~ Mark Twain
Today started out like any other day. We awoke at our usual times and then headed off into usual activities. Although, the day would not end with usual items.
Hit the gym for the last time; picked up and delivered food items at the Mosaic Center; zipped out to MEC to look for a couple last minute items; made an impromptu appointment with the Chiropractor; stopped at the current home building project to wish my Dad a happy 70th birthday and see the guys install the linear fireplaces we had picked; returned home to cut the grass; charged my batteries (longer story); and, finally, got ready to leave.
Zachary and Timothy drove us out to the airport. I have to admit, it was exceedingly weird to have Laureen and I in the back-seat of Zachary’s vehicle. I’m not sure I’ve been in that position before and it made me realize just how much I prefer to be in control.
We arrived at the airport at about 4:00 PM, gave hugs and said out goodbyes to the Zachary and Timothy (Laureen said goodbye to Nathanial in the morning when he came home from night shift) and headed off to grab our baggage tags, clear security (thank-you Nexis Pass) and head on up to the priority lounge. There are comfortable seats, a few hot food items, drinks and reading material up the lounge. It’s just a quieter atmosphere than sitting in the open airport.
Closer to the departure time of our flight, we wandered down to gate 64 to find that our flight was delayed (the joys of traveling by air – when will someone invent the transporter?) about an hour. This was due to the inbound delay of the airplane (not exactly sure what the deal was). This was not good. We had limited time to get there, grab our rental car and then get on the road to Wales. Not much we could do but go with the flow.
We boarded the airplane and eventually took off for the UK. The plane ride itself was rather uneventful. It was the person behind me that was a real treat. A group of three girls were traveling together and the one behind me decided that my chair shouldn’t recline. When I did, I faced a series of bumps, knees in the back of the chair and her pushing on the back. I have to say, I’m not sure how someone can be so pathetic. At one point I mentioned it to the stewardess and she said something to the girl behind me. It stopped for about an hour – but continued after that. Many things went through my head – but I didn’t carry out any of them. I was going to start throwing things backward over the seat or I even thought I might get up, go to the person behind her, and offer to change seats for 10 Euro. Once behind her, well, let’s just say her ride would have gotten a lot bumpier. However, I didn’t to any of these things. Wasn’t going to let someone like this ruin my time away. I said noting; but also got little sleep. I hope whatever her issue was, she was able to get over. I’ll bet she was from Calgary.
We arrived in Gatwick, departed the plane and made our way through customs. It’s summer, so the queues were rather thick; but they did move pretty quickly. After customs we found our baggage and then made our way to the free train that takes you to the South terminal where one can find the car rental agencies. We went to the desk, and to our surprise the agent was all out of the sub-sub-compact cars that we had booked; so he offered us a Ferrari. I couldn’t believe my ears/eyes. I was so excited that I had to pee. We went out and found our car, attempting to put both suitcases in the trunk. No go. Laureen’s went into the back seat.
Next, we drove around the parking lot a couple of times (not on purpose – kinda by accident – I missed the turn off to move through the exit). Regardless, some sage advice we received from one of Laureen’s cousins, proved to be rather helpful. This allowed me to get a feel for driving on the other side of the road. Let me tell you, it’s very weird! One thing that you notice right away is that you are not in the middle of the lane, you naturally want to crowd the left side because when one is at home, you sit on the left side of the vehicle. So you naturally (well OK – it’s a learned response) accommodate for that. When you sit on the right side of the vehicle, you just by habit know where your car should be. The other thing that is wacky is that back home our traffic circles go counter-clockwise. Here, the go clockwise AND you drive on the other side of the road. As of writing this, I’m sure I was driving in the wrong lane on at least a few of the many traffic circles we encountered today.
Thank the good Lord that most of our driving was on divided hi-ways, so once I was on the appropriate side of the road – I couldn’t wander over to the other.
