Trip Lag

I am suffering from trip lag. Trip lag is when you know you have to get back to your real life and do all your real life things, but you just don’t want to. I was very happy having no expectations on me other than being where I needed to be at the time I was supposed to be there. Now I am home and the expectation is that I will do laundry and buy food and make meals. I miss my vacation!

Now before you have even the smallest pang of sadness for me, you should know that next week we are off to Colorado to see my cousin and her family. We will only be gone a week and since we rented a small house near where she lives, we will have some reality of cooking some meals but overall, a vacation is happening. We will also be driving which will be fun, we love our road trips!

Before I can even start planning for the next trip, I have to get over this trip lag. I have yard work to do and laundry to keep up and groceries to buy, before I can even start thinking about packing I have to face my current reality…THE ENGLAND TRIP IS OVER! No one is going to drive me places or plan my day for me, I have to face reality, I am back in my real life.

I knew before this summer started that it was going to be a busy nonstop summer. We have packed a lot in. Actually we had to turn down an invite for early August because we will be gone three weekends in a row and we just wanted some time at home. I know, I know…WAAAAAA, you don’t feel bad for me. I don’t blame you! This is a good problem to have but before I can enjoy my next round of summer fun, I have to realize that I have responsibilities and actually do them.

I am proud that I did my banking and grocery shopping yesterday. I also made dinner which was darn good if I do say so myself, but it was all just to keep the family from having me over thrown. I am trying to not let on how bad my trip lag really is and so far I have everyone here fooled. They all think I am back and ready to get back to the way things were before I left. I’m going to let them think that, it can’t hurt anything, by the time they figure out I’m not with the program, I will be leaving again. I think I can keep this charade up at least until September…wish me luck!

Home from England

My attempt at being a faithful blogger while we were traveling failed miserably. There was always difficulty in finding wireless internet and when we did have it, it was after a long day of touring and I was exhausted. My writing after hopping on and off a bus, walking and touring all day were lack luster at best. Eventually given the circumstances I just gave up. I knew if I was boring myself with what I was writing it was probably having the same or worse affect on you my faithful reader.

So just to recap our trip for you, IT WAS FABULOUS, the trip of a lifetime! There was very little down time, we were going everyday from sun up to sun down. We saw the English countryside, castles, Roman baths, cute shops, Shakespeare’s home, his theater and his wife’s home. We also saw the Bronte sisters home, walked on the moors and stopped at Stone Henge. Every single day there was a new adventure waiting for us.

Intermixed with our fun and adventure was an opportunity to meet new people and make new friends. When we arrived in England our group blended with other smaller groups from California, Wisconsin and Florida after a couple of days we began to get to know each other which made the trip even better.

A extra plus side to my trip was that I had my own room each night. Although I did not have much time in my hotel rooms, it was nice to have some quiet down time to myself each night and morning. The quiet time helped keep me centered and sane.

All I can say is that if you ever have the chance to travel, take it. Traveling and seeing the world in new ways has opened up my heart and mind. I learned about a world outside of my everyday world and I also learned a little bit more about me. I am sharing a few of the photos that I took today and I will plan on sharing a few more tomorrow. Have a great day and plan a trip!

England Trip

I have abandoned the daily updates because my shot at WiFI has been spotty. Each day we either have WIFI or we don't and it was driving me crazy trying to keep up with it so I just gave up!

This has been the most amazing trip. Each day I learn so much and see so much and when I go to bed I fall right to sleep. There has not been one day where I have bored or missed home. Ok, that's a small lie, I have missed my husband Mark and my daughter Alyssabeth and each day wish they were here to see all the amazing sights that Avery and I have seen.

I will try to keep you slightly updated, but do not be hurt if I don't. It's nothing personal.

Sent from my iPad

Day Two England Trip

I am drowsy but alert as we prepare to land in England in a 1/2 hour. We have been fed subpar food for dinner and upon waking from a fitful sleep I was handed a small croissant, some cut up melon and coffee. Because I am feeling like I am on my own version of survivor, I keep eating when the opportunity arises. For what ever reason I keep thinking that at some point I will be going hungry on this trip. That is why I packed 18 protein bars for Avery and I to share...and two cans of Pringles potato chips. In my mind I thought we would be in constant search of food.

Now we are seated in the terminal waiting for our tour bus to arrive. We found out once we landed that our wait in the airport would be 3 hours...long boring wait that includes a lot of people watching and delightful British accents. Our hope is to have some touring to day and also some opportunity to relax.

Once all of the other groups we will be traveling with arrived we hopped on our tour bus and drove into Manchester, England. We spent the afternoon touring a library, having lunch and telling each other how tired we were. Actually our tour guide, Paul, decided that we would have dinner early so that we could all get rested and hopefully be a little more energetic tomorrow...or today, since it is now Wednesday morning here. That was simultaneously the longest and fastest two days of my!


