This was the first picture I snapped that 2007 Spring Break.I don't ever plan the first photo, it just happens. Sometimes it is still at the airport, some simple welcome that will later be a reminder of our adventure.
Being our first trip across the pond (a trite expression which I will always love because it shows how easily connected we all are, never so far away to be forgotten or to forget family and friends--and pets--temporarily left behind) we were a bit overwhelmed by the size of our new favorite city, not to mention overwhelmed by the journey from the airport with our unmistakably large "they must be American" luggage. Point of information, elevators are not a right in England, not at airports and most definitely not at train stations.
You and your luggage have been warned.
Mari and I are finally on the downward swing of the learning curve when it comes to packing light. Our "problem" which I don't exactly consider a problem is that we like to shop. We are fleamarket travelers after all! We plan (always a plan, remember, and bubble wrap) for shopping, even though we never quite know what to expect. We also didn't know exactly what to expect from ourselves and our 40-year-old bodies (at the time) as far as jet lag. Other than being one of my favorite films (Juliette Binoche!), jet lag was really just an expression and had never affected me during prior international travels as a child and as a teenager during family visits to Portugal from New York. What I knew at the beginning of our 2007 Spring Break, however, was that I was exhausted after lugging half my personal belongings halfway around London and that I absolutely needed a nap.
That first international post-arrival nap would become a most helpful and necessary natural cure for our jet lag. It doesn't matter what time we arrive at our destination and stumble into our new quarters, a nourishing nap is first on our carefully and obsessively planned itinerary.
That first international post-arrival nap would become a most helpful and necessary natural cure for our jet lag. It doesn't matter what time we arrive at our destination and stumble into our new quarters, a nourishing nap is first on our carefully and obsessively planned itinerary.
After our jet-lag nap, Mari and I decided to just go out for an unplanned walk and explore. Up top, Mari is exploring the densely-packed pigeons leading our way into the National Portrait Gallery. Before heading out the door of our hotel room, I remembered to grab my new digital camera, a first for me, so we could mark our touristed territory, and thus goes the story of our first London photograph.
Our first week-long visit to London was filled mostly with time-honored touristy sites (it was our first visit after all), culminating with that brisk visit to Stonehenge pictured at the head of episode 1. That first trip abroad as a married adult was also the first time I put my list-making skills to the travelers' test. Finding and booking a flight (absolutely flipping free thanks to accumulated reward miles on the airline formerly known as Continental), selecting and reserving a hotel (unfortunately far from flipping free), reserving and purchasing attraction tickets... as much done and paid for in advance as possible.
That last part is probably among Lou's Top 5 All Time Best Travel Tips: pay before you go. Don't plop down on your couch after unpacking (and giving your cat some lovin') to find a stack of credit card bills among your magazines and catalogs. Paying in advance keeps you on budget and is also an extra opportunity to take advantage of hotel and car rental pre-paid discounts, usually ten to twenty percent.
I would be remiss not to acknowledge the help of a tried and true trip planning partner, that stalwart of reader-travelers and amateur travel gurus everywhere: the lowly travel guidebook. After a pretty thorough investigation in an actual, non-viral, book store all those years ago, I found this helpful not-so-little guide. Posing here with its Top 10 guidebook brethren (their alphabetical order a great equalizer of locations foreign and domestic, exotic and exciting, visited and yet unexplored), Lonely Planet's London City Guide was my constant companion for the six months leading up to our first London visit and an essential addition to my backpack during the trip. There are lots of guidebooks out there, but Lonely Planet guides offer accessible and surprisingly entertaining depth and details with a bit of a puckish playfulness that supports my subversive nature.
The Lonely Planet site is also incredibly well-stocked and will give you a suitable sampling of the entertaining travel writing you can expect from the guidebooks. The site's multi-layered layout and incredible photographs will further tempt your travel itch.
See? Always a story.
Our first week-long visit to London was filled mostly with time-honored touristy sites (it was our first visit after all), culminating with that brisk visit to Stonehenge pictured at the head of episode 1. That first trip abroad as a married adult was also the first time I put my list-making skills to the travelers' test. Finding and booking a flight (absolutely flipping free thanks to accumulated reward miles on the airline formerly known as Continental), selecting and reserving a hotel (unfortunately far from flipping free), reserving and purchasing attraction tickets... as much done and paid for in advance as possible.
That last part is probably among Lou's Top 5 All Time Best Travel Tips: pay before you go. Don't plop down on your couch after unpacking (and giving your cat some lovin') to find a stack of credit card bills among your magazines and catalogs. Paying in advance keeps you on budget and is also an extra opportunity to take advantage of hotel and car rental pre-paid discounts, usually ten to twenty percent.
I would be remiss not to acknowledge the help of a tried and true trip planning partner, that stalwart of reader-travelers and amateur travel gurus everywhere: the lowly travel guidebook. After a pretty thorough investigation in an actual, non-viral, book store all those years ago, I found this helpful not-so-little guide. Posing here with its Top 10 guidebook brethren (their alphabetical order a great equalizer of locations foreign and domestic, exotic and exciting, visited and yet unexplored), Lonely Planet's London City Guide was my constant companion for the six months leading up to our first London visit and an essential addition to my backpack during the trip. There are lots of guidebooks out there, but Lonely Planet guides offer accessible and surprisingly entertaining depth and details with a bit of a puckish playfulness that supports my subversive nature.
The Lonely Planet site is also incredibly well-stocked and will give you a suitable sampling of the entertaining travel writing you can expect from the guidebooks. The site's multi-layered layout and incredible photographs will further tempt your travel itch.
I do have some of my own recommendations, of course,
and (just a few) more photos (and stories) next time.
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