English Coffee is Different

Instant coffee in England is different. It’s not a bad different, but it’s certainly not the instant coffee I remember having when I’d wake up at home as a kid trying to follow in Dad’s footsteps. The Guinness, however, is better. And that’s a good thing. I’m going to try to make it to Oxford this weekend, and since that’s closer to Dublin, I’m going to test Art’s theory that the Guinness gets better the closer to Dublin you get. I think I’ll actually do a real test by taking a bus or a car through the towns to the ferry, stopping and having a pint a few of the towns along the way, seeing if they’re any better.

There’s a couple who look like newlyweds sitting at the table across from me. What are they doing with they’re honeymoon? Spending it in London. Dang, what a way to live. The British, I’ll give it to them, know how to live. When they take a holiday, they don’t go to Cornwall, or the beach like American’s do. They go to Taiwan, Australia, or South America. If you go skiing in the Alps, that’s just like us going to Colorado, so they don’t really think that’s a big deal. WHAT??? That’s how I plan to spend my Christmas I think. If I can afford it, a small bed and breakfast in the mountains so on Christmas morning I can go skiing. Or perhaps to a couple of festivals in Germany. I’m not sure, but I know I’m going to sit around my flat the whole holiday.

As for last night, my first night out, Hadley met up with me in Holborn (just east of central London), and we walked throughout central London trying to find a pub to eat in. We stopped in Covent Garden to watch a guy doing some tricks with a little circus act, although he didn’t get any of them done. Then we walked around the square and down to Leicester Square (pronounced Lester), where they have a lot of movie theatres that do premier’s and stuff. Well, go figure “The Kingdom” with Jamie Foxx, Chris Carter, and Jennifer Garner was being premiered, so I saw Jamie Foxx get out of a car, wave at the crowd, then bolt in the door. That was pretty cool. From there we walked to Piccadilly Circus, Soho, and up to Oxford Circus, stopped at an Irish pub called O’Neil’s because it was the only place that wasn’t swamped. All the businessmen go out on Thursday nights because Friday is considered “no work” day. On Friday nights they go back home to their wives and families who live outside of London. Interesting lives, I’m sure. Anyway, O’Neil’s had good Guinness, Hadley had some half pints of Foster’s (the cheap beer around here). She had some sausages and colcannon (fancy Irish word for mashed potatoes), and I had some amazing Irish Stew with soda bread. Yeah, good hearty meal to start off my trip. We met her boyfriend, Chris, there who just got done playing some football with his mates (and yes, I’m writing in English talk here, so I mean soccer and friends). I really like this guy. He’s extremely nice, and very respectful to Hadley, so that was great to see one of my friends with such a good guy. So yesterday was a good day. Plenty of walking, learning the tube, about £50 later, and I’m ready for the next day.

Tonight I’m going to a roller derby disco, I think, to celebrate on of Hadley’s friends’ birthday. Now that I’ve realized that its 10:15 here and I was supposed to be at my orientation a couple of stops down the tube at 10:30, I’m debating on whether or not to go to Oxford. Yeah, I probably will, but we’ll see. So anyway, I’m going to walk around London some more, buy an Oyster card (tube pass), look at some mobile’s, then see where I go from there! So have a good day all, and I’ll be taking pictures today.

Laters!

Thoughts While In the Air, and Waiting in Miami…

(In the air over southwest America…)

The only thing I’m afraid of at this point is getting to England and not being able to find the proper voltage converter for my computer, leaving it useless until I order one from Apple.com, paying a fortune for it, rendering my computer useless until I get the darn thing. Other than that, Michael Buble is accompanying me on the flight, making me want to start singing. However, the guy with the “Get Your Energy Up” book, next to me, probably doesn’t like Buble. Which, of course is why he has his own music!

I wonder where all these people are going… Are they going to London? Are they just flying to Miami because Indiana is going to get cold soon? Are they moving somewhere like me? Are they searching for adventure, love, recognition, health, or themselves? What am I leaving for? I was asked that the other day and all I could think of was “because I can!.” Tim asked me if I had any goals or any expectations out of this journey; I can’t say that I don’t have any expectations, but I truly have no goals. It’s nice – seeing that I’m so goal-oriented – to not have goals dictating this trip. I’m not trying to pay off debt. I’m not trying to find a wife. I’m not trying to advance my career. I’m not going to learn difficult theories or solve problems. I’m going to England to live because I can. If I don’t go now, I’ll never have this chance again. I’ll never have the chance to live in another country, another world, in the capacity that I’m going to be now. I’m not studying abroad for three months. I’m going to relax, work, live, hike, boat, walk, drink, eat, worship, talk, and probably learn a little bit. I’ll be working and living for about six months, then afterwards, I’ll be traveling Western Europe. The expected geographical high points of this trip: Scottish Highlands, Irish moors, Western Sahara (if I can swing it), Mount Athos, and probably the Swiss or French Alps. The personal relationships won’t be forgotten: what I see won’t be forgotten: what I learn about the world outside of America won’t be forgotten. I am excited. I’ll be freaking out as soon as I get there, I’m sure. But right now, I’m excited.

