Signing off from the United Kingdom

It’s Saturday, September 23 and the renegade tourists are headed home. One of the final indignities is the fact that we have to arrange for our own transportation to the airport. Turns out that was fun also. We took a London Taxi and if you don’t know anything about them, they are remarkable. 

Our driver is a third generation London taxi driver. It’s quite the thing in his family. His grandfather, his father, and at lease one uncle are all London Cabbies. He studied for over two years, learning not only the streets, their names and what direction they run, but also shops, pubs, restaurants, landmarks and even small statues that are hard to see even when walking, before he took the test to get his license. He purchased his own cab so he could ensure it was kept clean and in great condition. As we drove along, he displayed the breath of his knowledge of the city. Before we knew it, we were pulling up at Terminal 3 at Heathrow.

Taxi waiting outside The Savoy

Following recommendations, we were at the airport three and a half hours before our flight. Trouble is, they don't post the departure gate until about two hours before the flight. 

We had very nice Comfort+ seats on our Delta 767 to Atlanta, which was another reason we decided to stay the final days and take our original flight back. It’s interesting flying back in daylight. It somehow makes the seven and a half hours of flight seem faster. 

We landed a few minutes early and breezed through customs because we have Global Entry. There were several hundred people in the regular line and we just walked right past them. You should check into Global Entry even if you just have a couple of international flights planned in the next few years. The fee is $100 and is good for five years.  It includes PreCheck, which helps for domestic flights as well as international.

There was a short wait for our luggage and we were soon in an Uber headed to Peachtree Corners. One of the first things we did when we arrived home was to both take a Covid test. The Lady Who has a cast iron constitution and I both tested negative. Take that Covid. I’m feeling fine with no residual effects. Thank you, scientists, for developing this remarkable vaccine.

So now when we play the game “Never have I ever . . .” we will have to respond negatively to “Never have I ever been booted off an international tour.” Ah, the stories we can tell.

It was a great trip in spite of the difficulties of the last couple of days. As it turns out, our ability to quickly pick up and replan the last days just gives us confidence as we travel more.

We’ve had several conversations with Tauck and our travel advisor about the difficulties we experienced on this tour. Tauck acknowledged their inconsistencies and apologized to us. The Tauck representative told us they would use this as a learning opportunity for their company. They also offered us compensation toward a future trip. These gestures reminded us of the great company they really are and the reason we travel with them.

A special word of thanks to all of you who commented on the blog. Those comments inspired me to open up the laptop and type even though I sometimes just wanted to head straight to bed. The fact that I knew you were waiting to hear from us was compelling. Thanks for coming along.

Now, where will we go next? There are adventures to be had around every corner. 

Goodbye from Hadrian's Wall

The Renegade Tourists - Day 2

 This is Day Two for the untethered tourists. As for us, again, we had a leisurely breakfast in the fabulous Savoy Hotel.

Ah, the Savoy. There are simply not enough adjectives to describe the wonders of this hotel. The staff is quietly attentive. The waiters call us by name. Their concern for our comfort is extraordinary. I wish for everyone an opportunity to experience this level of service. At one time I would have thought this level of service came because we were a part of a “Very Important Tour Company.” But now, we are just tour divorcees so it can’t be that. Whatever it is, I’ll take more please.

One of the reasons we stayed was the fact that we had purchased tickets for a tour of Buckingham Palace. The remaining members of the “We Don’t Want You Tour” were going to see the changing of the guard at BP, but we were going to see a lot more.

We had the morning before our BP tour so The Lady Who had spied a nearby Fortnum & Mason could not resist a little retail therapy. I decided to save my energy and sent her on her way. The Lady Who had now turned quite adventurous after the divorce and decided to slip into the National Gallery on her way back to the Savoy. She was interested in seeing the works of the Impressionists in their collection. Having visited the home of Claude Monet back in June, she was delighted to find one of his most iconic paintings.

Inside Fortnum & Mason

The National Gallery

Monet's "Water-Lilly Pond"

Returning to the hotel with her new Fortnum & Mason shopping bag (and an F&M treasure tucked inside it) and visions of Monet in her head, we climbed into a taxi for the short ride to Buckingham Palace. It was a self-guided tour but I would be remiss if I did not praise the newer technology now available in the audio guides. They are really multimedia guides since as the audio plays, there are also photographs to help keep you on track as you make your way through such an expansive and beautiful space.

