We have returned from our travels abroad (do they refer to America as "abroad" here?) and have just semi-recovered from the jet lag. It was so easy to go west, and so so hard to come back home, sleep-wise.
We had 12 days to squeeze in two weddings, friends and family. Here's how it went down:
We arrived on a Thursday around noon, after leaving London at 9 am or so. So we lived an entire workday on the plane and then got to start all over in Vancouver. We flew AirTransat for the first time, which happens to be Canada's third-largest airline in case anyone asks. I would recommend it. Movie selections were good, food was fine, seats were as comfortable as you would expect. We upgraded to whatever you have to upgrade to in order to pick your seats and get a meal. The flight attendant was really nice and noticed that we didn't want our alcoholic drinks and gave us extra snacks instead.
When we got to Vancouver, we learned our ride would be a bit late, so we eagerly ate at Wendy's. Shout out to the Vancouver airport for having a good amount of restaurants outside security. Wendy's is one of the few fast-food places not represented in the UK, which is a shame because it's one of our faves. One spicy chicken sandwich later, we were pretty content. When we found out our ride was going to be even later, I went ahead and got myself a Frosty.
We were able to stay up until about 11 pm, then slept until about 4 am. Not too bad overall.
The wedding was the next day, Friday, and the weather was gorgeous and the views phenomenal. It was one of the most thoughtful weddings I've ever been to. I'm so glad we were able to come back for it.
The day after the wedding, Lyle went home with some friends while I stuck around another day. We went on a hike to see some abandoned railroad cars that have turned into graffiti central. We also walked farther to see a waterfall. All in all, a great reminder of what the PNW is all about. And boy, do I miss it.
We headed back across the border on Sunday, day four. It took us two hours to get through the lines, and the friends I was driving with were gracious enough to stop at a Popeyes, knowing it was on my list of places to eat. They were out of sandwiches, but that was okay since Lyle had gotten one the previous day and deemed the strips better anyway. Mmmm, how I have missed spicy chicken strips, blackened ranch dip and mashed potatoes and gravy!
The next day was all about heading to Children's to see my work family. Sadly, I didn't know they had a staff meeting in the afternoon, so what I was hoping to be a long afternoon of preventing people from doing their work turned into a quick hug and hi to everyone I could see and then an empty office. At least I was able to have lunch with my team and get half-caught up on everyone. Next time I'm going to make appointments with people.
I headed downtown (still had some money on my Orca card!) to meet up with Lyle and the friends he was hanging out with. We went to Mox in Ballard (formerly Card Kingdom), ate some nachos, then walked to my favorite ice cream place Full Tilt for some good ol' salted caramel ice cream. England definitely has not figured out the ice cream market.
We then headed down to our SeaTac-adjacent hotel to catch our 7 am flight.
(Note that I also had Starbucks TWICE that day, once in the morning with my friend who dropped me off near Children's, and once while I was waiting for Lyle to be done playing a game. I haven't had Starbucks in the seven months I've lived in England even though there's one right by my tram stop. Also, I'm leaving out the story of how I dropped my phone in a toilet and couldn't get in touch with Lyle and also couldn't look up what hotel we had booked for the night because, well, those are just bad memories.)
Day six, Tuesday: Lyle heads to New Orleans; I head to Phoenix.
The time with my family was lovely. They took me to Raising Cane's, another place on my must-eat list, and, coincidentally, another fried chicken restaurant. I was coming down with a cold, so I was able to nap, take it easy, swim in the pool both days I was there, and hang out with my five-year-old niece while seeing my parents and sister. A perfect break during a whirlwind trip.
But it could not last, so on day eight, I flew to New Orleans. Lyle and his parents picked me up from the airport and drove us to his sister's house. We all went out to eat at Walk-On's, which has more delicious fried food, this time of the seafood variety. Lyle and I both had Catfish Atchafalaya, which consists of fried catfish covered in crawfish etouffee with fried crawfish tails. Oh man, it was so good. I had my leftovers for breakfast the next morning.
The next day we headed to New Orleans for the wedding. By the time I had gone to book hotels for the wedding, the group block was full, so I had to search elsewhere. We booked at this very old New Orleans hotel on the next block over, and I think we won. It was built as the personal home of Madame Oliver in 1839, and I'm certain it's haunted. Thankfully we didn't encounter any ghosts directly, and we had a very pleasant stay. And because we were a block off Bourbon Street, not right on it like the main hotel, we avoided a lot of the street noise.