And in the words of Caedmon’s Call:

“I’m about to shock my family and my hometown again. But this time I’m leaving… And once I’m gone, I cannot look back. I’ve got to trust this is right. ‘Cause maybe on my way to find you, or maybe I’m gonna make the mistake of my life.”

(Sitting in Miami…)

Well, I got here safe; decent flight over. I walked past the Sam Adam’s bar and thought to grab one, but you know what, I think I’d rather wait a day and enjoy a nice frothy Guinness before I drink any more American brews. I called Joel to check the voltage on my computer to see if the converter I bought would work. He said Apple’s use 60 watts, and this thing does up to 1600 watts, so I hope I don’t fry my computer. What is not fun is that I didn’t grab and American three-prong to two-prong adapter. Now I won’t be using my three-prong cord at all, unless I find one over there. ANYWAY! Enough about the computer, I’m sure you would rather not hear all that.

As we flew over Miami, I realized why they called the Florida Gator’s stadium ‘The Swamp.’ Instead of seeing cornfields and soybeans, I saw fields of water. It’s pretty crazy really, and an interesting sight seeing the rains fall on the Gulf of Mexico while the sun shines on the Atlantic Ocean. A rainbow let me know that the rains had already replenished the Atlantic and had spread across Miami to the Gulf. And I’ve always enjoyed flying over clouds. A Coke, a few songs and an easy landing brought me here, where I’m charging my computer, waiting the hour until 7:40 until we board. The flight leaves here at 8:05pm, which happens to be 8:05pm at home as well. Eight and a half hours from then, I’ll be in London. So give me 10ish hours and I’ll be in a different country starting a different life. I probably won’t write any on the plane, so these are the last words written in the good ol’ U.S. of A.

Cheers!

(On the plane over the Atlantic, 11:44pm Indy time…)

Ok, so I am going to write more, mainly because I can’t help but relay my last conversation. The last 3 hours, the first three of the flight, have been spent chatting with a man, we’ll call him Tom, from Manchester. In the overhead bin is a dirty backpack, impossibly holding more than a couple shirts and a pair of pants. He is coming home after a 6-month sabbatical from life he spent with his wife, two girls and son. This is a small holiday after he left his position as the CEO of a chemical operation that was just recently bought out. They spent the first five months traveling through Asia: China, India, Vietnam, Borneo, Singapore. From there they hit an east-coast drive through Australia, camping along the way, spending about five days in Sydney with some family after the ten-day drive. From there they hit Santiago, Chile (yeah, the other side of the world), and worked their way around Ecuador and Brazil. The whole while they were just camping and being a family. Tom’s family then went back home because school starts in September there. Tom stayed for another month traveling through Bolivia, hitting the national rainforests and meeting up with other amazing individuals. One such guy is a Norwegian fellow and his wife who decided to buy some horses in Uruguay and ride them around South America a couple of years ago. Since then they’ve started a restaurant in Santa Vista (?), simply living in Bolivia. WOW!!! Another fellow he met is a Swiss guy who started a Swiss cheese operation there. Who does that??

Do you want some inspiration for traveling? Sit on a plane talking with an amazing family man who has just returned from taking off 6 months of his life traveling the world. He and his wife used to sail the coast off of Scotland squeezing between the western islands, stopping as they pleased. They used to live in northern Holland for a couple of years. However, after helping build the successful branch there, he moved back to the outskirts of Manchester. A true family man, a great guy to talk to, and a great introduction of British inhabitants. Talking about everything from how much a quid is to how long Her Majesty has been in power; from college and University (he and his wife both went to Cambridge) to how many Welsh still speak Welsh. I’ve made my first British friend, and if it’s this easy every time, I’m going to have a heck of a time here.

…

Still in the air, but now directly over Cork, Ireland. Sadly, cloud cover won’t let me see the majestic rolling green hills to the north of us as we head across the Irish Sea. This is crazy. If the plane were to go down now, I’d end up somewhere off the coast of Ireland, about 20 miles from Waterford, Ireland. I’m nearly 35 minutes (just over 200 miles away) from London, and seeing Vienna, Athens, Madrid, Addis Abeba, Milan, and so many other cities in Europe and Africa showing on the map on the little screen in front of me, I’m getting pretty pumped. I haven’t gotten any sleep on this flight, so the day will be long, but hopefully coffee and adrenaline will see me through till at least 8:00 or 9:00 tonight. Then I can retire for the night and hopefully grab about 10 or 11 hours of sleep before job-hunting tomorrow. You at home are all asleep still, seeing that it’s 4:20am there, 9:20 here. We are at a ground speed of 606 mph, cruising, but dropping, at an altitude of 33000 ft. We are approaching the initial descent, so time to get my stuff ready. See you in London!

Well, I'm Here...

Well, I made it and it's great. Just being here is interesting, but I'm sure heading to the post office here in a sec to get some sterling will be even more interesting. So anyway, I've got a nice post come, but I'll have to upload it from my laptop, and that's expensive for right now. We'll just say I had a great plane trip over due to a nice man from Manchester. So, that's it for now; have fun at home everyone!!!

Caleb