Oct 5: Boy, time flies! Vacation plans
Again, really, really didn't realize it had been that long.....
Very busy. Worked all 5 days each of the two weeks after the 9/11 post and was absolutely exhausted. It established to me that I can't work more than the three and a half days in my current schedule. Then the past couple weeks has been devoted to planning the England trip. I'm not sure where all the plans for that trip went, or if I was woefully unprepared (highly suspect), but an extraordinary amount of research into where to stay for the first week. Granted, staying everywhere twice as long as the initial plan but really don't remember making any reservations.
Plans have been hampered by the DF, which while substantially improved is still sore. I can now walk for 30 mins, but much more than that and it gets a little sore. So decreasing the amount of stairs and the need to walk far were the main qualifiers. All the charming B&Bs were a '5-10 min' walk from the center of town, and it took a while before I realized that their idea of a 5-10 min walk was more like my idea of a 15-20 min walk, which would strand me if I started to get really tired and needed to rest. So that meant finding somewhere in the center of the city. This was somewhat problematic since the big thing about Bath is their Georgian houses, which, it turns out are very high, and they call the first floor the ground floor. This was important to be reminded of when one of the only places to be found was on the third floor of a highly rated B&B. Except the 3rd floor was equivalent to our 4th floor, and the first two floors are 24 feet high, so those stairs were two sets of stairs.... So, staying at a charmless and expensive Best Western which has an elevator and is only 2 blocks from all the cool old stuff.
Glastonbury was a little easier, found what seems like a wonderful B&B a short walk from Chalice Well. That's where I'll be on Oct 15, the five year anniversary of the first (and worst) surgery. We've established that I have a real thing about dates, and this to me is a biggy. I want to do a 'releasing' of the past five years by climbing the Glastonbury Tor, an ancient spiritual site. If you're curious, just google.... And if you want to see the challenge, look up Glastonbury Tor stairs. It might take me all day and a packed lunch, but I'm determined to get to the top.
After that I stay with my friend Chris, who used to be one of the nuclear techs at work. Her husband was re-located there a couple years ago. She's being incredibly welcoming, looking forward to showing me around her area of England. It's terrific to have someone to be my safety net in a foreign country.
Then the trip ends with three and a half days in London with my cousin Susan, who is flying over from Italy. Girls weekend!
So, this is my big return, a key part of the 'taking back my life' goal. It's establishing the new normal. And that feels pretty good.
Thanks for checking in, Laurie
P.S. I'll be looking for inter-net cafes for communication, so there should be a few postings as I experience my first real travel 'since sick'.
Very busy. Worked all 5 days each of the two weeks after the 9/11 post and was absolutely exhausted. It established to me that I can't work more than the three and a half days in my current schedule. Then the past couple weeks has been devoted to planning the England trip. I'm not sure where all the plans for that trip went, or if I was woefully unprepared (highly suspect), but an extraordinary amount of research into where to stay for the first week. Granted, staying everywhere twice as long as the initial plan but really don't remember making any reservations.
Plans have been hampered by the DF, which while substantially improved is still sore. I can now walk for 30 mins, but much more than that and it gets a little sore. So decreasing the amount of stairs and the need to walk far were the main qualifiers. All the charming B&Bs were a '5-10 min' walk from the center of town, and it took a while before I realized that their idea of a 5-10 min walk was more like my idea of a 15-20 min walk, which would strand me if I started to get really tired and needed to rest. So that meant finding somewhere in the center of the city. This was somewhat problematic since the big thing about Bath is their Georgian houses, which, it turns out are very high, and they call the first floor the ground floor. This was important to be reminded of when one of the only places to be found was on the third floor of a highly rated B&B. Except the 3rd floor was equivalent to our 4th floor, and the first two floors are 24 feet high, so those stairs were two sets of stairs.... So, staying at a charmless and expensive Best Western which has an elevator and is only 2 blocks from all the cool old stuff.
Glastonbury was a little easier, found what seems like a wonderful B&B a short walk from Chalice Well. That's where I'll be on Oct 15, the five year anniversary of the first (and worst) surgery. We've established that I have a real thing about dates, and this to me is a biggy. I want to do a 'releasing' of the past five years by climbing the Glastonbury Tor, an ancient spiritual site. If you're curious, just google.... And if you want to see the challenge, look up Glastonbury Tor stairs. It might take me all day and a packed lunch, but I'm determined to get to the top.
After that I stay with my friend Chris, who used to be one of the nuclear techs at work. Her husband was re-located there a couple years ago. She's being incredibly welcoming, looking forward to showing me around her area of England. It's terrific to have someone to be my safety net in a foreign country.
Then the trip ends with three and a half days in London with my cousin Susan, who is flying over from Italy. Girls weekend!
So, this is my big return, a key part of the 'taking back my life' goal. It's establishing the new normal. And that feels pretty good.
Thanks for checking in, Laurie
P.S. I'll be looking for inter-net cafes for communication, so there should be a few postings as I experience my first real travel 'since sick'.
posted by Laurie @ 9:13 PM
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