Sent from my iPad

Day 0ne England Trip

As I bump along on this tiny commuter plane, winging our way to Washington D.C. For our connection to Manchester, England, I realize that today will be a long day of ever changing levels of concern. This morning my concern was that I had packed way to much and I would have the largest suitcase of all of my travel mates. My next concern was that we would be late for our flight so I spent the entire drive to the airport treating my husband like a sled dog. He was more than delighted to drop me off and wave good-bye at the airport.


Once Avery and I arrived at the airport I was relieved to see that I did have not the largest suitcase, actually I was the average and Avery had the smallest of all, that worry was a waste of energy. Now that I am thumping and bumping along in mid air I know that for the next hour this will be my go to stress point. In Washington D.C. My 6 other travel mates and myself will try to find a bite to eat and then wait for out next flight for 2 1/2 hours. Once on that flight I plan to sleep. We arrive in Manchester, England at about 7:00 AM which is 2:00 AM in my real life.

We will see if sleeping on a plane is something I can learn to do, I do to want to be tired when we start touring tomorrow.

Sent from my iPad


Sent from my iPad

Four Days

Four days from today, my youngest daughter Avery and I will be leaving for England. This will be our first trip across the pond and we are both very excited. We will be traveling with Avery’s AP English class and we will be touring several literary locations throughout England. I am the only parent going and I had to ask Avery for permission to join her on this trip. My joining her on this trip had everything to do with seizing the opportunity and nothing to do with keeping an eye on my daughter.

All the plans are in place for me to have a room to myself so that Avery can have the fun bonding experience with the other kids on the trip. I am looking forward to the room alone, where I can enjoy my down time and regroup when we stop for the night. I am hoping that I will not embarrass Avery while we travel, but that is like spitting in the wind and expecting not to be hit when it flies back at you. I am so worried about Avery enjoying herself and my not stepping on her toes that I have caused myself a great amount of anxiety. Fact is I will do things that Avery may not like, but she will also do things that I will not like and I guarantee you that she is not worried about it one bit! Avery and I have a great relationship, we fight hard and we make up easy so odds are good that sometime during our ten days on the road both of those things will happen.

My best course of action is to focus on the trip ahead and the packing which totally sucks the life out of me. I am not someone who enjoys packing lightly. I prefer to have all the comforts of home with me so that I can feel good. I also like choices in clothing; a girl just never knows how she is going to feel until she wakes up and having choices readily at our fingertips is imperative. Reality is we will be on and off buses and trains and planes for ten days so packing light is really a good idea. I am really trying, and I won’t be naked but I will not have as many choices as I would like. I have already annoyed Avery by going back and forth between two sizes of suitcases. I know I should take the smaller one, but my heart is with the larger one. It would not be full, but I have myself convinced I will need the extra space on the way home, obviously I will find fabulous items that I will need to bring home with me. I will move everything over to the smaller case just to see what is best, but in the end I think I will be hauling the larger suitcase.

The next four days are jam packed with several activities so my hope is that time will fly, anxiety will diminish and packing will be completed without much more waffling about suitcase size and items needed for a girl on the go. Mostly I am just excited to share this amazing experience with my daughter, her teachers and classmates, and who knows, maybe I’ll make some new friends too.

Just One of Those Days

It was one of those days. Yesterday was suppose to be easy going with a little coffee time with a friend I had not seen in some time and then some quick returns at various stores and then zipping home to make dinner for Mark’s parents that were coming over last night. Ahhhhh I love how things seem so easy and simple in our minds, don’t you?

What actually happened yesterday was this:

I was awakened two different times during the night as our dog Roxanne scratched at our door wanting to go outside. She would run out, do her thing and come back, (her thing was a very upset tummy, if you get my drift). Roxanne would then run in and jump back in my bed. When morning came I was exhausted and concerned. In addition to the back end issues she was now making deposits from the front end too. It was not pretty over here.

All this lead to a soiled comforter that needed to be washed, once that was removed Roxanne then soiled our blanket which I then removed to wash as well. It was not long before she returned to my bed to comfort herself one more time which now meant I would be washing my sheets. It was time to call the veterinarian; this was not a situation I could handle alone.

I believe this all started when our sweet puppy helped herself to a trash bag I had left out for a quick minute. It was an innocent and stupid mistake that I was learning a very strong lesson from. There was my bed that was just gross, my basement carpet where I discovered later Roxanne was sneaking to for some privacy during her distress and of course my all important me time which had to be postponed so I could spend $135.00 to get our dog “back on track” at the veterinarian. A very long and expensive lesson in not believing those innocent puppy eyes for one single second…EVER!

In the middle of all of this dog drama, one of our daughters cars hit the skids so another boat load of cash was dispensed somewhere else to repair that. Let’s just say by the time I was done cooking dinner and entertaining Mark’s parents I was spent and literally just sat doing nothing until I could stand long enough to get ready to sleep in my very clean bed, where my day had begun with loads of fun and excitement. I guess it was just one of those days, we all have them. We look back at those days as a reminder of what a good day really is. Savor every moment people; you just never know what will happen next.