Step 2 - Precision Timing

After arriving in Fort Walton Beach airport and collecting our bags; miracle since we virtually ran from one plane to the next in Charlotte, we stayed at  The Comfort Inn at Crestview.   After such a long day, we knew we had to eat and there was a Cracker Barrel just next to the hotel so we walked there.

I love and miss Southern cooking so was really happy to eat here!  I got sweet tea to celebrate, but I cannot handle that much sugar anymore and kept adding water to it. By the end of the meal, my sweet tea was perfect!   I also got a vegetable plate, 4 not very healthy vegetables:  baked sweet potato with butter and brown sugar, fried okra, buttered green beans and steamed seasonal vegetables, with biscuits and more butter!  Alan's dinner is at the other side of the table. I only had to deal with 4 dishes! 

We had a meeting in Geneva at 8 am, made it just fine, another appointment at 9, but had time to stop in at the bank before going, then we had to be in Dothan at 11:30.  All arrivals on time.   In Dothan, Alan and I were treated to lunch at the Old Mill.  I got the best shrimp of my life, and that is saying something coming from a Florida girl!  We were told it comes from Panama City, so that is the reason it was such great shrimp!

We had hoped to go to Cowboys in Dothan since we were prevented from going last time due to weather.   Cowboys has always been a really fun place to go and we even chose our hotel to make it easy for us to get to.   However, we were simply too tired and decided to just get a drink at the hotel bar, Jake's, ended up staying the whole night and had a super time!  It was just a karaoke night, but all country music sung by country folk. I even got to draw the winning raffle ticket for one of the singers to win $100. What a fantastic way to start this trip - total immersion into local entertainment!  (no I did not sing!)


I must admit, we were originally disappointed with the hotel, it was not as clean or as nice as what we expected, but the staff were nice, Jake's was fantastic and breakfast was delicious.  So I would recommend the The Clarion anytime!  And it really is only only 1&1/2 miles from Cowboys ( and Walmart)!

"It is easy to pick up and move when the culture you know is all McDonald's. But if you grow up the way I did in Louisiana, you don't in your travels find anything like it. Some of it is the cuisine, but mostly it is a mind-set." --Glenn Petre

3 Steps to Vacation: Step 1 - Connections

After getting myself home from London, I had to finalized my packing and get ready for Monday.  Normal people, upon returning home from a weekend away, would unpack but did I ever claim to be normal?

Monday morning found me at work and attempting to catch up on everything!  This was impossible, but I did my best before clearing my desk and starting my next journey.

Dropping the car off at the airport long term car park felt like deja vu, since I had only picked my car up less than 24 hours before!  But it was so nice not to have to get up at 4am and worry about traffic.

Flying US Airways was different, landing at Philly, Charlotte and ending up at Fort Walton Beach.   Quickest trip over, ever!!!

We stayed just across the street from the airport and bought a virtual picnic breakfast for our room after dropping our cases off. There is a Tesco Express at the airport so it was really easy to do this.  And I also discovered they sell American food there! Like Aunt Jemima's Pancake syrup and Hershey's bars!  Needless to say, I did not purchase any since they are at least twice the price and we were going to the land of American food!

After enjoying a leisurely breakfast, we toddled to gate when ready and settled in for the flight.......all went well until the pilot announced we did not get the route they requested and would have to fly further north.  This might sound like a bad thing, but the view was spectacular and I feel like we were really lucky. We have flown close enough to see Greenland before, but never over it.  After cruising the fjords in Norway, the area we flew over felt so familiar, complete with what looked like fjords to us.   I could not get any pictures, but I will get some of Alan's to show how stunning it was!

Then, we were delayed in Philly due to the catering getting on the plane late. This was really odd because the only "catering" is free drinks or purchased sandwiches, which no one seemed to buy.  It seemed like a terrific waste of time to wait for what appeared to me to be unnecessary catering supplies.  So we had to run to make our connection to get to Fort Walton Beach. Normally this would not be so critical, but I had an 8 am meeting in Alabama, the next day, I could not miss, so it was a bit worrisome.  We     made it though!

“When you're down, remember your triumphs. [...] Sometimes you get in trouble and crash. Other times: just a bumpy landing.” 

― Ellyn Bache, The Art of Saying Goodbye: A Novel

 

A lovely Sunday in London

Whoops! this got lost in my quick turn around from London, to home and then to the US in less than 2 days. Sorry for the confusion, but I didn't want to miss mentioning my last day of my pre-trip trip!


We were so lucky to have another lovely day in London!

Day 3 of my pre-trip trip went so much better than anticipated!

Our first stop was Abbey Road!  It is only a 15 minute walk to the crossing made famous by the Beatles using it on their Abbey Road album cover - as we were walking on Abbey Road, we found 2 zebra crossings and were not absolutely sure which one was correct.  Then, as if it was placed there for us, was a church leaflet advertising a charity collection. What was so great about that?  On the other side, there was the picture of the actual album cover, so we could see exactly where we were supposed to be!

The trees are much higher, but we are in the right place!





