Spur of the moment day trip

*click on images to enlarge

One of the best things (that I haven't taken much advantage of yet) about living in England is the proximity to mainland Europe and cheap airline or train tickets. A recent Eurostar sale had fares down into budget range for a last minute foray to Paris so it would have been crazy to not go there on a day trip. Yes, a day trip to Paris, France as a very early birthday present......I'm still in a bit of awe that we could do that.  However since we live a little north of London it required a 3:30 am alarm and a drive down to a train station a bit further south than the one we usually use because it didn't have any scheduled for as early as we needed.  It also meant I got to experience the morning "rush hour" commuter crush on Wednesday morning--can they make those seats any narrower???

We made it to London St Pancras in time to enjoy a much needed caffeine break via Costa before joining the queue for security.  Even the trains have airline style security now, all except for having to take your shoes off, something I wasn't expecting and I'd worn a belt and several pieces of jewelry--let the disrobing begin! My partner asked why and when they'd started doing the extra security and it earned him a complimentary baggage search so I wouldn't recommend doing that ;-)

The trip to Paris wasn't that crowded so we were able to sprawl out in the 2+2 seats. I felt sorry for a girl sitting across the aisle from us, she had to share seats with two people traveling for work one of whom was an Australian girl that seemed to be hell bent on talking as loudly as possible on subjects chosen for the shock value.  Fun stuff, eh.  There was also a signal disruption once we entered France which caused our train to be delayed, fortunately the chunnel crossing was uneventful and very fast (I'm a wee bit claustrophobic).

View and reflection from the train window

Our Paris plan was not much of a plan, there were a handful of places that I wanted to see but mostly we just wanted to wander around and "see" whatever crossed our path. Not sure that makes sense but neither of us wanted to be shackled to a must do xyz mindset.  Speaking of seeing, Gare du Nord aesthetically is very underwhelming and the signage could significantly be improved. It doesn't seem to be a very good welcome to Paris in my opinion, very dark and industrial, concrete everywhere. We didn't have any trouble with thieves/pickpockets/panhandlers but we didn't make ourselves out to be easy marks either.  

First things first though, the stop we needed right away was for more coffee (and a loo that wasn't moving!) so off to find a cafe but we ended up at the most American of places. Yep, you got it--Starbucks! Lol, how typical is that? Well it would be except that my partner is thoroughly British :-), it had to be done though if only for the humour value.  Yes, there was also a McDonald's right next to it.

U.S. in Paree

Love the street sweeper against the backdrop of the Academie Nationale De Musique

Being a typical tourist at the Tuileries Garden

very busy pic but so much to look at

Artist sketching The Thinker at Musee-Rodin

The Musee Rodin was the only museum that we opted to go into on this trip and that was because you could opt to only pay for the gardens which is a bargain at 1 Euro. We also decided to stop for coffee and a snack at the cafe on the premises which was not so much a bargain but it was nice to kick back and relax for a few minutes off our feet.  I loved seeing the girl dressed so brightly and furiously sketching out The Thinker. It was after this we decided to start using the Metro instead of walking because we were going to run out of time.  I was thoroughly impressed with the double decker trains and some of the stations--especially the submarine themed one, it would be cool just to plan a trip to see all the stations.

Gazing up

Next to see was the Eiffel Tower as up close and personal as you could get without going up it (budget day trip). While we were standing under it and gazing upwards at all the iconic iron glory that is the symbol of Paris to the rest of the world I had a very "girl" moment and burst into tears. Not a slight eye water but a full on gush of waterworks, it was so embarrassing and funny and apparently endearing........I never believed I would actually be standing at the base of the Eiffel Tower at some point in my life.  After my tears we just stood around watching everyone else and noticed a couple locked in an embrace. Very romantic, eh. Except it kept going and going and going to the point it went from awwwwwww to being pretty sure they were just doing it for the attention.  Or perhaps I'm just a pessimist, lol.  

