Getting there—Carbondale, Chicago, London, May 16-20

All big adventures start with a series of goodbyes. I’m going to miss my dad’s 90th birthday which is going to be rough for both of us. My dad is in an assisted living facility about 5 hours away from me. I only get to see him one or two times a month. Fortunately, my dad is from a long line of centurions. I’ve promised not to miss his 100th birthday.

Bunny’s parents have gotten a new puppy that we’ve grown attached to. Who doesn’t love puppies? If anyone reading this says “Me”, quit following this blog now. I am fascinated with the connection between humans and dogs. Two different species who have codeveloped for the last 15-20,000 years. Now one has finally gained superiority and we follow them on walks and pick up their poop. Dogs are in it for the long game. Hopefully, Daisy will remember us. If not, as soon as we give her treats, she’ll tolerate us again. 

Most importantly, Bunny’s daughter had a baby. We visit him weekly, and see the genetic donors as well. We spent the better part of the last week at their house putting in a fence for a safe play area for grand-baby and grand-puppy. 

And then there’s friends and family. If we said good bye, we’ll miss you. If we didn’t, take a hint. Just kidding, we didn’t have time to say goodbye to everyone. 

Bunny’s parents took us to Carbondale, IL the night before we were to catch a train to Chicago. The older I get, the less I like to rush or be stressed. If we break our travel stages into days, I am more likely to stay calm. Bunny likes calm Easy. We were able to see Bunny’s daughter, son-in-law (for all practical purposes) and grandson. We will miss him and worry that he’ll change too much, too fast while we are gone. 

Monday morning we caught the Amtrak from Carbondale to Chicago. I’ve been on this train when I’ve had a 3 hour delay. Don’t need the stress. We stayed at a hostel in downtown Chicago where we could relax, eat Indian food, visit Buckingham Fountain (since we’ll see it’s namesake palace in a day or two), visit the bean, and just have a relaxing night. 

Our flight to Heathrow didn’t leave until 5p on Tuesday. That gave us time for a leisurely breakfast and walk to the subway. I don’t want to be rushed. We got to Ohare 4 1/2 hours before our departure time. Another way to state that is we got to Ohare 1/2 hour before British Airways even started manning their counters. We were a stress free third position in line. 

I like the red eyes to reduce jet lag. We were to arrive a bit after 7a. If we can grab a bit of sleep on the plane and force ourselves to stay awake all day, we should avoid any jet lag. Coming back will be a different story, but that’s 5 months away. 

Bear and Sassy were already at Heathrow when we landed. We met for a cup of coffee and developed a game plan. I had already researched how to get to our hostel in London. Bunny had picked it because of the reviews, I thought it was more for the literary reference, but we were dropping our packs at Pickwick Hall (adjacent to the British Museum) by 10a. Now all we had to do was keep moving until 7p. 

Since we were only a couple of miles from Hyde Park and it was a beautiful day, we took a stroll. Hyde Park is home to the spot (Hanging Arch) where criminals were hung (over 60,000 in the day—Texas has a way to go, but they’re trying to cut into England’s lead). There’s also a memorial to Lady Di which we soaked our feet in. Also, Kensington Palace and gardens which we skirted the edge of. We managed to kill several hours and some ice cream while we amassed about 7 miles of pavement walking. 

When we got back to the hostel, I tried to prevent Bunny from lying down (and failed). I went downstairs to see what Bear was up to and he said Sassy was down in their room. This didn’t bode well for making it to 7p before passing out. I was fast asleep by 5:30 and didn’t wake up until 8 the next morning. Not exactly bursting with energy, but not jet-lagged. My plan, for the most part, worked out. 

I only had one tourist thing I wanted to do in London that I haven’t done on previous trips—ride the London Eye. Everything after that was gravy. We got tickets for “The Big Bus” (on/off as you please) and spent a couple of days seeing all the major sites. When the rains started, we headed to the British Museum. Like London, there was one thing I had to see, the Rosetta Stone. Everything else was a bonus. 

We had 3 full days of being tourists in London. I love the charm and activity. Seeing so many people out on the streets and being happy. I’m far removed from American politics and my nerves were already getting better. The only thing missing, I was ready to start hiking. 

EFG