Live Like You’re Living, Not Like You’re Dying

I’ve long hated the expression, “Live like you’re dying.” Forget those lyrics by Tim McGraw or Kris Allen. I’m a much bigger supporter of living like you’re living. After all, we pretty much know what the endgame is–death shouldn’t be a surprise to any of us.

Scotland and England: The Outtakes

Anybody who travels for the experience and not just the destination knows not just that unplanned things will happen–many of them less-than-desirable–but also, in a way, welcomes those things. Because the bad times make just as much of an impression, and a story to tell later on, as the good ones.

England Is Calling: Our Trip Ends at Bristol

My room was off the hall with the opening, not where the two sides meet, but to the right of that one.

When I thought about what in Bristol I wanted to show the kids (Doug had visited the city when I was there, so this wouldn’t be his first time), my dormitory was the first thing that came to mind. But what next? There are so many things to see in Bristol–Ashton Court, the zoo, Blaise Hamlet, the docks, the Clifton Suspension Bridge–and I really couldn’t decide what things I could show them that would make them understand why I loved the city. In the end, we opted to do very little. Our friends, Simon and Rachael, were going to meet us there and Doug and I were looking more forward to spending time with them then in packing our last day abroad with a flurry of activity.

My Year in Bristol

Courtesy: visitbristol.co.uk

Before I finish the last post on Bristol in the series of blog posts about the family trip we took to Scotland and England in the summer of 2014, I realize that I really need to write about my year in Bristol first. Or, at least, an overview of it. Because my year in Bristol was so absolutely bursting with experiences that I’d never, ever, be able to describe it in just one blog post. And, while anybody who knows me knows that Bristol remains my heart city to this day, I don’t know that I’ll ever adequately put into words just what that year in Bristol meant to me, and how it shaped me indelibly into the person I am now. Or how my heart yearns for Bristol in a way that makes it race and breaks it, both at the same time.

England Is Calling: Highclere, Cheddar and, Eventually, Bristol

Although we had allotted an extra 1/2 day in London if we needed it, after a disappointing first day there (read England Is Calling: A Bit of London), we all decided to just leave the city behind and head to Bristol. After more than two weeks in the U.K., I have no doubt that the kids were starting to just want to go home, though they remained cheerful troopers until the very last day. The heat in London in July wasn’t much help either; especially the fact that our hotel didn’t have A.C. Doug and I were not much surprised, since we’d found that most places in England didn’t have A.C. and, indeed, have semi-fond memories of spending a night in Stirling on our honeymoon, in an inn near horse stables, without A.C. in the room or screens on the windows. Need I say more than these two words: Horse flies? Here at the hotel in Watford, the hotel staff had let us take two fans from the housekeeping closet, but fans only push around hot air–they don’t cool it much.

England Is Calling: A Bit of London

I’ve been to London, many times. The first visit was shortly after I landed in England on my  Junior Year Abroad, when I spent time with all of the other JYA participants from Rutgers before we scattered to our respective cities. It was many years ago, but I remember visiting Royal Albert Hall, the British Museum, the Tower of London, and Westminster Abbey, among other typical sites. I remember two tours as well: One of Parliament and the other, a night Jack the Ripper tour. I went back to London several times after that, with my parents, Doug, my sister Ellie. I even spent one New Year’s Eve celebration there, amid the crowds and the chaos.

England Is Calling: Watford & The Harry Potter Studio Tour

I’ve written before how things just seemed to fall in place as I planned our Great Britain trip. The Battle Proms at Blenheim Palace was a perfect example of this, and so was the Warner Bros. Studio Tour.

At first, I had no idea such a thing even existed and, even if I had, I would have quickly spurned it as too American for us to waste time or money on. The only reason I even discovered it was because I was planning our two-day stay in London and absolutely couldn’t find a hotel that also had guaranteed parking for our rental car.

England Is Calling: Blenheim Palace & The Battle Proms

So much of our trip to Scotland and England was the result of serendipity, including our day spent at Blenheim Palace and the Battle Proms. When Rachael and I were planning (via Facebook Messenger) the time our families would spend together, we had decided on a visit to Blenheim because, while my family had been exposed to many castles, only Doug had been to a palace before and I though the kids would be thrilled to visit one. Serendipity came into play when we discovered that, on the very day we planned to visit Blenheim, the annual Battle Proms celebration would be taking place there in the evening.

The Places I’ve Been: The Things I’ve Said & Heard

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about all of the places I’ve been and all of the traveling I’ve done, especially in my younger days. It’s no secret that I miss it–my gypsy soul forever yearns to just take wing on the next earnest gust of wind.

But, you know, that heavy word RESPONSIBILITY weighs me down and keeps me here, where I belong. So instead, I’ve had fun thinking of the most memorable quotes said or heard while traveling over the years (in no particular order):

England Is Calling: Friendship Across the Pond

It’s no exaggeration to say that a friendship provided part of the impetus for us to finally bite the bullet and take a family trip to Scotland and England last year. Doug and I had last seen Simon and Rachael at their wedding in 1997 and every year it seemed like we both lamented and marveled that another year had passed. They had children that we never met, and we had children that they never met. And suddenly these children were no longer babies or even toddlers–they were becoming teenagers without us having met them!