We wheeled our luggage up to the deserted airport desk, thinking "great, we're so early to check-in that we've beat the crowds".  Then we learned that our flight actually left an hour earlier and there weren't any empty seats to Vancouver till July 30th.  But I digress... The last blog post ended with us hiking … Continue reading The Trip That Never Ended

One of the joys of traveling in England is just driving.  The views from the little lanes and byways are just magnificent and each district truly is unique.  We're definitely putting Portia to the test and we're astounded at how she's able to steer us through the most convoluted backroads to reach our destinations. Saturday … Continue reading North York Moors

we made up our super-duper comfy bed and tidied our private sitting room before having a gourmet breakfast (P.S. we're never coming home!) and drove out onto the moors where the wildlife posed... and posed again... before descending England's steepest road to arrive in Grosmont in time to see the Hogwart's Express (or close enuf) … Continue reading Our Day in Pictures

I just liked this pic of rain spitting up from a cloud One of the trials of life on the road is Constant Change.  Moving each day to a new place, trying to find one's way around town, packing and unpacking, looking for good restaurants, etc.  We've solved many of these issues thru planning and … Continue reading S & A’s little adventure…

Thank God for Portia (our GPS).  Yesterday she faithfully steered us from the quiet calm of Bronte's Hathersage thru Sheffield's maze of city streets to our little motel on the far edge of town.  With heavy traffic, bewildering road rules, non-existent street signs, and the infamous roundabouts, it was a bit of a trial. Mom … Continue reading A Day in The City

Yesterday was all about visiting Pride & Prejudice sites, today was Bronte's day. We started off with a little tour of Eyam, a town ravaged by the plague in 1666, half of the inhabitants died.  Not that this has anything to do with literature, but the town was unique in that they self-imposed a quarantine … Continue reading Bronte’s Day

Strong clear sunshine greeted us this morning, a great start for our first full day in England.  I had to plan each  day's activities for this part of our vacation as it was necessary to pre-book our accommodation (high season), so today's itinerary involves touring the stately homes of Chatsworth and Haddon Hall, both a … Continue reading A Stately Day

Sunday - We had to jolly old England along this morning, long before we ever set down in Great Britain.  Our transfer to Frankfurt airport left the ship at 7am (naturally I didn't get any sleep past 3:30am), so we had an early start packing Sheila, finding ourselves cups of life-sustaining tea & coffee, and … Continue reading Jolly Ole England

Day 6- Well, not really. We cruised all night again (boy, we're covering some miles here), not arriving in port till 6:30am.  As it was, Karlstadt was just a pit stop to herd us off the boat and onto the tour buses.  We had a long day touring ahead and would not be able to … Continue reading Last Day A Sailin’

Day 4 & 5 - Just a quick little voyage this morning, from 5-7:30am.  We were so busy sleeping, then eating, we hardly knew we were underway!   We docked right in downtown Mainz, so technically in the middle of things, but there was a Fair set up so our view was blocked by a ferris … Continue reading Sailing Along