The second wedding was just as lovely, though I am very far removed from being used to the heat and humidity of New Orleans. It was a bit much, especially since we had to pack for so much different weather and definitely didn't have shorts or anything that would have made it more bearable.
While in New Orleans we were able to eat red beans and rice, muffulettas, poboys, beignets and a cafe au lait, shrimp maque choux, stuffed sno-balls and probably more I'm forgetting. The food in Louisiana is still better than anywhere I've ever been, but it is also the most likely to kill you at an early age. It's a trade-off.
On day 11 we headed back to LaPlace, where Lyle's parents live. We stayed with them the night and then headed back to the airport on day 12, when we started the long slog back to the UK.
We booked two one-way flights back because at the time it was the cheapest option: New Orleans to Boston on JetBlue, Boston to London-Gatwick on Norwegian. Because of this, and the extra domestic flights we took, we only packed a carry-on each. We were able to make it work and despite Lyle's probably-larger-than-allowed backpack, we weren't forced to check any of our bags. Win!
I'd never flown JetBlue before, and I was really pleased with the experience. I'd definitely recommend it even though the earphone jack didn't work in my seat. It was only a three hour flight, though, so I just watched Dirty Dancing, which I'd downloaded on my (now working again) phone from Netflix.
We had three hours in Boston, plenty of time to leave security and walk ALL the way to the E gate and go through security again. Our final meal was at a Burger King, where I was tempted to try the Impossible Whopper but went with the spicy chicken sandwich instead. Shocker.
We'd flown Norwegian before, but this time we didn't upgrade because 25 GBP for a meal on a six-ish hour flight just seemed ridiculous. But they really didn't advertise it properly, because if you didn't upgrade, you didn't get anything - no snacks, no drinks, nothing. So we bought a couple of Coke Zeros and were glad we had thought to buy our own snacks. I think if we fly again we'll definitely suck it up and pay the fee. After all, one of the few pleasures of international travel is eating ill-timed meals to stave off boredom.
Once we landed at Gatwick the next morning, passport control was quick to get through, but we still had about three hours of travel to get to Nottingham. Ugh. Probably the thing I dislike most about Nottingham, aside from its lack of water and mountains, is its lack of proximity to a decent-sized airport. We caught the Thameslink to St Pancras, and then the good old East Midlands Railway to Nottingham. We walked the 15 minutes from the train station to our house in a misty rain, glad to be home and stationary.
It was a crazy trip, but we were so glad to be able to make both weddings and see so many different groups of friends and our families. There were a lot of things I had forgotten about - random stores and restaurants we'd pass by as we were driving, how awesome Target is, that I like to drive as long as it's not in Seattle traffic. We laughed at the portion sizes we got from the fast-food restaurants we went to. We were reminded of how eating out in America is so much more relaxing and enjoyable (to us) than in England. We relished in the expectation of unlimited fountain Coke. I did find myself thinking, internally and aloud, as we were surrounded by all my favorite people, Why do we live in England, again?
But I know the answer. I know why we said yes to this opportunity, and I didn't totally forget that we are enjoying our time in the UK and have lots to look forward to as we continue to explore. But it was really, really nice to be around our people again.
When will we visit again? I'm really not sure. As we were planning the trip, and all the side trips, and shelling out money left and right, we said staunchly to each other, We're not going back in 2020, that's for sure! But, of course, once we got there and enjoyed ourselves so much, our (my) commitment to that decision started to waver. We do have our 20th high school reunion in March 2020, after all.
But then as we started our journey homeward and I was reminded of how hard it is to get out of Nottingham and how much time it takes, and what a pain it would be to get to Natchitoches, LA (about a four hour drive from New Orleans), ugh, my desire to go back dwindles. But then when you start talking about pairing that trip with one to Disney World, well...so you see, we are quite torn. Unfortunately, even if we do make that trip it won't involve Seattle at all, so that's a bummer either way.
Next adventure on the agenda is a weekend trip to Venice in early November, so stay tuned for that. Hopefully we'll do something else worth writing about before then too. And if I didn't get to see you on this trip, please know I wish I could have. And if I did get to see you, please know it wasn't for nearly long enough. xx
We had 12 days to squeeze in two weddings, friends and family. Here's how it went down:
We arrived on a Thursday around noon, after leaving London at 9 am or so. So we lived an entire workday on the plane and then got to start all over in Vancouver. We flew AirTransat for the first time, which happens to be Canada's third-largest airline in case anyone asks. I would recommend it. Movie selections were good, food was fine, seats were as comfortable as you would expect. We upgraded to whatever you have to upgrade to in order to pick your seats and get a meal. The flight attendant was really nice and noticed that we didn't want our alcoholic drinks and gave us extra snacks instead.