Unlike some of the older, musty palaces we visited on this trip, BP is fresh and sparkling clean. Always with a nod to the past, the rooms that we walked through look like modern-day people used them. They were exquisitely decorated but because photographs were not allowed, you will have to use your imagination to envision the Grand Entrance, the Ballroom. the Picture Gallery, the Throne Room and Music Room to mention just a few. There were abundant photographs of the new King & Queen, and we were told of the many events that are held bringing the “common folk” to their “house.”  We exited the Palace onto the great lawn where we learned that garden parties involving thousands of British subjects are often held.

We also learned that we had really lucked out. BP is only open for tours for a limited number of days in the late summer and early fall. We were there the last weekend it would be open.Thank you very much.

So, this was officially the last day of the tour that wasn’t. Our former tour mates would have a farewell dinner tonight to which we were obviously not invited. Not a problem. We invited ourselves to an intimate dinner in The River Restaurant by Gordon Ramsay in the hotel. We dressed up in our finest and proceeded to have a wonderful dinner featuring fish pie, a traditional British dish. We discussed all the good and bad of this trip, as well as where we would like to travel next.

Join me for tomorrow’s post in which I will wrap this most interesting trip.

We Kept Calm and Carried On

September 21

Off the tour. Terrific! Our options were to pack up and change our flight home or stick around and do our own thing. We could keep our hotel room but would have to pay for it ourselves and request reimbursement from the travel insurance company. We would need to keep receipts for food and other expenses to turn into insurance also. We were not allowed to participate in any activities with the tour group.

The Lady Who was quite angry at the way this was handled by a normally top notch travel company, Tauck, campaigned to stay and since I was feeling way better. I agreed. We had already purchased tickets to two tours that we could not get refunded. In addition we had great seats on our original fight home but earlier flights not so much. Freelance tourists, we became. We have eighteen international trips under our belts so we should be able to handle two days in London. Hey, they almost speak the same language as us.

Divorced from the tour, we slept late and had a leisurely breakfast. The tour group was headed to Westminster Abbey but they would be a couple of hours and hundreds of tourists ahead of us, but we decided to visit this storied church anyway. It was tremendously crowded but awesome as always and we spent the better part of two hours becoming reacquainted with all the history around us.

Tomb of the Unknown

Poets corner is full of surprises even though we had seen it before.

One of the tours we had purchased was to Winston Churchill’s War Rooms. My GPS said it was less that a half a mile away but I was struggling with the directions. I’ve discovered a great travel resource: teenagers with iPhones. I spotted three teens nearby and asked them to help me interpret my GPS map. Without hesitation they pointed us in the right direction and they were quite polite about it.

Churchill’s War Rooms are in the basement of the Whitehall Government building. It was here that Churchill directed the country’s activities during World War II. It is an extensive labyrinth of rooms housing conference rooms, a typing pool, and communications rooms. Staff would work for weeks on end without ever seeing the light of day.

Conference Room

Radio Room

If you thought our ad hoc tour couldn’t get any better, just you wait. The “We Don’t Want You Tour” included tickets to a live theatre performance. Divorced as we were, we could not take advantage of that perk. However, The Lady Who is an expert at making silk purses out of sow’s ears would not be denied. She approached the concierge as only she could and the result was two orchestra level tickets eight rows from the stage to….wait for it….HAMILTON!

With a bit of Nany Nany Boo Boo and La De Da in our divorced hearts, we were off to the theatre and it was even more spectacular than we expected. Back in our hotel after the performance we congratulated ourselves on repairing a wrecked vacation in style.

AND . . . . there is one more day.

Pardon the interruption

September 20, 2023

Ok, I know you are not receiving this post on the 20th. It’s actually the 25th. A lot has happened and I need to bring you up to date.

As mentioned in my previous post, I tested positive for Covid on the 19th. That started a chain reaction that would affect the remainder of the trip.

The 20th was listed as a travel day to London, with a side trip to Hampton Court Palace along the way. However, I was informed at breakfast that I would not be allowed to travel on the bus. I would be joining five other Covid positive tour group members on a special van going directly to London.  Do Not Pass Go.  Do Not Collect $200.  Do not visit Hampton Court Palace. This was an effort to prevent the spread of Covid, sending the Covid 6 as I now referred to us directly to our hotel in London.

Fortunately, The Lady Who does not want to miss any scheduled sights and was not having any Covid symptoms, was allowed on the bus and to visit the Palace. She reports that this home of Henry VII and all six wives was grand in many ways as you can see from the photos she took. The entire design was meant to impress and proclaim Henry’s power and magnificence.

