The End of the Adventure

finished 

acabado

fini 

fertig 

τελειωμένος

finito

klar

bitmiş

 

Our blog is coming to an end. What a wild ride this adventure has been.

We have:

• visited 22 countries
• welcomed 21 guests (some several times…you know who you are)
• explored more than we could have ever imagined
• used 8 modes of transportation in our travels
• made international friends
• discovered new favorite foods
• learned a new language – English is difficult you guys!

 Furthest traveled in each direction:

• North – Tromso – 69˚ 40’ 58
• East – Corfu – 19˚ 52’ 0
• South – Corfu – 39˚ 35’ 0
• West – Dunmorehead – 10˚ 28’ 45

Thanks for reading along on our travels and escapades for the past three years.

In the words of John Denver

All my bags are packed
I'm ready to go

…

'Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again

Gelato Crawl

 Pub Crawl:

  A round of visits to a number of bars in succession ~Merriam-Websters

Gelato Crawl:

  A series of visits to a number of Gelateria in succession in which you consume at least one Gelato in each ~Adam Powell

While Merriam’s definition of a Pub Crawl does not specify that consumption is required at each of the bars visited, and probably with very good reason, I am suggesting that for a Gelato Crawl you should most definitely consume at least one Gelato at each stop for any number of emotional and/or medicinal reasons. As I am also laying claim to this term here is the evidence of my first ever Gelato Crawl.

Hopefully more of these are to come! 

Pompeii

It’s our last vacation. Not like ever. But our last one while living in the UK. We shipped off our worldly belongings, made sure the pups got safely to Texas then hopped one more flight to Italy! I had Pompeii on my for all three years we’ve lived here and by the skin of our teeth we’re going to get it in!

We arrived in Naples and found our way through lots of back paths and beautiful floral lined passages to our hotel for the week.

What a view we had! We had booked the hotel online and it failed to mention that it completely overlooked the Gulf of Naples and out to the mountains in the distance. Someone really needs to work with their marketing department.

We booked a tour as we would not have a car with us and the thought of renting one and driving on the Amalfi Coast scared me and the thought of jumping in a taxi with an Italian driver to take me also was a hard pass. So we found a Rick Steve approved tour service which even picked us up at our hotel – SCORE!

Pompeii was just as fascinating and beautiful as I had hoped. When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD, it ended the city while preserving it in a strange frozen in time snapshot view of Roman life. The eruption of Vesuvius lasted for two days. At first, it was mostly a rain of stone & soot lasting about 18 hours, allowing most inhabitants to escape. It’s thought that most residents were able to escape and probably even managed to salvage some of their most valuable belongings. At some time in the night or early the next day, pyroclastic flows began near the volcano, consisting of high speed, dense, and very hot ash clouds, knocking down wholly or partly all structures in their path, incinerating or suffocating the remaining population and altering the landscape, including the coastline. By evening of the second day, the eruption was over, leaving only haze in the atmosphere through which the sun shone weakly. Much of what this did was seal in whatever was happening at the moment of the eruption so minus some decay for a couple of centuries, when the excavators started digging in the 19^th/20^th centuries they got a true view of Roman life.

Next stop on our tour was Vesuvius itself.

Our tour guide assured us on the way over that we had nothing to worry about while climbing a still active volcano as he knew “how to say ‘RUN!’ in 27 different languages”. I asked him to go ahead and use English first if he felt the need to shout it.

We have climbed up & down a lot of things in our three years in the UK. Just a mental note for next time. Volcanos are steep!

But they have awesome views!

We're homeless!

We left our house today. It was good. Not that we were ready to leave. We’ve loved this little corner of Croydon where we have explored London from. We’ve had countless visitors. We’ve worked. We’ve played (okay, mostly played). But all really great things end eventually.

The girls left yesterday. All boxed up & ready for their flight direct to Grandma’s house in Dallas.

Our stuff left this morning in a container.

We have one more adventure in us then heading to our new home…which might be an adventure all in itself.

Tube Talkin' with Aunt Karen

Every nation has their list of quirks or unique pastimes that make zero sense to those on the outside who witness them. A few of our favourities from our three years living here are:

• Queuing for everything
• The ubiquitous inclusion of the letter U in seemingly randoum wourds.
• Using naught for 0 instead of zero because it’s not possible to pronounce Z in proper English without the following ed.
• Teatime (this may actually be my favourite and will be returning with me to the states. I just need to find someplace to sell me clotted cream!)
• Ingenious use of swear words. Of course, why wouldn’t they considering they invented the bloody language.
• The food. I still haven’t been able to wrap my head around the fact that this nation, at one point, claimed that the “sun never set” on it’s Empire and yet despite that impressive geographic expanse the common food staples are still HP sauce, canned beans and mushy peas.
• Very friendly once you get past the stiff upper lip.
• Health and Safety. Yes, other places in the world focus on this too but it is truly unique in the UK.
• Talking on public transport is strictly verboten. Particularly if you’re on the tube in London.

