Day 1 - England - June/July 2012
I know, I know, you probably aren't supposed to blog about something an entire month after it's happened. But hey, it's my blog and I make the rules. Deal with it.
When planning my summer travels this past year, I was fortunate enough to hear about a conference in northern England in early July. The conference, put on by the European Mentoring and Coaching Council, was an opportunity for me to do more research on a topic that I have started to research this past year, by way of a federal grant sub-award at the University of Texas at Dallas with a colleague (by the way, UTD - that's where I work now). It turns out that mentoring and coaching are pretty big research areas in Europe, above and beyond the work we do in the States, so it was well worth a trip to see what was happening on this side of the pond. But I can't go to the UK without visiting friends, so first, I had to stop in London.
Here's an exerpt of what I wrote in my travel journal the morning that I landed:
"It's such a disappointment to get a bad cup of tea in London. It just seems uncivilized. But I suppose after being awake for almost 24 hours, a bad cup is better than nothing. I hope to feel the same way about my hotel room*, because right now, I am have some pretty major doubts. It can't be a good sign when you are greeted at the door by dirty migrant workers having a smoke break in a hotel lobby covered in dust. That wasn't quite the international adventure I was looking for. Come to think of it, the woman practicing yoga in the park isn't either. I'm pretty sure that every time she opens her legs into a split, another international law is broken. One word - pants. Get some."
*It should be noted that my hotel room, while clean, was even worse than the lobby made it out to be. The entire thing was smaller than my walk in closet back home in Dallas (although I should point out that most apartments in New York City are also smaller than my closet, so maybe that's not the best comparison). My bathroom was a converted closet within a closet - with a shower stall so small that if I weighed another 5 pounds, there would be no way I would have fit. Good thing that Steph and Martin were there to amuse me all weekend and I didn't have to spend much time in my room - there was hardly enough room for me and my suitcase, what with the gigantic twin bed and all.
Luckily, the incident with the pants-less yogi was soon overshadowed by the blinding light eminating from all things English. I thought that someone had turned on a black light but it was only that the sun was shining in Hyde Park and everyone in London deciding at that very moment to show off their legs. Their amazingly bright white legs. It looked like a commercial for tooth whitener on stilts or something. Turns out that London (and as I was soon to find out, ALL of England) was dealing with a severely rainy summer - the worst in recorded history (don't get too excited - we're talking 1910 here, not 1310). I managed to land - and be walking around in the park - on the first sunny day the country had seen in months (all of this after a forecast of a drought - take note Texas, you are doing something wrong). It was as if everyone in the city had suddenly turned into that freak from Twilight (pedophile tendencies aside, of course). I'm starting to wonder if maybe Stephanie Meyer had vacationed in England during a rainy summer too.
Fortunately, Steph and Martin were soon to my resuce, picking me up from the local Starbucks wannabe coffee shop and off we set for Camden for some decent lunch and a quick look at the shops. When they brought me back to my hotel room to help me get settled, I am sorry to say that all three of us could barely fit in the room at the same time, let alone turn around. It was like a bad Three Stooges sketch, except with a better wardrobe. Thankfully, it was a quick stop, and we were off to meet Jen for dinner (Burgers and Lobsters - guess what they serve?).
That dinner deserves a blog post all it's own (there are even pictures), so I'll be sure to update soon. But I know that you too will think Jen a genius for choosing a restaurant that only serves two entrees but has a three page menu for drinks. How have we not thought of that in the US?!?!?!
When planning my summer travels this past year, I was fortunate enough to hear about a conference in northern England in early July. The conference, put on by the European Mentoring and Coaching Council, was an opportunity for me to do more research on a topic that I have started to research this past year, by way of a federal grant sub-award at the University of Texas at Dallas with a colleague (by the way, UTD - that's where I work now). It turns out that mentoring and coaching are pretty big research areas in Europe, above and beyond the work we do in the States, so it was well worth a trip to see what was happening on this side of the pond. But I can't go to the UK without visiting friends, so first, I had to stop in London.
Here's an exerpt of what I wrote in my travel journal the morning that I landed:
"It's such a disappointment to get a bad cup of tea in London. It just seems uncivilized. But I suppose after being awake for almost 24 hours, a bad cup is better than nothing. I hope to feel the same way about my hotel room*, because right now, I am have some pretty major doubts. It can't be a good sign when you are greeted at the door by dirty migrant workers having a smoke break in a hotel lobby covered in dust. That wasn't quite the international adventure I was looking for. Come to think of it, the woman practicing yoga in the park isn't either. I'm pretty sure that every time she opens her legs into a split, another international law is broken. One word - pants. Get some."
*It should be noted that my hotel room, while clean, was even worse than the lobby made it out to be. The entire thing was smaller than my walk in closet back home in Dallas (although I should point out that most apartments in New York City are also smaller than my closet, so maybe that's not the best comparison). My bathroom was a converted closet within a closet - with a shower stall so small that if I weighed another 5 pounds, there would be no way I would have fit. Good thing that Steph and Martin were there to amuse me all weekend and I didn't have to spend much time in my room - there was hardly enough room for me and my suitcase, what with the gigantic twin bed and all.
Luckily, the incident with the pants-less yogi was soon overshadowed by the blinding light eminating from all things English. I thought that someone had turned on a black light but it was only that the sun was shining in Hyde Park and everyone in London deciding at that very moment to show off their legs. Their amazingly bright white legs. It looked like a commercial for tooth whitener on stilts or something. Turns out that London (and as I was soon to find out, ALL of England) was dealing with a severely rainy summer - the worst in recorded history (don't get too excited - we're talking 1910 here, not 1310). I managed to land - and be walking around in the park - on the first sunny day the country had seen in months (all of this after a forecast of a drought - take note Texas, you are doing something wrong). It was as if everyone in the city had suddenly turned into that freak from Twilight (pedophile tendencies aside, of course). I'm starting to wonder if maybe Stephanie Meyer had vacationed in England during a rainy summer too.
Fortunately, Steph and Martin were soon to my resuce, picking me up from the local Starbucks wannabe coffee shop and off we set for Camden for some decent lunch and a quick look at the shops. When they brought me back to my hotel room to help me get settled, I am sorry to say that all three of us could barely fit in the room at the same time, let alone turn around. It was like a bad Three Stooges sketch, except with a better wardrobe. Thankfully, it was a quick stop, and we were off to meet Jen for dinner (Burgers and Lobsters - guess what they serve?).
That dinner deserves a blog post all it's own (there are even pictures), so I'll be sure to update soon. But I know that you too will think Jen a genius for choosing a restaurant that only serves two entrees but has a three page menu for drinks. How have we not thought of that in the US?!?!?!
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