The Great Hall and Tudor Kitchens are what you might expect from this famous monarch. A special feature of the Great Hall was the Hammerbeam Roof. The 500 year old tapestries show scenes from the life of Abraham from the book of Genesis. First hung in 1546, they were probably commissioned directly by Henry.

Great Hall

Hammerbeam Roof

Tapestry

The gardens were also beautiful and contain what is thought to be the oldest and largest grape vine in the world. It was planted in 1768 for King George III. 

The Great Vine

Meanwhile back in Covid Land, the Covid 6 arrived at the Savoy Hotel and were ushered to our rooms. I opted for a room service lunch during which I contemplated my new special status. By mid-afternoon, The Lady joined me and regaled me with tales of the Palace. Since we were only a couple of blocks from Covent Garden, we ventured out into the pouring rain, fully KN95 masked, for dinner. 

Toward the end of what was a lovely dinner, I noticed an email from our tour company. Color me shocked when I read the words, “You are officially off the tour.” What? I didn’t see that coming but going back and reading the fine print, there was a statement that said becoming Covid positive was a cause to be dismissed from the tour. As we walked back to the hotel in the rain, still reeling from the news, we got so totally lost that we finally had to take very short taxi ride back to the Savoy.

The Lady and I spent the remainder of the evening talking with our tour company’s headquarters to find out just what this meant since we had two remaining days on the tour before our scheduled return home.

Tune in tomorrow for the details.

A Walk Around Bath and a Surprise

Day ten of our trip dawned with a surprise. I’ve been fighting a fairly deep dry cough and runny nose for the last day or so. Recognizing those symptoms from about a year ago and noting the fact that one other person on the tour had tested positive for Covid, I decided to test. Yep, big ‘ole Positive. So, today was isolation day 1 for me. I actually feel fine except for this darn cough.

The Lady, however, pressed on and joined the group for a walking tour of Bath. She reported that the architecture is Georgian throughout the city. Bath became a spa town during the Georgian era. Georgian architecture, created from Bath stone, is shown in the Royal Crescent as one example.

The Royal Crescent

Many of the streets and squares were laid out by John Wood, the Elder. In the 18th Century, the city became fashionable and grew. Further building was undertaken in the 19th Century following the Bath Blitz in World War II.

Scenes from many TV show and movies have been filmed here such as Bridgerton.

Bridgerton Scene filmed here

Jane Austin lived here in the early 19th Century. All in all, this is one of the most interesting cities in Great Britain.

At the end of the walking tour, the Lady ventured into the Bath Abbey. The Bath Abbey is known for being the place where the coronation of King Edgar I, the first King of England, occurred in 973 A.D. It was this coronation that set the precedent for future coronations in England.

Interior of Bath Abbey

The Lady returned to find me whining about the lack of suitable cough medicine. At her most gracious, she ventured to the pharmacy and returned with an elixir in which I hold great confidence. In the meantime we are both suitably dressed in KN95 masks to help prevent the further spread of this vile disease.

We head to London tomorrow by way of Hampton Court Palace. Adventures continue.

Bad Weather Catches Up With Us

We have been living a charmed life on this trip as it relates to the weather. Almost every day the forecast has included rain and almost every day we have eluded it.

Not today. Our luck ran out. When we boarded the motor coach this morning in Oxford, things looked promising. It was clear and the sun was shining. A mere hour and a half later as we approached Stonehenge, the skies were decidedly grayer and rain spattered the coach windshield.  

Undeterred, we boarded special buses at the Visitor’s Center for the short ride to the stones. Even in the lousy weather, the stone circle is awe inspiring. That it was constructed over 5,000 years ago is almost beyond belief. So much about the site is unknown. As we moved around to get a better look, Mother Nature upped her game. She provided stiff winds to accompany the rain. Bottom line, we did not stay long at the Stone Circle. Still, it was a worthwhile visit. Back at the Visitor Center, we were able to get a great overview of the site amid speculation as to the meaning of it. One outside display that fascinated me was the one showing how the stones were transported the hundreds of miles from where the were quarried. 

How the stones were transported

Back on the motor coach, we headed for Bath where high tea at the famous Pump Room awaited us. This was a magnificent tea in the British tradition. Sandwiches, scones and tea cakes of every description were stacked on plates three high. Everyone enjoyed guessing what this or that was. It was a fun way to start to our visit to Bath.

After High Tea, we toured what Bath is famous for, the Roman Baths. When the Romans discovered these hot springs, they felt they were a gift from the gods. Much of what they built surrounding the springs survives today and an audio guide tour brought the life the Romans lived alive. Parts that did not survive the ages has been carefully restored.

