paragraphs | Countdown -- 23 days til boarding

The months became weeks and now the weeks have become days. We (you know, Nick aka

cruentum and I) have finally pulled everything together in a nice neat package of preparedness (literally, I made us packets of the below items to print and put in our travel notebooks) and we're now free to get excited about our coming vacation together.

Continental airline tickets confirmed? Check! This will involve layover in Newark, 2.5 hours going, a miserable 5 hours coming back due to schedule change. Hiss. Anyone near that airport? I will be miserable, tired, depressed, miserable, did I say miserable? but company would be welcome for a spot of coffee or hugs. Lotsa hugs. (Then again, why would anyone want to be around that? So don't feel guilty if you live close but want to avoid me like the plague. I will be BUMMED!)

Arrive in Hamburg, snog Nick madly in front of possibly hundreds of people (who cares?! not I! not he!) then head into Hamburg for some quick fun. No, not that kind, geesh! The bagel kind! Or maybe currywurst. Probably bagel.

Back to Hamburg airport, leave again at about 2 that afternoon. Yup! Back on a plane. So, airline tickets to London confirmed? Check!

Arrive in London, Heathrow airport. Get luggage, head for hotel under Nick's supreme guidance as he is very good at figuring out subways, tubes, trains, etc. I am not. So, he leads, I follow (we are such a great team!).

London hotel confirmed? Check! Quick freshen-up here, because of course, we must get out in London! I let Nick choose what show we would go see, and he quite happily picked a favorite entertainer of his.

Confirmation email to get tickets for Derren Brown-Enigma, at the Adelphi Theatre? Check! (and here I thought we'd go see Burn Gorman in Oliver! but this is going to be awesome!)

Stumble (or at least I will after so many hours on planes) to London hotel, keenly aware that we won't see much else of London. Very sad. Vow to come back and 'do London properly.' Next morning...back to airport!

Ha, no more flights, just to pick up car. Fooled ya.

Car rental confirmation voucher printed? Check! (still in awe of how cheap car rental is, omg, only 218 US for a week? crazy) And yes, I am doing the driving. Of course. I am a control freak. And yes, go ahead and laugh--I rented an automatic. I do not know how to drive a stick! I would kill it! That would not be smart! Hence, the automatic. And a/c of course. (I *am* a Texan...must have my a/c where I can get it).

Saying lotsa prayers though I am not religious, we next head out of the airport (which we've both street-viewed numerous times, talk about fun!) and head bravely ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE ROAD OMG! for the M-4 and CARDIFF!

We have all day to get there. I hope we don't need all day to get there. Much singing and happiness (to mask the nervousness of being in a 'wrong car') will take place on the M-4, possibly also ~~other things~~ sightseeing on the way. Except, already street-viewed it, and there isn't anything exciting to look at anyway, really.

(So different from US highways--Where is a Starbucks? I need my sixth coffee! Right now! "Wait another mile, there will be another one, Nick." Sigh. Should we pack a thermos for our journey?)

Barrowman CDs (yes, plural) set aside for packing? Check!

Arrive (safely!) in Cardiff! Follow the previously-mapped-out plan to get to the B&B, Ty Rosa, voted Cardiff's Best Gay B&B for who knows how many years! (For some reason, my co-worker Stephnie is amused by us staying there. She knows very little about the real me, obviously.) And yes, we street-viewed that too and know exactly what it looks like--and it is right next to a bus stop!

Confirmation email for Ty Rosa? Check! The Caerphilly Castle room is waiting just for us! And so is the B&B dog, Max! No, he is not a beagle, but a gorgeous black lab. DOG IN PLACE! YES! That will help me handle being away from my own puppies, keep the edge off of missing them terribly and worrying insanely that my kids will forget to feed them, water them, put them outside, scratch their bellies, etc. And yes, I really am worried they will forget. I fully expect the huskies to be insane when I get back. Sigh.

(We get to share a bathroom with another couple! Oh boy!)

And then, from that point until we leave Cardiff on the 10th, the planning is up to Nick. Because, of course, that's always Nick's responsibility. I am sure that ~~stalking~~ sightseeing will be involved, and I want to have a pint at pub, and we WILL be going to Tesco's cuz grocery stores in foreign worlds are FUN.

We will be exploring the Brecon Beacons (I believe Nick has a hiking day set out for us), and I insist we visit the Doctor Who exhibit thing, and say hi to the invisible lift. Do not expect pics of Nick standing on it. He would sooner jump off a pier. (Not advisable--a friend's daughter did that the other day, and broke her ankle.)

I, however, will likely stand on it, because I could care less what people think!

We'll also be armed with Cardiff-y questions to be answered for fic writing for ourselves and others. It is still up to debate if we will really do any running from point A to point B just to see how long it takes. (Perhaps we should pack that stopwatch after all...already have my compass, just in case!).

I don't have a camera unless I manage to scrounge up enough to buy one, so Nick will be in charge of taking pictures as he has a fantastic camera that he got when he was here and I got robbed and his was stolen and we replaced it with a really awesome camera. He'll be working on thesis stuff each morning, so I will try my best to do Thoughtful Daily Logs during that time, and share all I can about how a Texan (me) and a German (Nick) attempt to immerse themselves (okay, ourselves) into a totally alien culture (though we're as prepared as we can be for the adventure, and Nick even speaks some Welsh now! I do too! Bore da! SEE?)