Mopping up the tears

The final stop (since we were running out time) was Notre Dame. This ended up being my only disappointment of the day, not because of the Church itself but because we didn't get a chance to walk up the tower steps so I could see the gargoyles up close and personal.........yep, my reason for wanting to see Notre Dame was not because of the novel or movie or my beliefs but it was for the ugly-beautiful gargoyles. I am so fascinated by them and would love to have one or two of the grotesques on my own house.  

approaching Notre Dame

Statue of Charlemagne with a modern addition

Notre Dame Cathedral 

While impressive (understatement) I think I am slightly jaded after seeing so many gorgeous cathedrals in England and Scotland so I wasn't that interested in the interior of Notre Dame.  Sorry France, but I think my adopted country does fancy churches better but I didn't cry when I saw Big Ben so you win in the emotional response department :-)

At this point we were ready for a meal before making the trek back to Gare du Nord so we decided on a cozy looking cafe amongst the tourist crap shops on Rue Arcole called Le Parvis.  It was a bit pricey but that was to be expected and the waiter was very friendly and informative--much nicer than the guy at the Musee Rodin cafe (however his attitude was much better when I brought the tray back up to the counter rather than leaving it for him to collect after we had eaten).  We both opted for a burger and frites figuring it would be quicker than most everything else and what we were served was amazing, even better than the picture on their website, even the salad was much larger and more varied than shown.  

Hotel de Ville ice rink

On the way to find the nearest Metro station after eating we stumbled upon the Hotel de Ville and had to stop for a few moments to admire it and the ice rink.  This was the best photo of the lot which is terrible--I need to get better about changing the settings--but I wanted to post this anyway because of the Union Jack umbrella :-). The history of the place is quite bloody though, kind of disconcerting reading that the guillotine used to be in the area where the rink is not to mention all the other sorts of public execution.  

Overall this was a wonderful trip, we messed up on our routing a little and missed the Arc de Triomphe and the smaller Statue of Liberty.  No museum trips were planned other than the Rodin garden and I want to tour the Catacombs on the next visit as well as climbing those tower steps at Notre Dame.  Any suggestions as to what is a must see would be appreciated. 

Culture differences

What surprised me about Paris? I experienced very little of the rudeness that you hear about but again we weren't here for very long--most people we dealt with were far more polite than those in similar situations in London actually.  The noise (sirens and horns), atrocious parking, and amount of motorbikes everywhere is just like what you see in the movies.  The only petrol station we saw consisted of 2 pumps (gas and diesel) on a sidewalk next to the road--you simply stopped in the road or drove onto the very wide pavement to fuel up.  There wasn't as much dog poop as I expected, lol.  The men and women do dress more chic than in most other cities I've been to but black is still the color of choice in the winter.  The most surprising thing of all though were the number of armed soldiers on the streets but it shouldn't have been considering what's recently kicked off in Mali.  

New passport stamps

Paris souvenir

The mutts in the UK

One of the first questions that I was asked whenever anyone found out I was planning on moving to the UK was what I planned on doing with my dogs.  Of course I was going to bring them with me if at all possible!!! The next question by anyone remotely familiar with the laws was what about the 6 month quarantine but thankfully my travel plans fell into the right time for a rule change also known as the Pet Travel Scheme.  This was so new that not even my vet's office was aware of it until I brought in the info when I wanted to get Elsie prepared for the trip.  It was still a stressful and expensive process because the steps must be followed in a certain order, the paperwork must be filled out a certain way and it included a trip to the state branch of the USDA office to get the paperwork certified and stamp--fortunately this was before the current federal government shutdown.

The shipping of the dogs over could be handled by a third party who would ensure that all paperwork was done plus oversee the crating when at whatever airline you chose but that costs 3-4 times as much as doing it yourself.  We chose the DIY route and since I was flying United (hello, frequent flier miles meant my flight was $80!!) we used their PetSafe service.  There ended up being a few issues, the first was that because the flight out of Little Rock was on a small jet I would have to pay for them to ride in the cabin and this was going to be on top of the other charges for shipping them thus increasing the cost even more.  I ended up choosing to drive from central Arkansas down to Houston (an approximately 8 hour drive with bathroom stops).

