CAUTION: This is going to be a lengthy blog. So pull up a chair, grab some popcorn, and enjoy.
First off, just a few tips for when traveling that I learned from this trip:
1) Always know what you're getting into before you go on a trip. ESPECIALLY a trip with a guided tour.
2) If you like to go at a fast pace, do not travel with any large group of old people. They will slow you down.
3) If you're rooming with someone who snores, make sure you bring sleeping medicine and earplugs. Even then, they probably won't work.
4) Wash your hands, take a shit ton of vitamins, bring any and every kind of medicine you own, and heck, buy one of those stupid doctor masks everyone wore during the swine flu crisis. If even one person is sick, it WILL get to the rest of the group.
5) Just fyi for those who didn't know, Duty Free is only tax free when you're leaving the country. I found that out the hard way.
Those are my five main tips I guess. But now, onto the great story that is my trip to the British Isles.
To start, I'm going to be completely honest. I was already skeptical about traveling with this group, because I KNEW it was going to be a lot of old people who were going to slow down my desired pace. But, hell, it was FOUR COUNTRIES we were visiting. And it was a super gracious gift from my grandma. No way in hell I was going to pass up such a great opportunity. So, I braced myself as I rode up with the YMCA'S Silver Fox retirement group to the Charlotte-Douglas airport.
When we arrived, everything seemed to be going smoothly. We checked our bags and headed over to our gate. While waiting for our flight, I grabbed a couple of bites to eat. I walked around. Shopped around. Read my books. Etc. As it got closer and closer to our departure time, the sky outside gradually got darker and darker. Seemed clear, or so we thought. We soon found out that our flight was delayed from 6:20 to 7 something. Our connecting flight to London from Atlanta wasn't until 10:50, so we figured we had plenty of time. Our flight got pushed back even more, to 8 something. At this point, we are freaking out a little. Then, our flight got pushed back even MORE. At this point, Jimmy (head of the group) called the airport in Atlanta to see if there was any way to hold the plane for us.
There wasn't. We had lost our flight from Atlanta to London. Which meant one of two things: we simply lost an entire day of our trip, or we were't going on the trip at all. I'm sure you can guess which of the two happened. Jimmy, after making phone calls for like, three hours straight, got us a flight to New York the next day, and then a flight to London after a 12 hour layover. Which means...yup. We slept in Charlotte-Douglas that night. One of the most uncomfortable nights of sleep ever. Plus, during all of this worry and panic, there was a HUGE storm outside, tornado warnings all around, and the power went out in the airport three times. THREE TIMES. It takes A LOT for the power to go out IN AN AIRPORT.
Anyways.
After an overnight stay at Charlotte Douglas and a 12+ hour layover in NYC, we finally boarded our plane, followed by an eight hour flight to London. We didn't have assigned seats on this flight, so we were able to sit anywhere we want. (I always grab an isle seat so I can get up and down easily.) I found an isle seat next to this really quite scary looking person. I sat down next to him, and glanced over. He was looking down towards the window, obviously trying to avoid any kind of eye contact or conversation. BUT MY FRIENDS, NOT ALL HOPE WAS LOST. One of my grandma's friends, Missy, kindly asked if we could switch seats. My seat had a little bit more leg room than hers, but she still had an isle seat. I immediately said yes, not only because of the person I was sitting next to, but because of the person she was sitting next to. She was sitting next to a really good-looking guy who she acquainted me with. His name was John, and he was 28. He was visiting Utah for some kind of math conference. I have to say, it was the best flight I've ever been on. We joked around, attempted to speak each others accents (I tried a British accent and he tried an American one), talked about our hobbies, where we've been, etc. At the end of the flight, you could tell our goodbye was too short. I still to this day regret not getting his Facebook info.
ANYWAY. Back to the reality of the trip that quickly popped my dream bubble.
Once we arrived in London, we got our bags and immediately had to get on a bus, only to DRIVE another six hours to our first hotel (since we missed our first actual day in London) with only one stop on the way. We got to our hotel just in time for me to shower before the welcome drink and dinner.
By the way, did I mention I was LEGAL OVER THERE? ALL FOUR COUNTRIES, BITCHES.
For the welcome drink they didn't even card me, but I didn't care. I drank this drink called WKD (pronounced "Wicked" which I didn't find out until we got to freaking Ireland, the 3rd country we visited -.-) and it tasted basically like a fizzy blue Popsicle with 4% vodka. It was delicious, and it was basically what I had almost the entire trip, aside from the small shot glass of Guinness I had in Ireland.