Frequently as we welcome guests to the country and prepare them for what to expect on their visit some version of this list will come up as they ask what we find unique and endearing in the native Britain. Aside from no one being able to grasp the culinary deficiencies of the British diet the most common surprise is the lack of conversation that occurs on public transport. Enter Aunt Karen.

When you visit London it is almost impossible to avoid using the tube at some point. The distances between tourist sights isn’t necessarily great but there are enough of them that you would easily clear 20,000 steps a day trying to “walk” the city. And while cabbies and busses are virtually everywhere on the roads most of the time Amanda and I never used them because 1) the buses are relatively slow going place to place and 2) the cabbies are either always full or not accepting fares’ because they’re on their way to pick up another customer or heading off shift. Which leaves us the rail network or tube.

I personally LOVE the tube. It’s relatively clean as public transport goes, always on time and there’s a unique energy that surrounds it which makes taking the tube an experience in and of itself for visitors. It also has a number of points of etiquette and safety that you are encouraged to follow while riding, such as Minding the Gap, standing on the right side of escalators, don’t crush yourself into an overcrowded car and “it’s okay to be quiet”. Of course, this last point of etiquette is written in the most British way possible.

If you’re not familiar with British parlance you can be mistaken for believing that this is just a nicely worded suggestion, however for those of you from or familiar with the American south “it’s okay to be quiet” has the same sense about it as the great southern Americanism “Well bless your heart”. On the face of it the saying sounds considerate and thoughtful but what we’re really saying is “well of course you idiot”. Similarly, “it’s okay to be quiet” happens to be the #1 point of etiquette on the tube according to the visit Britain website. So we can then infer both from it’s high ranking and the overtly polite form that it was written it’s meaning is far more important than a mere suggestion of politeness. With that being said, no one really cares if you talk on the tube or not. It’s just a great way to identify yourself as a foreigner when you do:). And it’s immensely entertaining to watch young teenage girls realize that everyone else around you aren’t speaking while your Mum recaps your day to the rest of the passengers in the car. Love you both!!!

Of course, riding the tube wasn’t the only thing Aunt Karen and Becca did. Some of my personal highlights from their visit were the Churchill War rooms, Traditional Tea at the National Gallery and visiting the Camden and Burrow Markets. But if you want to know there’s you’ll just have to ask them.

The Grand Old Duke of York, He had 10,000 Men....

He marched them up to the top of the hill
And he marched them down again
(Richard may only be one man, but he will definitely go to the top of every hill...and down again)

Ahhh the north of England. The wet, windy, cold…did I mention wet…north of England. York somehow manages to be both unique and typical all at the same time. Geographically speaking it is north of the Humber which qualifies it as being in the North of England but it is also south of Middlesbrough and when driving north if you think you’re almost in Scotland when you arrive in York, think again as you’ve still got almost 3 hours until finding your way to Coldstream. On this trip our dear friends Ginny and Richard joined us as we explored this somewhat modern yet largely medieval city.

We found York to be very walkable staying a few blocks outside the medieval portion of the city at a local AirB&B. 

(not our AirB&B)

After strolling over to the Cathedral we started our touring day with guided walk along, around and through the old medieval walls of the city. At 3.4 kilometers they are the longest medieval town walls in England. The city does a great job maintaining them and if you want to know more or I’d recommend visiting Friends of York Walls.

One of the great things about traveling with friends is they often encourage you to do things you otherwise would have skipped out on. Such as a brewery tour. I know, this probably seems like a no brainer for most of you reading this but in truth Amanda and I don’t really care for Beer. At all! Yet the UK is truly one of the great brewing nations of the world and more than two years into our time this is an aspect of the culture we had largely paid little attention. Enter York Brewery. After a long morning of walking the walls that stretched into what are now failed photo ops at Clifford’s Tower a relaxing sit with a nice dark ale.

Okay so some of us clearly still don’t like beer!

On Day 2 we spent the morning at the National Railway Museum York. This was a truly fascinating stop. The museum is huge and has a full-sized functioning round house on the inside and dozens of locomotives and rail cars from all ages of rail travel as well as some from locations as far afield as China. You can also pick up replica’s of promotional posters from days gone by. Here are a couple we picked up.

While it was a short trip we truly had a great time in York and would absolutely recommend to anyone who’s looking for somewhere to go that’s perhaps a little off the beaten tourist track!

Play Ball!

 
Adam misses baseball. I guess I do too, but I really miss a ballpark frank.

