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Day #12: Edinburgh, Scotland

Jul 3rd, 2014 by

After our late arrival last night, we got a little bit of a later start this morning as well. Libby and Emerson headed to the breakfast room (“free”–a £13/pp. value–due to my Marriott status), while I arranged to get our room switched (as the accessible shower was utterly impractical without any glass surround). I then joined the girls for breakfast.

After breakfast was over, we headed out into the city for the day. The weather was by any standard gorgeous: mild temperatures (warm for Scotland) and a cloudless sky. We walked up Princes Street in New Town and then came up the hill behind Edinburgh Castle.

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We’d planned on visiting the castle properly, but the queue was rather long. So, we headed down the Royal Mile, exploring sights along the way, including having a snack in a very elegant cafe:

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We visited St. Giles just in time for morning services to end. It’s an attractive church, though relatively modest in size and of an odd configuration. Indeed, the pastor literally is “preaching to the choir” instead of the better part of the congregation. Although, on this Tuesday morning, he was mostly preaching to himself.

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We continued along the Royal Mile to down to the Palace of Hollyroodhouse. Our plan was to tour it, but alas the queen was in residence. Just who does she think she is? :-)

Having our plans foiled, we headed back to New Town. This actually worked out ok, as Emerson was tired from her shortened sleep the night before. We gave her a nap and went to Nando’s for dinner (located just around the corner from the hotel).

All in all, today was a good but not great day. My first impressions of Edinburgh? It’s alright… I like it well enough, but I don’t love it. And, I’m not really sure why. It’s fairly attractive and evocative, but it doesn’t stir my emotions or capture my imagination as some places do. Libby feels the same way having been here before (and I suppose it’s somewhat telling that she didn’t rush to return here sooner).

Of course, our travel impressions may be fickle. We didn’t like Salzburg on our first trip there, but we loved it on our second visit (which only happened because it was a convenient waypoint). Likewise, some places that aren’t even that inherently nice strike the right cord. Given that, impressions of places seem to be influenced by mood and expectations almost as much as anything else.

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Day #11: Jersey & Edinburgh, Scotland

Jul 1st, 2014 by

Today is a travel day; we’re flying out of Jersey on the next leg of our trip to Edinburgh, Scotland (country #94). However, our flight wasn’t until 5:25 this evening, which gave us time for a leisurely morning and a chance to explore more of St. Helier. We started with a walk into town for coffees and breakfast. We then returned to the hotel to finish packing and getting ready for today’s flights.

We checked out of the hotel just before noon, checked our luggage, and made arrangements for a car to take us to the airport. Having sorted the logistics out, we grabbed Emerson a quick lunch, and then we headed to the waterfront to visit Elizabeth Castle.

As I believe that I’ve mentioned previously, Elizabeth Castle is located on an island in the bay. However, it’s not always an island, as the tidal change is fairly extreme here (18-22 ft.). As such, our amphibious ferry was in only in “bus mode” for our journey out, and we were able to walk back via a sometimes submerged sidewalk on our return.

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The island, grounds, castle, and breakwater all made for an interesting visit. It was especially interesting to see how the islet had changed over time–from battlements dating to the 1590s and gracious Georgian buildings to German fortifications from the occupation of Jersey during World War II. If we’d had more time, I know we could have used it profitably (this seems to be a theme of our Channel Islands visit).

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We departed for the airport around 3pm. Check-in and security was a breeze, as small airports usually are more relaxing. Our flight to London-Gatwick departed on time and was brief but pleasant. The transit at Gatwick was a bit of a nose bleed, as we arrived at an international gate and were bused around immigration and customs. This was great for folks terminating in London, but it meant we had to pass back through airport security and all that entails.

We arrived on time in Edinburgh (that is to say late-ish) and took a taxi to our “swank” (read: more expensive yet less functional) hotel, The Glasshouse.

Today’s box score: +1 “country” Scotland

Posted in British Airways, Scotland | 1 Comment »

Day #10: Sark, Channel Islands

Jun 29th, 2014 by

After picking up coffee for Libby and pancakes for Emerson this morning, we headed to the Albert Pier at 8:50 for our ferry ride to the Isle of Sark.

The ferry to Sark takes about an hour to cover the 20 or so miles between the islands. The ride was fairly pleasant in both directions, though the seas had enough swell to almost be problematic.

Sark rises up from the sea with fairly steep, granite cliffs. The island looks largely uninhabited upon approach, but it has a small harbor at the bottom of a steep hill. To ascend the hill, you can either hike up a path or take a “bus” (which is really a trailer with bench seats pulled by a tractor). At the top, you disembark in the Sark’s picturesque village.