We drove for a while and realized that the delay in our flight, the time it took to get through the airport and the impromptu “driver training” were going to make us getting to Cardiff, Wales and then getting back to Bath nearly impossible. So, we made an executive decision to stop at Newport instead. Basically, we parked. Got out. Asked some stranger to take a picture of us (he asked if we were Americans – and we of course broke into the Canadian National Anthem to prove otherwise. I actually figured he might say NO if we admitted to being from the US of A), and then got back into the car and headed for Bath.
The time was VERY tight, and we made it to Grey’s Bath House (our Bed & Breakfast type accommodations) shortly after 6:00 PM (the time we were actually supposed to be at our dinner/spa location. The host, Jamie, called us a cab and said it would be much easier for them to take us as parking is so limited. The cab was there before we had the suitcases out of the car! We dropped our stuff in our room, grabbed our bathing suits and headed to Therme Spa.
We arrived a little late, but they seemed fine with it. We were given our towel, robe and slippers and told to head straight to the dining hall on the 1st floor. Dinner was a brazed chicken with a scalloped potato (Laureen) and a filet of salmon over wild rice with some fancy greens (like the clover that our friend Margaret eats and claims is a miracle heath product). If it sounds fancy, it was. It also means that the portions were: “Let’s stop at McDonalds on the way back” in size. For dessert we shared a chocolate mousse thingy. It was good (and also too skimpy).
Next we wandered into the various spa areas including the 4 steam rooms (all with different fragrant in them), pools and the like. I chatted with a few of the locals about some things (as can happen when you are floating in a pool with strangers) and learned a little about how much the English love their Scottish neighbors. ;-) We concluded our evening on the rooftop pool, which had a fantastic view of the area. It’s very picturesque here.
Leaving the Spa, we cabbed our way back to the guest house, and got our stuff ready for tomorrow. I took a few pictures of the place and If I don’t fall asleep, I’ll throw a few on here. If I do fall asleep, I’ll add pictures to this blog tomorrow.
Overall – a fantastic day!
Please say a prayer for the troll that was sitting behind me on the plane (either that or hope the fleas of a thousand camels infest her armpits).
From Bath, UK
Curt & Laureen
Hit the gym for the last time; picked up and delivered food items at the Mosaic Center; zipped out to MEC to look for a couple last minute items; made an impromptu appointment with the Chiropractor; stopped at the current home building project to wish my Dad a happy 70th birthday and see the guys install the linear fireplaces we had picked; returned home to cut the grass; charged my batteries (longer story); and, finally, got ready to leave.
Zachary and Timothy drove us out to the airport. I have to admit, it was exceedingly weird to have Laureen and I in the back-seat of Zachary’s vehicle. I’m not sure I’ve been in that position before and it made me realize just how much I prefer to be in control.
We arrived at the airport at about 4:00 PM, gave hugs and said out goodbyes to the Zachary and Timothy (Laureen said goodbye to Nathanial in the morning when he came home from night shift) and headed off to grab our baggage tags, clear security (thank-you Nexis Pass) and head on up to the priority lounge. There are comfortable seats, a few hot food items, drinks and reading material up the lounge. It’s just a quieter atmosphere than sitting in the open airport.
Closer to the departure time of our flight, we wandered down to gate 64 to find that our flight was delayed (the joys of traveling by air – when will someone invent the transporter?) about an hour. This was due to the inbound delay of the airplane (not exactly sure what the deal was). This was not good. We had limited time to get there, grab our rental car and then get on the road to Wales. Not much we could do but go with the flow.
We boarded the airplane and eventually took off for the UK. The plane ride itself was rather uneventful. It was the person behind me that was a real treat. A group of three girls were traveling together and the one behind me decided that my chair shouldn’t recline. When I did, I faced a series of bumps, knees in the back of the chair and her pushing on the back. I have to say, I’m not sure how someone can be so pathetic. At one point I mentioned it to the stewardess and she said something to the girl behind me. It stopped for about an hour – but continued after that. Many things went through my head – but I didn’t carry out any of them. I was going to start throwing things backward over the seat or I even thought I might get up, go to the person behind her, and offer to change seats for 10 Euro. Once behind her, well, let’s just say her ride would have gotten a lot bumpier. However, I didn’t to any of these things. Wasn’t going to let someone like this ruin my time away. I said noting; but also got little sleep. I hope whatever her issue was, she was able to get over. I’ll bet she was from Calgary.