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| Whistler is pretty. |
When we got to Vancouver, we learned our ride would be a bit late, so we eagerly ate at Wendy's. Shout out to the Vancouver airport for having a good amount of restaurants outside security. Wendy's is one of the few fast-food places not represented in the UK, which is a shame because it's one of our faves. One spicy chicken sandwich later, we were pretty content. When we found out our ride was going to be even later, I went ahead and got myself a Frosty.
We were able to stay up until about 11 pm, then slept until about 4 am. Not too bad overall.
The wedding was the next day, Friday, and the weather was gorgeous and the views phenomenal. It was one of the most thoughtful weddings I've ever been to. I'm so glad we were able to come back for it.
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| View from the ceremony. |
The day after the wedding, Lyle went home with some friends while I stuck around another day. We went on a hike to see some abandoned railroad cars that have turned into graffiti central. We also walked farther to see a waterfall. All in all, a great reminder of what the PNW is all about. And boy, do I miss it.
We headed back across the border on Sunday, day four. It took us two hours to get through the lines, and the friends I was driving with were gracious enough to stop at a Popeyes, knowing it was on my list of places to eat. They were out of sandwiches, but that was okay since Lyle had gotten one the previous day and deemed the strips better anyway. Mmmm, how I have missed spicy chicken strips, blackened ranch dip and mashed potatoes and gravy!
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| Also found these, which will be in my purse in case of emergency. |
The next day was all about heading to Children's to see my work family. Sadly, I didn't know they had a staff meeting in the afternoon, so what I was hoping to be a long afternoon of preventing people from doing their work turned into a quick hug and hi to everyone I could see and then an empty office. At least I was able to have lunch with my team and get half-caught up on everyone. Next time I'm going to make appointments with people.
I headed downtown (still had some money on my Orca card!) to meet up with Lyle and the friends he was hanging out with. We went to Mox in Ballard (formerly Card Kingdom), ate some nachos, then walked to my favorite ice cream place Full Tilt for some good ol' salted caramel ice cream. England definitely has not figured out the ice cream market.
We then headed down to our SeaTac-adjacent hotel to catch our 7 am flight.
(Note that I also had Starbucks TWICE that day, once in the morning with my friend who dropped me off near Children's, and once while I was waiting for Lyle to be done playing a game. I haven't had Starbucks in the seven months I've lived in England even though there's one right by my tram stop. Also, I'm leaving out the story of how I dropped my phone in a toilet and couldn't get in touch with Lyle and also couldn't look up what hotel we had booked for the night because, well, those are just bad memories.)
Day six, Tuesday: Lyle heads to New Orleans; I head to Phoenix.
The time with my family was lovely. They took me to Raising Cane's, another place on my must-eat list, and, coincidentally, another fried chicken restaurant. I was coming down with a cold, so I was able to nap, take it easy, swim in the pool both days I was there, and hang out with my five-year-old niece while seeing my parents and sister. A perfect break during a whirlwind trip.
But it could not last, so on day eight, I flew to New Orleans. Lyle and his parents picked me up from the airport and drove us to his sister's house. We all went out to eat at Walk-On's, which has more delicious fried food, this time of the seafood variety. Lyle and I both had Catfish Atchafalaya, which consists of fried catfish covered in crawfish etouffee with fried crawfish tails. Oh man, it was so good. I had my leftovers for breakfast the next morning.
The next day we headed to New Orleans for the wedding. By the time I had gone to book hotels for the wedding, the group block was full, so I had to search elsewhere. We booked at this very old New Orleans hotel on the next block over, and I think we won. It was built as the personal home of Madame Oliver in 1839, and I'm certain it's haunted. Thankfully we didn't encounter any ghosts directly, and we had a very pleasant stay. And because we were a block off Bourbon Street, not right on it like the main hotel, we avoided a lot of the street noise.
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| Obviously a ghost. |
The second wedding was just as lovely, though I am very far removed from being used to the heat and humidity of New Orleans. It was a bit much, especially since we had to pack for so much different weather and definitely didn't have shorts or anything that would have made it more bearable.