I'm not going to do a day-by-day of every country, by the way. I'm just going along with significant happenings. Such as the first official day of my trip. You see, the tour director gave us seating assignments. Each day you move up three seats from where you were sitting on one side, and on the other side you move three seats back. That way everyone had a chance to sit at the front of the bus for better picture taking. Well, I don't know if I've mentioned this yet, but I get carsick VERY easily, so I kindly asked the tour director if I could sit at the front of the bus. The first day I tried to sit at the front, and this couple that was with our group kind of bitched me out. Not the couple, just the husband. I was very polite and tried to tell the husband that I got carsick easily and needed to sit at the front. He replied with "Well I get carsick too! This isn't right" blah blah blah and then pretty much tattled on me to the tour director. I'm assuming he thought I was going to get an attitude, so I moved back a row so that I didn't cause problems, and I got to sit in the second row for the rest of the trip. Take that, ya douche.
Going from country to country I saw a lot of rolling plains. Lots of cows, lots of sheep. After we were done with England, we went to Scotland where we visited one of the two castles that inspired JK Rowling with her Harry Potter series. After the castle, me and the other two granddaughters on the trip were able to find H&M and the Swatch store (the two stores we were desperately waiting to go to) right next to each other. H&M was disappointing, but the swatch store on the other hand, was not. That is until I owned the zebra print watch I'd purchased for only a day until the zebra print started wearing off. NO BIG DEAL, JUST ABOUT A 55 DOLLAR WATCH.
Anyway. About that castle we visited? I pretty much skimmed the entire landscape. I wasn't interested so much in the architecture as much as I was in the accents and culture. BUT, what I DID find fascinating in this castle was this group of french boys. One in particular. He was Asian. A french Asian. I'm pretty sure I was the only one who was so amazed by this, does that make me racist? He was one of the biggest contradictions I'd ever seen, aside from the Scotch-Korean guy in that Starburst commercial.
MOVING ON. The last good thing that happened in Scotland was visiting someone's farm for a full three course dinner. We had cream of vegetable soup as the appetizer, lamb as the main course, and then this macaroon sort of desert. It was all so very delicious. During the course of this dining experience there was a lot of singing and beating of a Scottish drum? Irish drum? I don't know, but it was intense. Then our giant group was split up into two sides, and we each had to memorize a chorus to a song and whichever team was better got a prize. The team I was on was totally loud and upbeat, we even jumped out of our chairs at one point, while the other team sat down the entire time and was totally unimpressive. Can you guess which team won the prize? NOT OURS, DARN IT. The prize ended up being a sample bottle of Irish Whiskey though, which was awarded to the leader of the other team. I didn't feel so defeated after all.
I'm totally lying. I was pissed our team didn't win.
ON TO IRELAND! We had to take a faerie to and from Ireland, about three hours long each way. I get car sick easily, and I also get sea sick easily. But I made it out alright. I've got to say, Ireland was probably my least favorite country to visit. It didn't have anything to do with the actual country, but the fact that I knew I was in a country that was basically a large island. That made me feel stranded. Does that make me weird? I assume so. Ireland was pretty much the only country that we had a leisurely day to shop and do whatever we wanted. Know what I did on that day? I found a piercing parlor, and was SUPER CLOSE to getting my nose pierced. The only reason I didn't was because the air pressure from the flights back home probably would've made my piercing swell to the point of exploding all over my face. That'd be a cool story to tell. NOT.
On one of our last days going from Ireland to Wales, I realize that I'm beginning to not feel so well. I knew there was a sickness going around the bus, so I'd been popping vitamin pills like I was a complete addict. But they were no match for the viral infection I received. Luckily I brought my Mucinex and Ban Lan Gen tea with me, and took these remedies as well as my daily vitamins. I slept as much as I possibly could, and honestly the sickness stopped quicker than it would have had I not brought the mucinex and tea. Also, the flights home were so much more smooth than the flights coming to London. We had no delays, no missed flights, nothing. All flights were in order and on time.
When we arrived back in Rock Hill, it was literally in the knick of time, because right after everyone had gathered their bags and we were headed outside to the bus, we saw huge lightning bolts across the sky and heard loud thunder claps shortly after. I can manage having delayed flights going to our destination, but having problems when you're trying to return home? Oh, I would've cried if I'd been stuck for even another hour.
All in all, a worth wile tripe. I was able to get my dad some Irish Whiskey, and I got my mom a really beautiful Waterford Crystal sunflower. I'm pretty sure I hit all of the main points. If not, I can always come back and add more. :3
