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Yay. I'm a COOT.

Sailor59 wrote:Yay. I'm a COOT.

welcome aboard

treetop wrote:boat ride looks like a lot of fun. Could defo go for one of those instead of walking/biking from coffeeshop to coffeeshop one afternoon. Better have an indica first methinks

I believe the boat club is not at Boom Chicago any more, and it is not a hop on and off type ride but you are right about the indica, but don't forget your belly

Excellent read mate look forward to the rest

ftcarer wrote:Excellent read mate look forward to the rest

Looking forward to seeing you again and meeting your wife glad to see you will be in town for 420

This is good stuff, can appreciate it as we approach COOTness in the next few years. Great read.

Yeah, I'm a COOT, and proud of it! (So are most of my friends!!!) I can only assume old timer means the 50 and above crowd.... Us old timers are way cool, especially us stoner chick oldsters.

Didn't realize that you had so many flood issues Willjay. What a nightmare. Glad that you are on the other side of those problems.

grateful deb wrote:Yeah, I'm a COOT, and proud of it! (So are most of my friends!!!) I can only assume old timer means the 50 and above crowd....

I would have to make a different assumption. Being a COOT is more of a state of mind than the acronym might suggest.

I'm 42 and could be an associate member of the COOTs for sure as I like the idea of mixing activites as part of a larger group.

Nice report from your missus Willjay. Interesting and useful info in there too. You know I found a similar boat to the one you described. Can rent for 30eu an hour and hop on, hop off as you like. Seats 8 I think.

Here is the link....

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/496650

Wait a minute I read the ad again. You can drive the boat yourself! How cool is that! Now I'm excited. How about a scenic coffeeshop tour of shops on canals! Looks like a pretty easy boat to handle and a nice activity for a medium sized group.

Thanks all
Here in the rural part of the Keystone state, life has a way of getting in the way of living that being said, Robyn never got a chance to finish the report and know we are planing the next trip

Willjay wrote:life has a way of getting in the way of living

well john lennon has been quoted as saying "Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans."

StonedSince'67 wrote:

Willjay wrote:life has a way of getting in the way of living

well john lennon has been quoted as saying "Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans."

If you don't make plans you can't change them

More tales from the past, less days to wait are we getting excited yet

15 day tour of the BeNeLux region, starting with 2 days in London. Since Phyllis had only traveled to Europe on the Globus Bus Tours, we wanted to show her a different way of travelling - riding the rails and booking your own itinerary. BACKGROUND – In April 2003, myself, my husband B.J., and our dear friend Phyllis, ventured on a

We were able to land a deal with British Airways for round-trip tickets from JFK to Heathrow, then on to Schiphol, plus two free nights at the Royal National Hotel in London, for a cost of $473 each, total including taxes/fees.

Our Itinerary –

Day 1 – Fly JFK to Heathrow, London
Day 2 – Arrive. London. Royal National Hotel
Day 3 – London. Royal National Hotel
Day 4 – Fly Gatwick to Schiphol. Amsterdam. Hotel St. Nicolaas
Day 5 – Amsterdam. Hotel St. Nicolaas
Day 6 – Amsterdam. Hotel St. Nicolaas
Day 7 – Train to Utrecht, NL. Train to Gouda, NL. Train to Maastricht, NL. Hotel La Colombe.
Day 8 – Maastricht. Train to Clervaux, LU. Train/Bus to Vianden, LU. Hotel Victor Hugo
Day 9 – Vianden. Bus/Train to Luxembourg City. Hotel Carlton.
Day 10 – Train to Dinant. Train to Brussels. Train to Brugge. Hotel Cavalier
Day 11 – Brugge. Hotel Cavalier
Day 12 – Train to Ghent. Train to Rotterdam. Train to Delft. Herberg de Emauspoort
Day 13 – Train to Haarlem. Train to Leiden. Tour Keukenhof. Train to Delft. Herberg de Emauspoort.
Day 14 – Delft. Side trip to den Hague. Herberg de Emauspoort.
Day 15 – Delft. Fly Schiphol to Heathrow to JFK.

Hotels –

London – Royal National Hotel; 66 Russel Square; http://www.imperialhotels.co.uk/imperial1_hotel.aspx
Amsterdam – Hotel St. Nicolaas; Spuistraat 1a; http://www.hotelnicolaas.nl
Maastricht, NL – Hotel La Colombe; Markt 30; http://www.hotellacolombe.nl
Vianden, LU – Hotel Victor Hugo; Rue Victor Hugo 1; http://www.hotel-victor-hugo.lu
Luxembourg City – Hotel Carlton; Rue de Strasbourg 9; http://www.carlton.lu
Brugge, BE – Hotel Cavalier; Kuipersstraat 25; http://www.hotelcavalier.be
Delft, NL – Herberg de Emauspoort; Vrouwenregt 10-11; http://www.emauspoort.nl







DAY 1, Sat, April 5, TRAVEL

Perhaps the most stressful part of travelling is getting to the airport on time. Since most of our driving is on Interstate 80, through Pennsylvania and New Jersey into New York, we are always worried about getting stuck on the limited access road because some lead-footed tractor-trailer driver has dumped his load across the highway again. Because of this, we left home in plenty of time to arrive at JFK by 12:25 for a 5:00 flight, or so we thought.

We were supposed to fly from JFK to Manchester, then connect to Heathrow, but they changed us to a direct flight right into Heathrow, which departed at 6:00, so now we had even more time to spare – time to play “look for the spy in the airport”, a game my friends and I use to play when we were kids, hanging out at the Philadelphia Airport, just wasting time.