Through the power of the internet and several special cables that hook laptops to TVs in ways I don’t understand we were able to watch opening day today.  And thankfully, it was a noon Texas game so 6pm here just in time for a hot dog.

I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today...

English food is, in a word, unique. There is nothing within the culinary repertoire of the English menu that is as universally well-loved as Italian food, or as renowned as French cuisine, or has the spice pallet and degree of versatility as Asian, Indian or Spanish food. Even within the melting pot of American dietary options one could argue that my own countries home grown culinary contributions equal if not exceed those that are seen as quintessentially British. Now that’s not to say that the English offering is completely without merit. Far from it in fact.

One of my own personal favorites is English Tea and more specifically, scones and clotted cream with raspberry jam. I could easily indulge in this treat every day without hesitation provided my shrinking budget and growing waist line are able to manage it. It truly is one of my all-time favorite food items. And one shouldn’t forget Fish & Chips, hard Apple Cider and a whole list of cheeses (Cheddar, Stilton, Cornish Yarg along with dozens of variations of blue, brie and cheddar styled cheese that have been in production for centuries) as excellent overall contributions to the global dining experience. And while they are not among the chocolate power houses that some of their central European cousins are they can still be proud of their local confectionary delights as well! All told, throughout our 2 ½ years in the UK so far we have not yet gone hungry!

However, sometimes you just want flavours of home! Hamburgers have long been one of my staple foods and there was a time early in college when one of my classmates endeavored to track the regularity that I indulged in a burger. And while I’m not appalled to say it, the fact that I managed to have hamburgers for 88 consecutive, non-breakfast, meals is astounding even to me. We all cope with major life changes in different ways and apparently my mechanism is the humble hamburger (with cheese, mustard and pickles only, please). So with this in mind I would regularly search the city, both Bristol before and London now, for an American style burger restaurant. And much to my dismay have struggled to find one that doesn’t have golden arches or reference a burger monarchy. That is until I was enjoying a pleasant walk through the city and heading southwest on Long Acre between Covenant Garden and Leicester Square stations where I found myself dumbfounded by a sign for “Five Guys.” My favorite American Burger restaurant that I had no idea even existed outside the states.

And I say dumbfounded not to imply that it wouldn’t be impossible for such an establishment to find its way in London, indeed one of the greatest skills the English have is in the collection of foreign cultural icons and redistributing them to the broader British society both at home and abroad. Their museums alone are some of the greatest in the world largely because of collected artifacts that come from places all over the world. No, in this sense I was dumbfounded because I had literally just left a lunch with a friend of mine who was helping in my search for the best London burger and was walking from Honest Burgers in Holburn down to the National Gallery where I was meeting my wife for the evening.  Had I not just finished eating a short time before I may well have just popped in for a quick bite but instead I soldiered on towards the National Gallery and the date with my lovely wife; who I then took back to Five Guys the next evening.

And while Honest Burgers was delicious! The Five Guys at the corner of Long Acre and St Martin’s Ln truly satisfied my longing for that ever elusive all American Hamburger.

A Day in (My) Life

 How did we get so lucky? I mean, as you’ve read for the last almost three years, all we do is go on vacation.

Wait. No. Really? I do go to work too. 

Work.  You know, that thing that sent us over here & allowed us to live this fabulous adventure.

I thought maybe you’d like to hear about what I do when I’m not on vacation.  You know… the mundane.

We live in a great location.  It’s about a 10 minute walk from our house to the nearest train station, Norwood Junction. From Norwood it’s supposed to be a 12 minute train ride into London Bridge Station then another 5-10 minute walk to my office.  Adam walks me to the train station most days. And with my Oyster Card in hand, it’s supposed to be a fairly easy commute.

You might notice that I used the phrase “supposed to” twice in that last paragraph.

There are two options that most commuters use to get into London Bridge; the 7:35 and the 7:43 trains. In the nearly year that I’ve been taking this route, the 7:35 – never on time; usually around 7:45 and the 7:43, don’t even think about it arriving before 8am.  On particularly exciting days, the 7:43 arrives before the 7:35 and for some reason that bothers many of my fellow commuters.  Personally, I just like being able to fit on the inside of the train.

You think I’m joking.

Yeah, occasionally I try to get on the 7:35 only to encounter this situation and have to wait it out for the 7:43.  And sometimes I worm my way in and stand in someone’s armpit.  Joy.

Once arriving at London Bridge the short walk is often really nice.  You get a great view of the city waking up for the day.

This is in the top 5 reasons of why I love working here.  How do you not fall in love with walking to work with that view?

Then of course, there are days where it rains.  No, really, it rains in the UK. Then my walk looks a bit more like this.

Umbrellas are an added fun target in trying to walk with a couple thousand of your closest friends.  The thought of Dory bouncing on the jellyfish is pretty constant in my life.  Games? I love games!

