the train. We weren’t aware that the pedestrian route went through three terminals. It took quite a while, but after sitting for so long, the stretch felt good—except for hauling our bags.

We finally got to the arrival hall. After walking back and forth four times (the arrival hall was the length of two terminals), we did not see anyone holding our names. A couple of other drivers from a different company noticed us wandering around and took pity. They called our transport company and connected to our driver. Apparently, he was late and had finally arrived. The other drivers determined where he was and pointed us in his direction. We were very grateful to them!

Our driver took us to our hotel, Rubens at The Palace, a five-star location across the street from Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately, because they are preparing for the queen’s platinum jubilee, the palace will be closed in preparation while we are here.

A bellman arrived at our car to collect our luggage. Ever since 2014, we have traveled very light. We only carry one SMALL rolling case, which fits in the overhead, and another bag. Larry takes a backpack to hold his iPad and other clothing items. I have a bag with my computer and purse.

We were greeted by a doorman, dressed in red livery. On other occasions, there have been two. We got to know Aaron and took a photo with him. [Lost when Larry’s phone died. Aaron is the young man on the far right.]

We entered the small lobby, where three people manned the reception desk. The young woman who checked us in told us our room wasn’t yet ready.

We were nearly asleep on our feet by this time.

We had been served dinner not too long after we took off from LAX. I had chicken with basmati rice. I ate the chicken and sweet peppers, but left the rice, roll, three-bean salad, and mousse dessert. Larry chose the pasta. He ate everything on his tray plus my dessert.

Before we landed, we were served croissants, fruit, granola bars, etc. I only ate the cheese out of the croissant. Larry ate everything.

However, it was two-thirty in the afternoon, and we decided to eat a light supper. We went into the New York Bar in our hotel where the waiter, Frank, who looked like central casting for an English butler, took our order.

I had the chicken cobb salad, and Larry had a burger. The food was quite good. By the time we finished, our room was ready.

The room was on the third floor. It was called a “cozy double.” The spin doctor had worked overtime on the description. While the décor was beautiful, with a crystal chandelier, the room was stuffed with furniture. The bed was as described: a double bed. We already knew many “double” rooms in Europe were fitted out with twin beds. They would not have fit in our room.

It contained tiny, mirrored side tables, a very small (about 14” in diameter) table, and a tiny, mirrored “desk” at the foot of the bed. In addition, two upholstered chairs had been placed in the room. They were large enough that they did not fit under the desk. Therefore, it was rendered virtually useless. All the drawers in the room (desk and nightstands) were far too small to be of much use (about 6” wide and 12” deep). I thought of our friend, Bernie, who likes to unpack as soon as she arrives. Not really possible here.

While the bedroom was tiny, the bathroom was enormous. Marble covered the floors and walls. The shower was huge.

Unfortunately, the shower had a rain showerhead (which I loathe). It is impossible to control the spray, and I don’t like the water coming down straight onto my head. However, instead of miniature containers of shampoo, conditioner, and bath gel, large bottles were provided for our use. (I was reminded of the gym at the Entente in Japan. Their showers contained dispensers of the same items.)

There was a small bar of soap on the counter next to the sink.

After our brief repast, we retired to our room for a much-needed nap.

After the nap, we continued to rest in our room. We had done a lot of walking at the airport and had been up for over twenty hours, so we were pretty tired. We made coffee and tea in our room and ate protein bars for dinner before going to bed for the night.