Anyway, by 6:30 we were finally in the air, with our shoes kicked off and a silly grin on our faces. We had planned this trip for months (and before we had discovered Fodors), so we were giddy with delight to finally be on our way. The flight was uneventful - didn’t get too much sleep, but that’s okay....the adrenaline pumping through our bodies kept us going.




DAY 2, Sun, April 6, LONDON

Sunday, April 6 - Landed in Heathrow at 6:36 am The airline shuttled us on buses to the terminal where we stood in a “cattle line” to get our passports stamped. We picked up our hotel reservation confirmation at the British Airways Holiday desk, bought a “3-day Visitor Travelcard, and got on the tube to Russell Square in London by 8:00 am. Since Phyllis works at a bank, she was able to purchase Pounds and Euros for all of us, at the bank rate, before we left, so we didn’t have to deal with exchanging money during our trip - one of the many benefits of travelling with Phyllis. Currency rates as of April 2003 – Dollars to Euros = $1.10; Dollars to Pounds = $1.625.

Arrived at Russell Square at 9:15 and walked to The Royal National Hotel (66 Russell Square), which was conveniently located 2 blocks from the tube station. We couldn’t check in until 10:00 am, so we had coffee/tea in the internet/coffeeshop while Phyllis e-mailed home. We finally checked in to the hotel, which is a very large complex, divided into two sections, with hundreds and hundreds of rooms. Our room had three single beds (with the free room deal, since Phyllis was travelling as a single, she could have had 1 night free, or two nights free bunked in with us, so, what are friends for) and a decent size bath with tub/shower. The accommodations were fine, considering the price. We took a nap until 12:30, and then off we went to the British Library.

We took the tube to St. Pancras Station and walked over to the British Library (96 Euston Street), which is free admission. I had a top 10 list of things to see which I culled from Rick Steves’ Mona Winks. They included: 1) Maps (1250-1570); 2) Bibles, including Codex Sinaiticus (350), Codex Alexandrus (425), Unknown Gospel & Gospel of Thomas (150), and King James Version (1611); 3) Lindisfarne Gospels & Illuminations (698), and Sherborne Missal (1400-1407); 4) Printing, including Diamond Sutra (868) and the Gutenberg Bible (c.1455); 5) Notebook of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519); 6) Magna Carta (1215); 7) Early English Literature, including Beowulf (c.1000) and the Canterbury Tales (c.1410); Shakespeare, including the First Folio (1623) and Hamlet Good - & Bad; 9) Other English Literature, including Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1862-64), Jane Austen’s History of England (1791), Charles Dickens (c.1850), and Coleridge - Kubla Khan; 10) Music, including The Beatles (c.1960) and others.

I also got to see the first “Penny Black” stamp and the press used to print them as well as several “Hawaiian Missionaries” stamps. This had special meaning to me because I was a stamp collector, and had made my living for 15 years using postage stamps in my craft.

After the British Library, we took the #10 bus to the British Museum (Great Russell Street, free admission). Again, I had my list of things to see, culled from Mona Winks. They include (in no particular order): The Rosetta Stone (Egypt, 196BC); The Elgin Marbles, including the Frieze, Pediment Sculptures, and the Metopes (Greek, 450BC); the Lindow Man; the Portland Vase; the Mold Cape (1900-1600BC); the Rillaton Gold Cup (1700-1500BC); the Cuerdale Hoard (905-910); Sutton Hoo Burial (620-630); Lewis Chessmen (1150-1200); Hoxne Treasure (410-430); Mildenhall Treasure (350-400); Vindolanda Tablets (90-140); Snettisham Torcs (100BC); Fishpool Hoard (1464); the Mummies; and numerous other Egyptian, Assyrian and Greek artifacts.

I bought some postcards at the Museum Gift Shop, and then we were off to look for something to eat. The Museum Pub (Gr. Russell Square), which was our first choice, didn’t have any tables available, so we walked over to Leigh Street to eat at the North Sea Fish Restaurant (8 Leigh Street), but it was closed. We ended up eating at the Norfolk Arms, which was a neighborhood pub. Our first meal in London was Fish & Chips and a couple of ales for B.J. & Phyllis (I had tea). Dinner was GBP 15.00 for hubby & me. We enjoyed just sitting back and savoring the ambiance of the moment - watching the locals come in for their evening imbibing and conversation. I love being on holiday.

After dinner we went back to the hotel to freshen up and then went out to ride the buses. Our 3-day Travelcard provided unlimited travel on the tube and buses and we really utilized the card. We rode down to Marble Arch to go to Speaker’s Corner, but had a heck of a time trying to get across the street and into Hyde Park. We kept seeing a sign that said “subway”, and being from the northeast United States, we naturally thought “subway” or underground rail. It took a minute or two for the light bulb to go on and realize that subway meant an underpass. So off we went, under the street and into the park. There was a large tent set up for a Star Trek convention (which had already closed), and by the time we got to Speaker’s Corner, there was only one guy left, asking people if they were circumcised, so we were quickly out of there.

We jumped on another bus and headed over to Wellington Arch, where we got a little lost, which was okay. Finally, we found a bus that took us past Big Ben, the Strand, Fleet Street, St. Pauls and up to the Liverpool Station. We eventually made our way back to the hotel where we collapsed. All in all, it was a pretty good 32 hours for our first day in country!



http://www.bl.uk (British Library)
http://www.britishmuseum.org
http://www.norfolkarms.co.uk