Once in the office, I do the work, I drink the tea, I save the financial markets. You know, all the things.

Then it’s time to commute home.  It’s a mystery as to what platform my train will leave from EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.  So with my couple thousand close friends, I stand and stare at the big board to wait for the magic number to appear then we all make a mad dash for the platform before the train departs.

I know I will miss many things when we leave the UK.  Surprisingly enough, even with the chaos of the daily commute, this is definitely one of them.

The Long Boat Ride Back to London

For a cruise wrought with bad weather and rough seas the last day and half on board wasn’t much different. Our ship left Bergen, Norway late in the afternoon just before another storm was coming into port so the captain did his best to forge through the swells of the front and make it to calmer waters. By lunchtime the following day the seas began to level out and walking around the ship was considerably easier. Although, it seemed as if most passengers had retreated to their cabins for fear of another onslaught of bad weather.

We spent most of our last full day on board lounging around the common areas catching up on reading (Amanda) and sketching (myself). Both activities proved to be stomach turning experiences for most of the cruise with a pitching deck on unstable seas so it was nice to sit comfortably for a little while and not feel queasy. We also started planning for our next set of visitors along with working out a schedule for our final trip within the UK and the last hurrah in Europe!  

When we finally arrived back in London Amanda and I were both more than ready to get back to our normal, stable, rock solid lives and while we have enjoyed both cruises we’ve taken during our time in the UK, I think we are probably going to avoid the Marco Polo for awhile. With all the news worthy events that have occurred to the Marco Polo in the last two years; Ran aground, Noro-virus outbreak (we witnessed this one first hand) and a death on board due to rough seas -- I think it’s probably better we just stay away for a bit. Of course, I should stress that it wasn’t a bad ship by any stretch and we did generally enjoy our time on board it’s just had an incredibly unlucky stretch since we discovered it a two short years ago. Perhaps a bigger boat in a different part of the world would be better for us. Anyone interested in joining us in the Caribbean? I promise we’ll do our best to not break the boat!  

Tromso, Andalsnes and Bergen

Our time in Alta unfortunately ended rather poorly as our last excursion, a guided tour to see the Northern Lights, was canceled due to in-climate weather. The weather was so bad in fact that it delayed our departure out of the port by a few hours. The captain did however make up some time during the night and we arrived in Tromso late in the morning. 

Obviously the weather hadn’t gotten much better so we tried to find as many indoor activities as we possibly could. This proved much harder than we originally anticipated as the only place that was open was a small glass blowing shop just off the main street. It's a good things Amanda loves a decent glass blowing demonstration.

After nearly an hour soaking in the warmth being generated from the furnaces and with the rain starting to come down in buckets we beat feet back to ship stopping just long enough to take a photo of the local Catholic Church.

Our afternoon in Tromso was uneventful. We stayed on board drinking hot chocolate and perhaps a few glasses of wine while we watched the storms batter the poor dock workers who were constantly securing and releasing the mooring lines of the various regional ferries that came in and out of port throughout the day. After dinner however the weather cleared up just long enough to get some photos of the city all lit up. 

Shortly after these pictures were taken there was a clearing in the sky and the Northern Lights shown through very briefly. However, due to the incredibly poor lighting conditions and the persistent cloud cover this is the best of the shots I managed to get. 

But hey, we can now say we’ve officially seen the Aurora Borealis!

Almost immediately after seeing the Northern Lights the skies opened up yet again and an even stronger storm blew into town. So strong in fact that the Captain decided to delay our departure out of Tromso until the following morning. Meaning our next scheduled stop, Sortland, would have to be skipped and instead we would get another full day at sea. A sea that was easily the roughest Amanda and I have ever encountered with 8 to 12 meter swells (26 to 40 ft in American)! We didn’t even bother leaving the cabin.

When we finally arrived in Andalsnes we actually ran off the boat. The weather in Andalsnes was much nicer than Tromso and we took advantage of the scenic walking paths that surround the city. 

Amanda even found some playground equipment.

 

Best photo of Amanda...EVER!

Once done with playtime it was time to eat and what better way to make up for a day of missed meals than with a giant pizza.

We left Andalsnes completely sated and ready to tackle what we anticipated would be yet another rough night at sea, and we were not disappointed. If anyone ever wants to take you on a cruise up the Norwegian coast in the winter make sure it’s on a REALLY big boat because the small ones get tossed all over the North Atlantic.

We arrived in Bergen no worse for wear despite the formidable seas, however the constant rain rather encouraged us to return to the ship sooner than we had hoped. Bergen appears to be a lovely city and I would very much like to return again when the weather is a bit more appealing, but even so we did manage to see the old market buildings which run along the docks and meander through the wonky back alleyways.  

Now all that's left is the long boat ride back to London.