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Archive for November, 2005

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Made it to Gatwick Airport

Wednesday, November 30th, 2005

Well I’m here – finally…

I had a mad dash yesterday – down to London to get my Amtrak pass from Trailfinders (b***ds took over an hour to process my simple request and had the gall to bolt on 33% service charge – well, at least I got my moneys worth), over to Birmingha to pick up travel money from Steve and back via Tesco.

Sarah and Karl are going to Spike sit – he should be fine, he likes their dog Max.

Anyway I was well and truly knackered this morning – I tried to stay awake, but failed completely – I issed the 3am flight link coach to the airport, so I had to catch the 5:45 coach to London Victoria.

True to form and bang on cue there was a pile-up on the M1, which delayed us by half an hour – just enough time for us to catch the start of rush hour traffic through central London. I like the congestion charge, but it’s had an unfortunate side effect – whereas before the city was full of cars of all shapes and sizes, post-congestion charge London if full of big cars – Jaguars and Mercs, cars which previously would have avoided the traffic jams like the plague.

Anyway, after another twenty minutes of stop-start driving we managed to lurch into the station.

The Gatwick Express was a plesant suprise – Like a can of Ronseal wood stain, it’s does exactly what it says on the tin, and at £13 for a one-way ticket costs roughly the same.

I bought a new back pack for my trip and it is stuffed to the gills with chocolate and random sweets (I figured that ‘candy’ would be an effective way to bribe people and have lots of it) it weighs a tonne and is packed solid. Which is probably the reason that I was pulled out of the check-in queue to have my bag inspected. It took me over an hour to pack the fecking thing this morning – he managed to empty it in under a minute, leaving him plenty of time to consider why I had four toffee crisps, three plastic soldiers, two boxes of chalk and a book about Sol LeWitt.

He said that it was a random luggage inspection, but, well this kind of thing always happens – perhaps I have the face of a terrorist – maybe I should have shaved this morning.

He was genial enough – wearing an American flag, but speaking with a thick Russian accent, an irony that escaped me at the time – I was under threat of being moved elsewhere, packed or not, as I was holding up the line – more bearded ethnic types.

I then had to justify my trip and explain to four different people that I didn’t have any pre-booked accomodation as I was planning to explore the country by train – the american woman drew herself up to her full height (about 6’2″) and told me that that was a ridiculous story – I produced my rail pass with a flourish and she wandered off muttering.

This is possibly the last year that some of the Amtrak trains will be running, the company is running under a tight financial regime and is facing stiff competition from freight companies. I tried explaining to them that this was ‘a last chance to see’, but only the British people bought it.

I need an address for my time in the states, but I’m going to be bouncing around all over the place, am going to try them with the place I’m planning on staying at tonight – with a little luck, that will work – I doubt criminal masterminds spend much time at the ‘green tortoise’ in Seattle.

Had I spent an extra £7 on the train ticket I would have been given a ‘security express’ card and would have bypassed having to repack my underwear in public – I guess criminal masterminds also fly ‘coach’.

Anyway – they’ve just called my flight, will post more when I get to Charlotte.

It’s grim up North

Friday, November 25th, 2005

I’m off up to Edinburgh in the morning – to watch Coventry Blaze beat the crap out of the Edinburgh Capitals in an Elite league ice-hockey match.

It’s should only be a 13 hour road trip, as long as the roads are clear. I’ve got to admit that it’s not looking good…

Although only a small amount of snow has fallen, this is England – so the place is rapidly grinding to a halt.

  • First snow of the winter hits the UK – chillarity ensues
  • Snow stories – personal views of the lousy weather, with video
  • Watch footage of grim winters from the past– in case living with it isn’t enough
  • tick-tock-tick-tock

    Friday, November 25th, 2005
    Less than five days to go now. I've given up on getting the greyhound across the county - have forked out £120 for a flight to Detroit instead - I leave at 8 am, touch down at 6 pm - it ... [Continue reading this entry]

    Trip update

    Tuesday, November 22nd, 2005
    Ok, I managed to add a few more days to my trip and am now arriving on the 30th and leaving from Boston on the 16th. I've decided to 'risk' the bus and will hopefully live to tell the tale. ... [Continue reading this entry]

    Vote early and often

    Tuesday, November 22nd, 2005
    Rookie of the...second part of the year <-- I made the cut! - Wahey! I'm flattered - normally people give me grief for invading their forum - you guys are different - will buy beers in PDX.

    Last day of the Racers

    Tuesday, November 22nd, 2005
    (I'm the one in the middle at the front - sobbing like a baby - worst day of my life)

    Trip to Cardiff

    Sunday, November 20th, 2005
    Wahey - got a phone call this morning, so I'm hopping on the 14:30 train to Cardiff. I can't think of a worse reason to visit the city - I'm going to watch the final match to be played by the ... [Continue reading this entry]

    Booked my tickets

    Saturday, November 19th, 2005
    Wahey - I finally got around to booking my flights - I have to go through Charlotte though...but wahey - at least they were cheap. Yesterday prices were over ... [Continue reading this entry]

    mini trips

    Thursday, November 17th, 2005
    Ok, obviously my big trip is going ahead - in the mean time, I'm going to be out and about... New job is in the middle of nowhere - seriously, even google struggled to find it - Wootton Wawen - ... [Continue reading this entry]

    Tripping a Plan

    Thursday, November 17th, 2005
    It should have been simple... Fly out to PDX from London and fly back to London from PDX a few days later... But then my enthusiasm for exploration and architecture and stuff kicked in and it's grown a bit.