Next issue was trying to find the United cargo terminal, I wasted close to an hour driving around trying to decipher the maze that is IAH.......once I managed to find the correct way into the air cargo terminals there were not any signs on the outside of the buildings giving any indication where PetSafe was located.  Stress level escalation!

Once there the two men who were in charge of setting up the crates and taking care of the animals were amazing! They took over and had everything put to rights in no time while reassuring me and were very attentive to Ben and Elsie.  Absolutely no complaints there, those two were top-notch and you could tell they enjoyed what they did.

The woman who was checking me in and going over the paperwork was another story altogether.  She didn't want to be at work and very much resented anyone coming in and interrupting her texting and phone conversations and her boss wasn't much better.  She claimed she couldn't find the shipping reservation--the one I had called to double check on the previous week by the way, the supervisor (another lady who wasn't happy with being interrupted) ambled over to find it.  Then there was confusion over the names on the reservation because there was two of us listed.  Then she claimed that the health certificates were invalid because they were done in May (that's when the rabies and other vaccinations were done) and that we were just going to have to leave when I was trying to point out the correct date.  Supervisor ambles over again, sighs very loudly, and announces that yes the health certificates were valid.  Next up was her trying to figure out how to fill in the customs forms......It just went on and on.  I don't mind when someone is new at their job and trying to get through it without messing up, I do mind arrogance and trying to shift the blame of their incompetence to the customer for what is already a stressful event.

Thankfully we all made it onto the correct flight and made it to London Heathrow mostly safe and sound (I have other stories to relate about this, lol).  The Heathrow Animal Reception Centre was very helpful and they cleaned the dogs and the crates up before bringing them out to us.  However, there is something else to be aware of--a representative with a customs clearing company may ask to speak to you via phone while you are waiting for the animals to be released and will say that you have to pay an additional £300 in fees.  I am not sure why this is but it amounts to extortion as far as I am concerned because these are your pets not merchandise. I immediately passed the phone to my partner who is British and he told them over $1300 had been paid and that no other charges had been discussed so as far as he was concerned there were no other monies owed.  We were then asked to fax a copy of the shipping papers and fees that had been paid already and the dogs were released to us approximately 45 minutes later.  A young lady in the USAF whose dog had been shipped to her (at well over $2000) didn't press it and just paid what they were asking.  These fees very much need to be made clear at the time of shipping NOT when you are waiting to pick the animals up.

Waiting to check out the new home

Fan-dom in Glasgow

Time to revisit the UK......no, not physically (well, it is but that's not happening right now so is beside the point) but it is way past time to put up some more pics from the early summer trip.  Today's post is inspired by my fan-dom of Craig Ferguson--ahhh, such a gorgeous accent--and maybe a nudge from a bossy TWBrit that an update was past due.

First there is this brilliant clip:



And then there is me...........I'm certainly nowhere close to looking like Mila but how cool (and uber-geeky!) is it that I have pics of me standing where they filmed the above clip?

Yes, I look a bit starry-eyed ;-)

Monday Mumbles

Yes, the upcoming event widget list actually has something in it......shocking eh?  The Sylamore 25k trail race I actually signed up for back in December when I got an urgent group text from my friend Brenda telling everyone if they were gonna sign up they better do it because registration was closing early. As in by midnight that night.  I'm thinking they got slammed with last-minute sign-ups, lol.

While renewing my memberships in the running club and the state RRCA I also decided to go ahead and sign up for the first 2 races in the grand prix series.  Now I am in no way race ready but figured since I was home I might as well participate and get out to see friends I haven't seen in what seems like forever.  Yeah, yeah, mostly my fault but I've been sort of a recluse with all my family and job related stresses this past year.  Granted the job related stress is gone seeing as I'm not working (by choice) at this time.  I am looking into some of the A+ and microsoft training bootcamps so if anyone has any advice, ie "this place is good, it's totally worth the $$$$, or stay far away from such and such business", please send it my way (thanks!!!).

