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I'm Back - Frell Me Dead
To all who have missed the "pig" avatar ...
I'm back!
London was fantastic.
We went to Dover and froze our collective eemas off.
It was bitterly cold but I did do my traditional toes in the water of every ocean on every continent.
Brrrr!
Then we went on to Brighton and took a stroll on the pier ...
Lots of gambling as all the rides were closed.
We found a Fish and Chip shop that was opened and had a feast on real fish and chips - yummy!
Then we drove on to Portsmouth and took a quick tour of the historic district.
Loved the cobble stoned streets and really quaint pubs.
As it gets dark by 4-30pm - and I mean real dark - as in need a guide dog to find your way dark - we headed back to London.
Had a day in London shopping and trying to battle our way through the crowds in Oxford Street.
Also went to Covent Garden and tried to get tickets to a ballet but they only had a few seats in the nose bleed section and the prices were outrageous.
We took a trip to Andover and Bath with a stop off at Stonehenge.
The sci-fi junkie in me was just thrilled to see the sites.
I could just visualize the Taelons and Ma'el ...
I know pretty sad.
Bath was wonderful and it just blew me away to think that it was built all those centuries ago.
I love living history.
We got back to London and made plans for our trip to France.
We flew out to Geneva on the 3rd with Swissair who were fantastic although you had to pay for everything you had on board even a drink of water.
All of the prices were in Euro dollars which came to about $2.25 US to $1 ED so $2.8 ED for a can of coke ($6.30 US) was outrageous.
I went without.
Geneva is about 1 hour 15 minutes from London by air and our mini bus was nowhere to be found when we arrived.
So much for you will be met on arrival ....
Our flight had been delayed by almost 90 minutes out of London so we were beginning to think that we had missed our pick up and were wondering how we were going to get to our hotel.
After 45 minutes of hunting through the arrivals hall packed with eager skiiers with all their gear we finally found our bus driver who had been delayed.
We then waited for another 90 minutes while 2 other delayed flights arrived and the other passengers showed up.
The trip to our hotel (bed and breakfast not star hotel) in Chamonix took just over an hour.
We had some fun companions on the bus that took 9 passengers.
Hey Roland I met another couple of super Swedes
Olaf (sorry if the spelling isnt right) and Sven.
They were from some town in Sweden the name eludes me at the moment.
There were 7 guys in the bus and my sister and I.
We refrained from breaking into a rousing chorus of The Hills are Alive.
:rofl: We finally arrived at about 9-30pm instead of the 5pm we were scheduled to arrive.
We'd missed dinner.
We hadn't eaten since breakfast and everything was closed.
It was 1 mile into town to the Mac Shack so our night crew at the hotel were very kind and made us huge ham, cheese and salad sandwiches on wonderful fresh French bread :French: which really hit the spot.
They didn't charge us for them and we fell into our beds at around 10-30pm.
We went skiing the next day.
My sister took to the intermediate slopes while I hung out with the beginners who had never skied before.
But the instructors were great and we were shusting with the best of them on the 'bunny' slopes in under an hour.
It was absolutely breathtaking scenery which just cant be captured in pictures.
Chamonix is a small town in the French Alps.
It is located in a valley at the base of Mt Blanc which is the highest mountain in Europe at a little over 10,800 feet.
There are 5 major ski areas close to the town and a few minor ones.
The mountains just tower over the town on both sides and the scenery is amazing.
There is a gondola that takes visitors up to the Aguile du Midi which has fantastic views of the entire region.
The Aguile is 3800+ meters 9700 feet.
We had 3 days of great skiing and wonderful food.
Got back to London on Tuesday night at about 10pm and sadly had to fly back to the USA the following morning.
Now if yall think that security is not up to snuff in some places you are right.
But its not London or the UK that the USA should be fussing about.
The security in Geneva was non existent.
They did not even open my passport to look inside I could have had anyones passport and they would not have known.
There was no passport or security check as we drove into France and on our return through Geneva there was barely any security to speak of.
They had scanners but the person at the console was chatting up one of the guys who was supposed to be doing the body scans and they were just goofing off letting people through with barely a glance at them.
Only people who registered a blip as they walked through the detectors were given the quick once over.
The security in London however was fierce.
It was every bit as tight as it is in the USA.
I think our homeland security need to start waving the big stick at some of the European countries.
Many flight originate from Europe into the US and the security is a joke.
They let people through without even checking their ID.
My trip back from London (LHR) to Washington DC (IAD) was awful.
Id never flown with United and the trip to LHR from IAD was equally bad.
Their aircraft are incredibly cramped and the inside of the plane looked as though it required maintenance not a comforting thought.
The flight crews both to and from London were inattentive and downright rude.
There were medical emergencies on both trips.
After they served the meal it took forever for them to pick up the trays and after this one could not even get a drink of water no matter how many times one pressed the attendant call button.
I guess Ive been spoiled by flying with American, Qantas and Air New Zealand all of whom have wonderful service.
It was really great getting home and being back on terra firma as both trips were quite turbulent.
My cat was ecstatic to see me and has been very clingy for the last 3 days.
So hi yall its good to be home Now I have got to work out how to download my digital photos from my camera all 120 of them.
I don't know where to start with trying to catch up with the last 2 weeks ...
I can imagine how much fun you all have had.
I have really missed you - all of you.
So in a nutshell ...
Is there any official news yet???
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There are no passport controls for people traveling inside of Europe since a few years.
Coming into Europe and going out, that's when the controls are supposed to happen.
Since Europe is growing together it is supposed to be like traveling from US state to the other.
That might explain the non-existing controls.
Whether it is a good thing or not is a different question.
Redvenus
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Glad you had a fantastic time Selena!
:party: Welcome back....uh....home uh away!
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I didn't read the trip review, but I'm sure it was fun.
Welcome back to the insanity.
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Welcome back, Selena!
We've missed your wit!
It sounds like you had a great time.
Your sandwich description made me hungry (ok, and jealous).
I keep hoping one of these days I can get a break from RL too!
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Welcome back to the boards Selena
It's been so long since we've all seen ya.
That's the best I've got.
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Nice to have you back Selena.
We've missed you!
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Nice to have you back safe and sound Selena, virtually speaking or should that be stating, anyway thank God you had a wonderful time despite the dodgy sounding air transport.
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Hey Selena I live in Portsmouth....I'd hesitate to call some of our pubs quaint..
Especially on New Years Eve!
Lol
Glad you had a great trip!
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Yea....So glad you're back Selena.
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Welcome back! I'm glad you had a good trip!
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