We arrived in Gatwick, departed the plane and made our way through customs. It’s summer, so the queues were rather thick; but they did move pretty quickly. After customs we found our baggage and then made our way to the free train that takes you to the South terminal where one can find the car rental agencies. We went to the desk, and to our surprise the agent was all out of the sub-sub-compact cars that we had booked; so he offered us a Ferrari. I couldn’t believe my ears/eyes. I was so excited that I had to pee. We went out and found our car, attempting to put both suitcases in the trunk. No go. Laureen’s went into the back seat.
Next, we drove around the parking lot a couple of times (not on purpose – kinda by accident – I missed the turn off to move through the exit). Regardless, some sage advice we received from one of Laureen’s cousins, proved to be rather helpful. This allowed me to get a feel for driving on the other side of the road. Let me tell you, it’s very weird! One thing that you notice right away is that you are not in the middle of the lane, you naturally want to crowd the left side because when one is at home, you sit on the left side of the vehicle. So you naturally (well OK – it’s a learned response) accommodate for that. When you sit on the right side of the vehicle, you just by habit know where your car should be. The other thing that is wacky is that back home our traffic circles go counter-clockwise. Here, the go clockwise AND you drive on the other side of the road. As of writing this, I’m sure I was driving in the wrong lane on at least a few of the many traffic circles we encountered today.
Thank the good Lord that most of our driving was on divided hi-ways, so once I was on the appropriate side of the road – I couldn’t wander over to the other.
We drove for a while and realized that the delay in our flight, the time it took to get through the airport and the impromptu “driver training” were going to make us getting to Cardiff, Wales and then getting back to Bath nearly impossible. So, we made an executive decision to stop at Newport instead. Basically, we parked. Got out. Asked some stranger to take a picture of us (he asked if we were Americans – and we of course broke into the Canadian National Anthem to prove otherwise. I actually figured he might say NO if we admitted to being from the US of A), and then got back into the car and headed for Bath.
The time was VERY tight, and we made it to Grey’s Bath House (our Bed & Breakfast type accommodations) shortly after 6:00 PM (the time we were actually supposed to be at our dinner/spa location. The host, Jamie, called us a cab and said it would be much easier for them to take us as parking is so limited. The cab was there before we had the suitcases out of the car! We dropped our stuff in our room, grabbed our bathing suits and headed to Therme Spa.
We arrived a little late, but they seemed fine with it. We were given our towel, robe and slippers and told to head straight to the dining hall on the 1st floor. Dinner was a brazed chicken with a scalloped potato (Laureen) and a filet of salmon over wild rice with some fancy greens (like the clover that our friend Margaret eats and claims is a miracle heath product). If it sounds fancy, it was. It also means that the portions were: “Let’s stop at McDonalds on the way back” in size. For dessert we shared a chocolate mousse thingy. It was good (and also too skimpy).
Next we wandered into the various spa areas including the 4 steam rooms (all with different fragrant in them), pools and the like. I chatted with a few of the locals about some things (as can happen when you are floating in a pool with strangers) and learned a little about how much the English love their Scottish neighbors. ;-) We concluded our evening on the rooftop pool, which had a fantastic view of the area. It’s very picturesque here.
Leaving the Spa, we cabbed our way back to the guest house, and got our stuff ready for tomorrow. I took a few pictures of the place and If I don’t fall asleep, I’ll throw a few on here. If I do fall asleep, I’ll add pictures to this blog tomorrow.
Overall – a fantastic day!
Please say a prayer for the troll that was sitting behind me on the plane (either that or hope the fleas of a thousand camels infest her armpits).
From Bath, UK
Curt & Laureen
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