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| I love New Orleans homes. |
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| x 2. |
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| The Mississippi River. I miss being close to it. We used to ride bikes on the levee in Baton Rouge, and I would walk from work at lunchtime to watch the barges. Different section, same river. |
While in New Orleans we were able to eat red beans and rice, muffulettas, poboys, beignets and a cafe au lait, shrimp maque choux, stuffed sno-balls and probably more I'm forgetting. The food in Louisiana is still better than anywhere I've ever been, but it is also the most likely to kill you at an early age. It's a trade-off.
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| Pro tip: Cafe Beignet is a fine alternative to Cafe Du Monde. |
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| Surprise! These snoballs have ice cream inside of them. |
On day 11 we headed back to LaPlace, where Lyle's parents live. We stayed with them the night and then headed back to the airport on day 12, when we started the long slog back to the UK.
We booked two one-way flights back because at the time it was the cheapest option: New Orleans to Boston on JetBlue, Boston to London-Gatwick on Norwegian. Because of this, and the extra domestic flights we took, we only packed a carry-on each. We were able to make it work and despite Lyle's probably-larger-than-allowed backpack, we weren't forced to check any of our bags. Win!
I'd never flown JetBlue before, and I was really pleased with the experience. I'd definitely recommend it even though the earphone jack didn't work in my seat. It was only a three hour flight, though, so I just watched Dirty Dancing, which I'd downloaded on my (now working again) phone from Netflix.
We had three hours in Boston, plenty of time to leave security and walk ALL the way to the E gate and go through security again. Our final meal was at a Burger King, where I was tempted to try the Impossible Whopper but went with the spicy chicken sandwich instead. Shocker.
We'd flown Norwegian before, but this time we didn't upgrade because 25 GBP for a meal on a six-ish hour flight just seemed ridiculous. But they really didn't advertise it properly, because if you didn't upgrade, you didn't get anything - no snacks, no drinks, nothing. So we bought a couple of Coke Zeros and were glad we had thought to buy our own snacks. I think if we fly again we'll definitely suck it up and pay the fee. After all, one of the few pleasures of international travel is eating ill-timed meals to stave off boredom.
Once we landed at Gatwick the next morning, passport control was quick to get through, but we still had about three hours of travel to get to Nottingham. Ugh. Probably the thing I dislike most about Nottingham, aside from its lack of water and mountains, is its lack of proximity to a decent-sized airport. We caught the Thameslink to St Pancras, and then the good old East Midlands Railway to Nottingham. We walked the 15 minutes from the train station to our house in a misty rain, glad to be home and stationary.
It was a crazy trip, but we were so glad to be able to make both weddings and see so many different groups of friends and our families. There were a lot of things I had forgotten about - random stores and restaurants we'd pass by as we were driving, how awesome Target is, that I like to drive as long as it's not in Seattle traffic. We laughed at the portion sizes we got from the fast-food restaurants we went to. We were reminded of how eating out in America is so much more relaxing and enjoyable (to us) than in England. We relished in the expectation of unlimited fountain Coke. I did find myself thinking, internally and aloud, as we were surrounded by all my favorite people, Why do we live in England, again?
But I know the answer. I know why we said yes to this opportunity, and I didn't totally forget that we are enjoying our time in the UK and have lots to look forward to as we continue to explore. But it was really, really nice to be around our people again.
When will we visit again? I'm really not sure. As we were planning the trip, and all the side trips, and shelling out money left and right, we said staunchly to each other, We're not going back in 2020, that's for sure! But, of course, once we got there and enjoyed ourselves so much, our (my) commitment to that decision started to waver. We do have our 20th high school reunion in March 2020, after all.
But then as we started our journey homeward and I was reminded of how hard it is to get out of Nottingham and how much time it takes, and what a pain it would be to get to Natchitoches, LA (about a four hour drive from New Orleans), ugh, my desire to go back dwindles. But then when you start talking about pairing that trip with one to Disney World, well...so you see, we are quite torn. Unfortunately, even if we do make that trip it won't involve Seattle at all, so that's a bummer either way.
Next adventure on the agenda is a weekend trip to Venice in early November, so stay tuned for that. Hopefully we'll do something else worth writing about before then too. And if I didn't get to see you on this trip, please know I wish I could have. And if I did get to see you, please know it wasn't for nearly long enough. xx
Popeyes hits the spot after every international trip. One of our favs!
ReplyDeleteI read this to Dominick instead of a bedtime book. He can’t over how your phone landed in the toilet! Lol.