The island has no automobiles. Travel around its 4.5 square miles is either on foot or bicycle. However, given that the paths are dirt, Emerson’s stroller was less than ideal for walking. Thus, I called an audible and rented bikes for the day complete with a kid trailer on one of them. This turned out to be a tremendous amount of fun and an efficient way to traverse the island. We spent the day cycling around the island, passing through the village to pick up food and drinks, and stopping for brief hikes along coastal footpaths.

What to say about Sark? I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves:


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It may, quite possibly, be the best place that we’ve ever visited. It may even be the best place on Earth. Full stop. The pictures don’t adequately capture its charms.

Sark feels remote yet it’s relatively accessible. It seems isolated yet it’s sufficiently civilized. In short, Sark provides a mild adventure in a beautiful setting with a comfortable climate… all with clean public restrooms.

Today was a great day.

Today’s box score: +1 country (Guernsey & Deps, Channel Islands)

Posted in Channel Islands, Guernsey, Sark | No Comments »

Day #9, Jersey, Channel Islands

Jun 29th, 2014 by

We awoke at 3:30 this morning in order to leave by 5:00 for Gatwick Airport. Check-in for the flight was very smooth, as was our passing through security. We boarded on time, but the flight left about 20 minutes late due to “staffing issues” at Gatwick.

Jersey is the blue dot:

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This may have been the briefest commercial flight that I’ve ever taken. Cruising altitude was a mere 16,000 feet, and I think we were in the air only about 35 minutes. Unsurprisingly, the airport in Jersey is fairly modest in size… though not as small as I might have expected.

We took a taxi into St. Helier and arrived at the Radisson Blu by 10am. Being so early, we were unable to check into our room, but we dropped off our luggage and went out to explore the town.

Aside from booking flights/hotels and knowing that we also needed to get to Guernsey, I’d done absolutely no other preparation for Jersey. Indeed, we arrived with a complete lack of expectations… much like our visit to Malta a few years ago. As it happens, tourism isn’t all that big in Jersey (as cheap flights to Spain and Portugal have made it less popular with the Brits looking for sun and we’ve not encountered any other Americans yet). In fact, Jersey is most known and used as a center of offshore banking, as well as a tax haven. Yet, St. Helier is charming, relatively affordable, and feels more “authentic” than “touristy.”

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We happily passed a few hours strolling through the downtown and shops. We ate lunch out and bought Emerson some local ice cream (made from Jersey cow milk). We also booked a day trip for tomorrow to Sark, which is a small island that’s part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey. It came highly recommended by the travel agent, who touted its beauty and remoteness (as well as its lack of automobiles).

After picking up some foodstuffs for tomorrow’s journey, we returned to our hotel to give Emerson a late afternoon nap. We then played for a while before going out to dinner at the Seafish Cafe, which we’d spotted earlier in the day. It turned out to be an excellent choice as an “upscale” fish and chips shop. Libby had a delectable fish sandwich. I ate the scampi (shrimp) platter, and Emerson had chicken and chips. We also enjoyed a dish of the most delectable garden peas, as well as some onion rings.

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After dinner, we walked across to the marina and looked at the boats while strolling out toward Elizabeth Castle, which is found on an island (reminiscent of Mt St. Michel on a more petit scale).

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This was a good day; so far, we’re very happy to have traveled to the Channel Islands. But, tomorrow Sark could be a total bust…

Today’s box score: +1 “country” (Jersey, Channel Islands)

Posted in British Airways, Jersey | No Comments »

Day #9: Goodbye, Allen House

Jun 28th, 2014 by

I find myself at a bit of a loss for words as our time at Allen House ends.

We’ve had the timeshare for 15 years (out of our nearly 17 years of marriage), purchased when we were all of 22 years old. Of those years, we’ve used it 13 times (the exceptions being the years when Libby was pregnant and when Emerson was an infant). We’ve shared visits with our parents and our daughter (this was her fourth trip). It’s brought a lot of joy to us both during our visits and in the knowledge of simply “having a place in London,” which has always given us a sense of being part-time Londoners. Likewise, I’m sure it will bring us joy in the future as we recall happy memories of the times that we’ve spent there.

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For me, I think the parting is made a little more bitter than sweet because we’re also coming to the end of our 157×50 (or more like 40…) goal–at least the international travel portion of it. In some ways, that objective has conflicted with our time in London, but we’ve managed to balance the two while rapidly adding continents and countries. We’ve just used London as a base for onward adventures, including last year’s trip around the world.

At this point, I feel like we’re about to enter the shadowlands of our traveling lives. We’ll have seen the better part of the world already, but we’ll have another 15-20 years until we have both the time and means (assuming good fortune continues to smile upon us) to travel as we’d really like to, especially more deeply for longer periods.

I don’t see us becoming full-time expats in retirement for a number of reasons, but I could certainly see us living abroad for a few months at a time in short-term rentals. Returning to London and living in Kensington would be high on that list. And, who knows, maybe Allen House will be part of that future?

Posted in England, London | No Comments »

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