We soon headed to our hotel for the next two days. Dinner was on our own so after a brief walking tour of the area (in the rain) we opted for that great British staple, Fish and Chips, right here in the hotel.

The weather seems to want to continue to bedevil us tomorrow with a forecast of 58 degrees with 20-mile an hour winds. Wish us luck with our walking tour. It may a “lean against the wind and try to stay dry tour.”

An Accidental Birthplace?

In a kind of reverse walk down memory lane, The Lady and I searched for, and found, Worcester College where son Bryan completed six weeks of his study abroad program at  Georgia Tech in the Summer of 2002. As you can see from the photo below, it has the classic style you would expect from a college at Oxford University. The thing he remembers most fondly about that Summer was that classes ended Thursday at noon. By 12:01, he and his buddy Wes Smith were out the door and headed for the train station for all kinds of adventures for each long weekend.

Bryan's "Study Abroad" College

I have to back up and talk a little more about our walking tour of Oxford University yesterday. I was gently rebuked a bit my editor, The Lady, who was sweet about it but did not relent. “Your readers need more,” she said. “Yes, M’am,” I said.

Our docent was a lovely lady named Monica who just happened to be celebrating her 56th wedding anniversary yesterday. She and her husband met when he was an undergraduate at Oxford. We asked how they were going to celebrate. She said they had already had a night out with friends so last night they were going to order “take away” and watch a favorite TV show. True love at 56 years.

Her tour was quite lyrical at times. She pointed out the “Dreaming Spires of Oxford” remembering Matthew Arnold’s poem “Thrysis.”

She said that J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis attended Oxford at the same time and were known to take long walks together. I wonder how many plot lines were developed on their walks.

All was not sweetness and light. She spoke with velvet-glove disdain of Oxford’s main rival, Cambridge. She said the rivalry was not as vicious now as it once was, but it is still there, referring to them as “those people.”

Now back to today. We headed first thing to Blenheim Palace, the birth place of Winston Churchill. Much is made of that fact in very clever marketing. What we learned was that Winston’s birth there was a bit of an accident. His mother was attending a party there and she thought she was three or four weeks away from delivery. A little too much dancing brought on labor and she was not able to go back to London. A doctor was called to the Palace and little Winston arrived, probably with a cigar in one had and a shot glass of whiskey in the other.

Winston did spend considerable time there as he grew up since this was his family’s ancestral home. The Palace was built on land given to Winston’s ancestor, John Churchill by Queen Anne because of his success on the battlefield at Blenheim. Winston was not in the line of succession so he never inherited any of the thousands of acres of land around the palace. There were still those connections.

I never realized Winston Churchill came from such obvious wealth. Humble beginnings, not so much. A later descendant of John Churchill married a wealthy American and used her money to complete and maintain the Palace. It is beautiful both outside and inside as you can see from the photos below.

As we moved through the rooms we could hear the obvious sounds of an organ. At the end of the tour when we reach the “long library,” there was indeed a pipe organ consisting of 2300 pipes. We learned that it is the largest privately owned pipe organ in the UK and it certainly resonated in that magnificent space.

On our own, we visited the Palace’s Chapel and the Winston Churchill exhibit, ending with an opportunity to have a photo with a life-sized wax figure of the great politician.

Back on our bus we drove a short way from the palace to view Churchill's final resting place. He is buried in a family plot in a small English churchyard, surprising for such a great statesman.

Our evening dining experience was exceptional. We walked a couple of blocks from our hotel to Balliol College where Alex, a Ph.D. student and Zoe, a Masters student gave us a tour of the college and joined us for dinner. We learned that being a Masters or Ph.D. student at Oxford is very similar in structure to programs in the U.S.

Undergraduate programs are totally different than in the U.S. At Oxford, undergraduates use the tutor system. Instead of having large group classes, each student has one, two, or three tutors for each class they take. They meet two or three times a week, and the tutors check to see that they have learned the past week’s assignments. The are tested two times a year on the subject they are studying, those tests lasting as much as three to five hours.

We learned that being in a college is all important. Students receive all their necessary services from their college, including health care both mental and physical.

It is much more difficult for a student in the U.S. to apply and be admitted to an undergraduate program at Oxford because U.S. students must demonstrate mastery of the subject they wish to study. In the U.K. students to that with their A-Level exams and we don’t have anything the corresponded to those.

It was so enjoyable to sit and visit with a couple of real students and get our questions answered.

Tomorrow we head to Stonehenge and Bath. More adventures, for sure.