Travel Day and Day 1: Sat. July 21 thru Sun. July 22, 2012
Well, this is unexpected. Funny how life happens, if you just let it happen.
My situation is fairly unique in that my ex-husband still lives in my house. He travels more than he’s home, so he’s not here very often. Our daughter understands that we are divorced and have our own rooms. Oddly enough, we are better friends since we are no longer married…
This past summer he was working in the UK for the British Open as well as the Olympics. With a schedule like that, he was going to miss our daughter’s entire summer vacation. His boss suggested they fly our daughter over to the UK so she can spend some time with him. Nice, right? Well…our daughter is TEN years old…sorry, but I didn’t want her to travel ALONE from San Francisco to Manchester…through customs and security…alone…she gets airsick and still gets scared to be without one parent, so I said no.
His boss, knowing all about luvtick, her caramels AND her love of Amsterdam said, “What will it take? What if we fly luvtick on to Amsterdam?”
GREAT IDEA, BUD!!!! …NOW we’re talkin’! …when do we leave?!?
Now…here’s the fun part.
Bong promised HIS daughter a trip to Amsterdam IF and WHEN she graduated from high school (and after she turned 18…). Not only did she graduate high school, she was accepted to college!! Guess when their trip was?? OMFG. They are even staying at Voyagers!
A frantic email is sent to Voyagers asking for a room on the specified dates…SOLD OUT! Oh no!
BUT WAIT!! There is an apartment they can rent me. Where is it?? Hoping that it’s not too far from Voyagers, I hold my breath (probably with a fresh hit off the ol’ RooR) for the answer: on Warmeostraat…right around the corner, basically…
OMG! …I’LL TAKE IT!!
A quick shuffling of my work schedule and soon we are packing our bags!!!
The schedule I am on is dependent upon my ex’s work schedule. I know we are flying into Manchester. I know my daughter and I are taking the train to Blackpool and staying overnight. The next day I will take the train from Blackpool back to Manchester where I will meet up with a friend…cuz I will NEED to smoke!! (…lol…at least the caramels make me forget I’m not smoking!) The day after that I will be off to Amsterdam!! This still puts me in a day before Bong and miniBong. No worries as I know plenty of people to hang out with!
So now that the logistics are (fairly) sorted out, we can focus on leaving!
Saturday, July 21, 2012
The nice part about traveling with my girl is that her dad, since he travels a lot and has uber-platinum status, UPGRADED US TO FIRST CLASS!!! (fyi: that status is 100,000 miles + PER YEAR…knowledge us
mere-mortals-happy-to-just-be-in-coach never knew…) WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We get to breeze through the ticket line to check our bags…security is pretty much a non-issue…we get to go into the “Admiral’s Lounge” and have breakfast (and I eat half a caramel)…we get to board the plane first…it’s really awesome…(and I am eternally grateful for the experience…)
Next in line for take off!
I love where I live:
Five hours later, we are approaching JFK:
With a slightly-longer-than-an-hour layover, we lug our bags through JFK:
Anyways, now, on to the UK!!
Finally we are airborne once again and on our way. My daughter is already plugged into her DSIXL gaming away…I am already rifling through the seat pocket in front.
Holy crap! They have menus for the meals! …actual menus! …not the list in the back of the in-flight magazine of what’s inside the mystery “snack” boxes. It’s printed on high quality paper…has a painting on the front…a real menu:
TO START
Warm mixed nuts OR Marinated cheese antipasto
APPETIZER
Mojito shrimp served with somen noodles garnished with parsley
THE SALAD CART
Fresh seasonal greens offered with classic Caesar dressing or premium extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar
Chile cucumber salad
Sliced onion garlic chicken breast
BREAD BASKET
Assorted gourmet breads
MAIN COURSE
SEARED PORK WITH APPLE DEMI-GLACE
Seared bone-in pork enhanced by a caramelized apple demi-glace, served with grilled zucchini and mashed sweet potatoes
STUFFED BREAST OF CHICKEN
Stuffed chicken served with sage sauce accompanied by sautéed squash and wild rice with apples, cranberries and roasted pecans.
FOUR CHEESE RAVIOLI WITH TOMATO CREAM SAUCE
Ravioli pasta filled with four cheeses, complemented by a tomato cream sauce, sautéed onions and freshly chopped garlic
DESSERT
ICE CREAM SUNDAE
Vanilla ice cream with a choice of hot fudge, butterscotch or seasonal berry toppings, whipped cream and pecans
GRAND MARNIER FRUIT SALAD
Fruit and berries with a light Grand Marnier syrup
LIGHT REFRESHMENT
Freshly baked on board cookies
I didn’t even mention ALL the BOOZE they offered…
OMFG
I am freakin’ starving after just typing that…lol…brb…
Ok…now I can concentrate again…
We eat our dinner and get comfortable for the evening. I unwrap my caramel from this morning and eat the other half. I’d like to sleep on the flight…and it should be no problem…the seats lay back into a bed! This is so cool…lol…
To semi-quote the Beatles, I had “tangerine dreams” and “CARMELIZED skies…”
Sunday, July 22, 2012
We both sleep through the night without incident and awake to breakfast as the aircraft makes its approach into Manchester:
…and then taxi to the terminal:
Now we hop a train for a loooooong ride to Blackpool. Luckily we are well rested and ready for a new adventure. Upon arriving in Blackpool, we are greeted by her dad. He drives us to the house his company has rented for the month they have been here. The weather is absolutely FANTASTIC! It is warm and sunny and beautiful! I hear this is the first day of this type of weather…lucky us! I take pics along the way:
We arrive at the house, he goes back to the golf course and my daughter and I settle in for a bit. After a while, she decides she wants to go to the golf course. Today is the last day of the British Open. I text her dad and he gets us some badges so we can get on the course. We walk to the course and we see a crowd of people following a golfer on the other side of the fence…damn it if it isn’t Tiger Woods! Cool! …he’s on the other side of the fence and pretty far away, but it’s him, no doubt! We are picked up in an all-access van and driven right onto the course.
My daughter wants ice cream. After meeting all the co-workers, she and I go out onto the golf course to find some. We find a Ben and Jerry’s booth, buy some EXPENSIVE ice cream and we sit on the grass to watch the golfers on the giant tv monitors that are all about. She quickly gets bored so we walk back to the house where she promptly falls asleep. When the guys get back, we eat pizza, I feed them cookies and pass out caramels for their flights home.
My daughter and I get ready to crash out for the night…I can’t wait for tomorrow. I am hoping my friend…we’ll call her SativaSara…is not working too much. Tomorrow is Monday! I already tried to see if any of our local ACDers were available, but, alas, I am here with NO notice…on a Monday…and no one is unavailable…no worries!! (and thanks for the pm’s with munchies-advice as well as what-to-do-in-Manchester…including a seed shop!!!) SativaSara is a smoker and has promised some goodies for when I arrive! I hope so…I am going crazy knowing that Amsterdam…and Bong…are just a few hours away……….
smilie