Elsie and I paid a visit to the veterinarian this afternoon where me and the nurse were going over what all I needed to finish up getting the pet passport done.  After much scratching of our heads and trying to decipher the government mumbo-jumbo, I think we're done with everything except for what has to be done right before any travel actually takes place.  What has helped the most has been the information that I got from the Pet Travel Store where I purchased the pet passport paperwork, highly recommend them.  Anyways, from what we've determined the blood test is no longer required nor is the vet-applied flea and tick treatment right before travel (Elsie gets dabbed with advantix every month regardless) and the tapeworm dose is still "being discussed" (more government bs).

I managed a full hour on the trainer this morning, started out with 30 minutes of an easy spin, keeping the cadence over 80 and next thing I know I was at 35 minutes and still feeling good with only my left foot kinda aching.  Bumped up the intensity slightly and got in 17 miles altogether, yay!

Where in the World and a Shoe Crisis

I love where I live, I really do and I love my friends in this area even more, but I kinda think I have the traveling bug. The problem is a lack of nearby international airports. The recent round trip to Malta required no less than 10 flights!!  And while I love flying, I can certainly do without that headache every time I want to go somewhere and do something.  So this is a BIG problem!!

London blew my mind! And I really want to go back and see the place properly and see friends this time. But with the schedule I was running there was simply no time to do anything other than whip my ass hard to get around to see what landmarks I could and I certainly didn't manage to get a proper run in which is something I always try to do if I'm in a different area.

The other thing is not actually a “shoe crisis” as such but a whole appearance crisis lol.  

Here in the southern states we tend to be very laid back and casual in our dress, but driving a truck all week long makes me want to dress like a girl on my time off, skirts, heels, boots. But here I stand out a little too much. It wasn’t so bad when I wasn't  single, but now I kinda feel that I am looked at differently.

In London and Malta most people were wearing the kind of things I enjoy wearing, and I’m not even talking about my crazy love of heels and tall boots, although there were plenty of those about too.  Also, I’m starting to find the discomfort of being hit on more… this probably sounds silly after what I just wrote but it’s partly work related and while here and on twitter I can laugh and joke with the best as it makes day fly by with a smile, it’s a very different thing when it’s close to home and more discomforting when it’s in the work place where I don't dress in anything but sensible work gear. I have always had to cope with a certain amount anyway because of my tattoos and being in a very male dominated industry etc, but this is slowly becoming intolerable, I probably have enough phone numbers to fill a small phone book with and I don't necessarily want any of them!! Especially now that it seems that these are beginning to fetter my web presence too. It's gotten to the point where I feel that my trucking days are starting to draw to a close, especially if I end up having to move to over the road driving rather than regional.  So, as this year progresses,  I will probably be looking to change my online presence quite a bit especially with the recent twitter hiccup. It is something I have been contemplating for a while anyways and I'm considering possibly reorganizing this blog into something a little less haphazard.

So a move to a place with more of an acceptance of dress and appearance plus an international airport to have access to running in Europe, the Med and Asia may be in the plans soon – I’m open to ideas, but where I live now is fantastic for running and cycling and above all -my friends! It certainly would be a tough call to move away from here.

A New Adventure

I hate February......always have. It's a cold dreary month that seems to drag on forever much longer than it's 28 (or 29) days.  And it just happens to be my birthday month.  This year I decided to treat myself to an out of state half marathon, go somewhere, make a week of it, explore a little.  However when I did a web search for end of February races, this little gem popped up, the Malta Marathon.  Yes, Malta, the island in the Mediterranean, off the coast of Italy.  Might as well start my passport stamps off in style, right?  A bit of (ok a lot of!) debating with myself and a bit of research and one very maxed out credit card and yes I really am taking a solo international trip to run my very first international race. 

Satellite image borrowed from Wikipedia 

I haven't told many people because quite frankly most are freaked out by the thought of me making this trip alone.  However, this is a safe place to go and one of its main languages is English (the other being Maltese of course).  Have I mentioned my credit card is maxed out, lol.  I will be spending a very limited amount of time in London before flying over to Malta so if anyone is interested in meeting for a coffee let me know and we'll see what can be arranged.  Also if there are any must-sees please leave me a comment :-))).  Oh and any advice about what to take would be greatly appreciated!!!!!!!!  And traveling advice too please, I haven't flown in 24 (25?) years, wow.