Any tips between now and our leaving (or even when we are there, we will not be completely offline) are welcome! VERY WELCOME!

C

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Best list ever!

I'm grinning like mad at the thought of you two having that much fun. :-)))

We are gonna have a crazy blast. We are both finally able to let go and get excited (had much to settle before we could get to that point). Finally!

Two weeks of heaven. We're concentrating on that.

no tips, but i wish you both a fun and stress-free trip! omg, it sounds like it's going to be so awesome!

LOL I asked Smirnoff how to pump gas. Now I know! I am just sure there are many little things we don't know that we should. *bites nails*

Dude! Your list! You should go on vacation w/ my mother and brother. You'd fit right in. I usually make a list, too, but it's as I pack. And I always forget to confirm things; I expect the airline or hotel or whomever to be breathlessly awaiting my arrival and confirming w/ *me*. This does not typically work to my benefit. My brother would like to go on vacation w/ Nick, too, although there may be arguing over who is in charge of the planning for each individual day. You worked that out well. :)

I love your countdowns, b/c I am basically going to be gone at the same exact time and visiting w/ my brother and fambly in NH while you and Nick tootle around Wales & Germany. The closer your vacation gets to you, the closer mine gets to me. Yay! My selfish comment is happy for you, though! :)

Edited 2009-06-09 20:24 (UTC)

LOL I'll make sure Nick sees this. I learned quickly that there is a huge advantage to having a partner who is rabid about planning ahead. Nick is very good at it and makes sure we have relaxing time along with an adventure a day. I am not kidding!

LOL the countdown will continue!

So, will you be stopping in Oxford? (Or Stratford?) Because I really would like to meet up, y'know.

No...am sorry punkin! We are zooming straight to Cardiff where we will be staying, spending our days doing a bunch of hiking about. I for one am already planning another trip someday where we have more time but we're pretty tight on this trip!

Hope you enjoy Cardiff! I take it you've been round the Bay. There are some good restaurants there, also a Harry Ramsdens fish and chip shop, should you want to sample traditional working class British food.

I'll keep my fingers crossed that the weather stays dry for your Brecon Beacons trip.

Have not been, our first trip for both of us! Nick is German, I am American--we will collide with London then head on over to Cardiff and will.... Wait--I said that already in my post.

See why I drool hungrily over all your pictures you post? Love them! :)

Okay, noting the fish and chip shop...we DO want to sample traditional foods, absolutely! And I vow to be a Very Good American there. I always strive for that when I go to other countries.... (Just hope I catch on quickly to the driving there...LOL!)

I should read more carefully. You're going to be there in July, right? I thought you were already over here. Doh!

If you say that Nick is organising the sightseeing then I'm sure he will have pinpointed the key things to see. Cardiff has changed so much since I used to visit when we lived in South Wales. It was very drab then. Now it's a vibrant, modern thriving city.

I think you're very brave to drive over here. I wouldn't have dared drive in America. Well, perhaps I might have ventured to drive out to Estes Park from Boulder because they were quiet country roads, but I'm sure I'd be confused with everything being on the wrong side. (But please note, I am easily confused!)

Are there any suggestions you have for places that can be reached easily in a day's trip from Cardiff that I wouldn't necessarily have in mind? Some secret locations not everyone would know of?

I'd quite like to see North Wales but I'm afraid that driving from Cardiff and back in a day is killing that idea.

Trying to do North Wales from Cardiff is definitely not a good idea. It's 3.5 hours drive to Cardiff from where I live, which is at the south end of North Wales, more or less on the border between North and Mid Wales. You can do it in three and a quarter, but that's only if traffic is light. Get stuck behind a few tractors or cars towing caravans and it will definitely be three and a half. It's not just cruising along a motorway either, the road's much better than it was, but it's still just one lane each way for most of its length, so it's a tiring drive.

However, there are lots of places within easy reach of Cardiff. It depends on what your interests are really. If you're into castles, Caerphilly is (according to my husband) the best of the Welsh castles. I can recommend Cardiff Castle too, though that's a Victorian millionaire's dream home, not an ancient castle. Margam Park and Abbey are nice too.

If you're into the industrial past, then I can highly recommend Blaenavon (http://www.cadw.wales.gov.uk/default.asp?id=6&PlaceID=1452), which is a World Heritage site. We knew it when it was just a pile of rubble that they were excavating, but you can now see the iron works, with workers' cottages and nearby is the Big Pit (http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/bigpit/), which is a coal mine you can visit and descend to see the workings. (If you're lucky, your guide will be a chap who actually worked there as a miner.)

The actual town of Blaenavon is trying to reinvent itself as a book town and it has a number of second hand book shops and a cafe where

papersky and I had a very nice hot chocolate the other year. (Though a quick Googling reveals that the project had mixed results and I don't know how many bookshops are there now.)

Of course speaking of books, there is Hay-on-Wye which is well worth a visit if you like books. The whole town is devoted to books and there is a whole shop in which everything costs 1 UK pound! There are also books that specialise in rare volumes. The town has cafes and good pubs, so it's easy to spend a very pleasant day there.

Anyway, if any of those take your fancy, let me know and I'll see if I can think of more of the same. As to secret things, you really need a local for that.

[Edited to correct error in links.]

Edited 2009-06-11 16:01 (UTC)

Countdown -- 23 days til boarding

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