Innocents Abroad, Version 2.0

Lots of catching up. Rather than a lot of small posts, here's the old
stream-of-consciousness bit.

Left for a business trip to the UK last Tuesday. My flight wasn't
until 3 PM, so I decided to spend the morning at home. After finishing
packing I still had some time and took this rare opportunity to go down
to the theater and watch something on my own. I selected "Big Night".
This is a terrific film, but not one that interested Diane, so this is
only the 2nd time I've seen it. The last five minutes of the movie is
perfection. I immediately went up stairs and made myself a omelet.

Boy do I hate travel by air. Yes, you get to places quickly (as long
as they are far away). But one needs to arrive 2 hours early to get
through security. Then you sit and wait. Flew to JFK, the worst of
the NYC area airports. Had to leave the terminal, walk across a
street, find my way to the elevated train, go to another terminal and
get cleared through security again. We wait. Left JFK around 6 PM and
got to Heathrow around 6 AM local time.

People on this flight weren't interested in sleeping. I dozed a bit,
but never rested. A small French speaking child a few rows up with a
very high voice talked without a moment's pause for the last 2 hours.
I arrived at my hotel, also at Heathrow around 7 AM, but they had no
rooms cleaned and ready. I had breakfast. Still no rooms. I sat in
the lobby and read. Room finally ready around 11:30. I dragged myself
up to the room and slept till 2, then watched TV and read till 6 or so,
had dinner at the hotel, and went back to bed.

Next day I had my business conference - nothing to report - went fine,
done by 6 PM, but a long day and tiring. Dinner again in the hotel and
to bed.

Friday. Made my way to the Tube (Mind the Gap) and into central
London. The Underground system is very well run, clean, new,
comfortable, and easy to understand. It took over an hour to get from
the Heathrow station to where I was going. I easily found my
appointment at 10:30 and after sat in a Starbucks and bought an hour of
wireless Internet access.

Here's two other things that drove me mad about travel: no Internet
access and no cell phone. I made 2 phone calls home, probably less
than 30 minutes total and it cost more than one hundred pounds. I'm
use to carrying a cell and though I really don't use it much, I know
that I could, at any moment, get in touch with family and work from
ANYWHERE in the US with no difference in the charge from anywhere I am.
There's no reason why I can't have the same thing from anywhere on the
planet - I'd settle for 1st world countries, but frankly, some of the
2nd and 3rd have better cellular infrastructures than the US.

Between my 2nd and 3rd meeting I walked - no convenient Tube access and
plenty of time. Even got pretty good directions from a friendly street
person. In all, I felt comfortable in London. People seemed polite
and well mannered.

After my final meeting I hopped back on the tube and went to Picadilly
Circus - a quick walk around, but couldn't find the discount theater
ticket booth. I did confirm that the Royal Shakespeare Company's
production of "All's Well That Ends Well" was sold out. Then to Covent
Garden. Saw St. Pauls and stood where Samuel Pepys did in May of 1662
and saw the first documented Punch and Judy performance.

"...an Italian puppet play, that is within the rails there, which is
very pretty, the best that I ever saw, and great resort of gallants."

Wondered around the stalls in the Market, then found a restaurant that
was recommended by a friend. Belgo. I was too early so walked around
the area till 5 (still got a snide remark from the waiter - "hope you
enjoyed your LATE lunch"). Good all the same - details here:
http://www.belgo-restaurants.com/

Before dinner I did find a stall selling discount tickets and decided
to see "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)" by the
Reduced Shakespeare Company. Very funny. Three Americans doing what
the Marx Brothers might have done - great stuff and lots of laughing.

But while waiting for the theater, stopped again in a Covent Garden
Starbucks and managed a table by a door that wouldn't stay closed and
finished "One Hundred Years of Solitude". Incredible. Along with
"Love in the Time of Cholera" it is a wholly satisfying read, a
wonderful, imaginative, stirring book.

Saturday I took the tube back to London and spent 5 hours poking about
the Tower of London. It was a gray, cold day and ended up raining. I
had a terrific time. The tour by the Yeoman Warder was terrific.
Another "Standing in" experience: this time, the spot where Henry the
VIII stood when Anne Boleyn entered the Tower to marry him. After the
hour or so tour I spent the rest of my time walking the walls, in and
out of the various towers, spending a great deal of time in the
original or "White" tower. But by 5 my back was done and I took the
tube back to the hotel.

2nd book for the trip: "A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius". I
was put off by the title, didn't know what to expect, but did enjoy it.

Sunday: Up at what was 2 am US Central time - 8 hour flight to JFK.
Collected bag, cleared through customs and immigration. Leave the
building, ride train to another terminal - make way to street, cross
road - drag bag all the way around outside of terminal, check through
again, wait 4 hours. Made it back home around 8:30 PM.

Still recovering - it doesn't help that Diane left on a business trip
of her own Sunday afternoon and I won't see her till around 10 PM
tonight.

So - I did enjoy my first trip to London, but don't really enjoy
traveling on my own. I HATE eating by myself and truly detest being
separated from my wife (I don't mind being away from the kids for a few
days - more kid stuff to report soon). I hope the entire family will be
able to make a UK and perhaps larger European trip in the next couple
of years.

Some side observations: in the UK, I cannot predict the "color" of the
speaker. This was very clear when riding the Tube and hearing black,
Indian, Pakistani, and Asians all sounding, at least to me, like their
"white" counterparts. I stood next to two black women whose speech
instantly identified them as Black Americans. I've been made to
understand that others, not me, can determine where one grew up and
their level of education from their speech with Henry Higgins accuracy,
but not their ethnic background or skin color.

Another: Great Britain and perhaps the UK does not think of itself as a
part of Europe.

Distance: Traveling from Ireland or France and most of Europe to London
is easy and cheap. But people living in London think of Northern
England as a remote and very different country. Wales could be on the
other side of the planet. In a few weeks I'm driving the family to
Florida - a much greater distance, and I don't think of it as being
remote at all.

Love being other places, hate travel. I foresee two futures: one where
travel is easy, cheap, and takes no longer than 2 hours from any point
to another. The other and more likely: travel is very slow and very
expensive. Most people travel more than 30 miles from their home, but
virtual access is like air and water - I can go anywhere, seen and
experience anything, anytime. Frankly, I'd like travel the slow way -
take the Queen (insert name here) on a 10 day crossing. Spend a few
months on the Continent. Trains, ocean liners, zeppelins. That's the
sensible way too travel.