It was really lucky we waited until Sunday morning. This was not intentional but turned out to be very good since there was very little traffic.  and very few people - only 2 other couples.  One was an English couple and we took photos of each other.  They left and then 2 young Japanese men arrived and we did the same all over again.  Although they are Japanese, they live in New York City.  So even with this limited amount of people, we had an incredible international experience!

Graffiti on the wall in front of Abbey Road Studios.









Our next stop was to meet Martin and Pamela for Dim Sum at the Dim Sum Palace!

Gina and I had been there before but this was the first time for Martin and Pamela. It is a fun experience with food trolleys loaded with bamboo baskets keeping a treasure trove of assorted Chinese food in bite size portions.  These trolleys are constantly on the move so you can just pick a few things, enjoy them and get your next round!  I am not convinced Martin enjoyed it as much as the rest of us, but I am so happy to have at least shared something I really enjoy!

Following this, we went to Snog for dessert.  This is frozen yogurt and you can get all kinds of toppings, ranging from very healthy blueberries to mini-chocolate chips

(if you add in strawberries, that is what I got!)

Sadly it was time to tel Gina goodbye.  This was the second time this year we have been fortunate enough to get together.  "Old" friendships are so special and I always look forward to the time we spend together. 

It was also time for me to begin planning my journey to Heathrow.  Martin and Pamela did me the honor of joining me on the bus to the airport!   I loved being able to spend more time with them and also really benefitted from help with my suitcases.  After all, I was taking stuff home for Martin too! 

I was pleasantly surprised that there is a nice Italian restaurant at Terminal 5 - Carluccio's.  After this, it was goodbye to Martin and Pamela and a very short trip home for me.

"Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those I love, I can. All of them make me laugh." –W.H. Auden

Seeing London at a different angle

The second day of my pre-trip trip could not have been nicer!  The sky was perfectly blue and the temperature was perfectly comfortable.  Gina and I headed off to a part of London neither one of us had ever been to, and we loved it.

 

First though, we needed sustenance and went to the Queen's Arms pub just across the street from our hotel, we could see it outside our window.  We sat outside right at the table under this sign. They only served a full English breakfast and we did not need that much food, so settled for a latte!

Little Venice was beautiful, with too many canal boats to count.  At first we were just going to look around, but while eating lunch at the Waterside Café, we were inspired to take the water taxi to Camden Lock!  After enjoying our Ploughman's lunch, we boarded the taxi and nabbed the very front seats.

 

If I remember correctly, the trip from Little Venice to Camden Lock takes about 90 peaceful and beautiful minutes.  And it also has a stop at London Zoo!  The houses across from London Zoo are so nice, bit and beautiful with sweeping lawns ending in canal side docks.  Wow!  How lovely (and expensive) it must be to live there!

At Camden Market, the very first stall grabbed me as I went past and I purchased a gorgeous bracelet in less time than it took to ask the stall holder. "Do you".  She said yes and I gave her my card....have not taken it off since!  It was the fastest and most powerful impulse buy that has ever happened to me. 

Gina and I wandered along the market a while before returning to the hotel to dress for tea!











Based on Pamela's recommendation, we trundled off to The City, near St Paul's Cathedral to indulge in afternoon tea. The location is perfect for tourists, but it also looked to me like local folks enjoyed this location too.  Bea's of Bloomsbury  If you look at this link, there is a view of tables and at the far end is a china cupboard, Gina and I were at the table closest to the china cupboard.

Before

 

 

After!

 

 

This was my first tea, which is strange since I have lived in Britain almost 30 years!   It was lovely and far too much to eat, so it lived up to exactly what I expected!    

We rolled back to the hotel and I slept better than I have in months! Overindulgence rules!

But somehow on our journey home, it went suddenly from 7:30 to 9pm.  We were trying to creatively get back to the hotel by bus but the one we were waiting for never seemed to come.  Eventually we decided to just catch the first one that came next.  Then, after 2 stops, the one we really needed was in front of us. How did that happen?  We got off our second choice bus, gave up and took the tube back.

But even with that glitch, this was a perfect London day!

“Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.”

Oprah Winfrey quotes (American television personality,Actress and Producer, b.1954)

First day of my pre-trip trip!

This morning, I am sitting in the lobby of the Marriott Maida Vale after a lovely evening with my friend, Gina, and Martin and Pamela.  We all went to see "The Book of Mormon" at the Prince of Wales Theatre based on Martin's recommendation.   It is very irreverent but really, really funny.  Then for coffee and cheesecake (thanks, Pamela!) before calling it a day.

 Thank goodness it was a great evening because it really is not fun travelling from Ayr to London!  I left my house yesterday morning at 9:30 am, parked at Glasgow airport for a one hour flight and met Gina at the Marriott at 4pm!   The main drag is arriving in London and deciding to take the tube and not the Heathrow Express.  Then, not being familiar with exactly how the tube map symbols work!  Oh well, live and learn.

This is a new part of London for both Gina and myself so we are hoping to explore Little Venice today.  

“TWENTY bridges from Tower to Kew -

Wanted to know what the River knew, 

Twenty Bridges or twenty-two,

For they were young, and the Thames was old

And this is the tale that River told:” 

― Rudyard Kipling