End Of The U.K. Trip - Some Interesting Things

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

Back to the green, green grass of home!  It's hot, 37C and that is quite a change from the last five weeks.  We experienced most cold weather from 2C to 16C, one day it was 24C, sunny and clear skies.  The next day we found ourselves in a snow flurry.  It rained off and on but never anything more than a few drops.  It appears it rained at night and we were never aware of it always waking up to wet streets, sidewalks, and cars. 

It nice to be back home but I'm ready to do something else.  We will go to SMA for a week.  We have two events early in May and then we will head to San Antonio.  The purpose of that trip is to search for a very small travel trailer we will store in Laredo in a covered storage.  There is a lot logistics involved.  I don't have any U.S.  identification other than expired Texas driver's license and expired ID card.  Texas won't issue me any of those two without proof of residency and they are on to those of us who maintain a private P.O.  Now they require a utility bill of some kind; electric, water, gas, cable, telephone.  

We are looking into the South Dakota residency system that you can obtain in just one day.  However, we would have to find the rv, register for a temporary state move permit from Texas.  Why Texas?  We want to buy it in Texas for warranty issues in the first year.  South Dakota will provide a state ID card and registration for the rv.   For now, we don't want to import the rv into Mexico.  Our goal is to travel the U.S. which we never really had a chance to do except for Texas and our trip to Quartzite.   So, it's a lot to figure out and coordinate but first to see what we want to buy and go from there.

Okay, back to parking in the U.K.  As I said, there is no free parking except at home.  Monthly rates are available and daily rates are sky high.  

Most expensive yearly parking permits by city in the U.K.  The permit is only good for the council area where you have purchased the permit.  Outside of that council area you pay for parking on an hourly or daily basis.  In London, there is a more expensive permit for multi-councils because of the size of the city. 

With a monthly permit, you will still need to pay when you go to another council.  If you want to visit friends, relatives, or take a trip, you will have to pay the daily rate.  When we registered at the hotel in Edinburgh, they had a tablet at registration where you enter your plate number and it is good from check-in to check-out time only.  They warned us that after check-out we would have to pay or risk being fined.

This is a chart of the pricing in Lincoln.  Each city can be different.  We got ripped off our last day.   I know I covered this but for those that may have not read it.  We chose the early bird rate.  Enter before 9 a.m. and exit before 23:59 (to the minute).  The parking in front of the building has 12 spaces free overnight.  I'd move the car before 8 a.m., move it to the paid car park around the corner, pay for the early bird rate and then move the car back to the free overnight parking after 6 p.m.  What a mess people have to live with.  The only other free parking is the park and ride areas for trams and buses.  The supermarkets have warning signs that parking is limited to X number of hours and that abusers (non-shoppers) will be fined.  

The last day I went to pay.  You enter your plate number, choose the number of hours or specials, and tap with a debit/credit card.  You receive a ticket for the dashboard and a receipt.  I didn't get one.  It appeared that it didn't take the card.  I did it again and check my bank online.  Charged twice.  There is no recourse that is easy.  It takes two weeks minimum.   When we were ready to leave two hours later, there were others trying to figure it all out because there was no paper in the machine.  The machine doesn't give you a message of  "out of paper", it just takes you back to start.  Rip off.

Another interesting U.K. thing we found was the Tesco Meal Deal.  Tescos are everywhere and come in all shapes and sizes from a corner store you can barely turn around in to a super mega Walmart style store.  All of them are freezing inside.  

The shelves are lined with sandwiches, fruit cups, bangers and mash, pickle and cheese sandwiches and many, many more.   To get the meal deal price of 3.85 you need to have a Tesco club discount card.  Wherever you see the yellow sign, that is the club price.  Most items have it and you earn points for what you spend along with price discounts.  

They sell a ton of these combinations which are a sandwich, chips, and a drink or a dessert.  Business people, construction workers, retirees, students, everyone gets the deal.   They are so reduce the food prices depending on expiration dates.  We took advantage of the deals as well but we would split between the two of us.  

Here is a single serving of lasagna.  We opted for the 2-3 person serving taking a chance on what it would be like.  £3.50 and it weighed at least a kilo.

 

This is how our dinner turned out.  We popped it in the microwave for five minutes and added some veggies and we had a great dinner with a glass of wine.

We've all seen the newer hand washing stations in airports.  We found this one in Tesco.  Not much to it other than you stick your hands under the sensor and the rest is done for you other than rubbing your hands.  Soap, rinse, and dry!

The subway is truly a marvel.  Millions of riders everyday throughout the U.K.  It takes a lot of abuse and requires constant maintenance.  However, it's very old and some of the routes date back to the mid 1800s.  It's very noisy and shakes and sways a lot especially on curves.  Here's a short clip.

I started to write this blog post yesterday.  Big surprise this morning when I opened my email.  I received notice of a traffic violation in the council of Cardiff!  Too funny.  Everything is on camera.  Apparently, I entered a bus lane.  It happened a couple of times as the GPS says take the left lane to exit.  

There were a lot of things that were new to us and most involved language and terms that are used.  It takes some getting used to but context always helps.  Everyone is very friendly and there is so much history that one could travel there for years.   We are considering doing some house sitting and the U.K. looks like a good second to Spain.  

Return To London For Our Last Four Days

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

Note of interest:

The "accident" and killing involving two CIA agents coincides with a post I made on "April 21" 2008.  I wrote:  "As for Guachochí, it wasn't until three weeks ago that we found out that our boondocker's sixth sense had paid off. On the front page of our local paper, El Norte, was an article about Goachochí and the invasion by the Mara Salvatrucha gang. They are there helping the drug traffickers. Go figure".   The situation hasn't changed in over 18 years and has only gotten worse.  Such a tragedy.  I remember very well that day we drove into Guachochí.  We parked, walked to their park with a lake, and were pretty much told we weren't welcome and that it would be best to move on.   The place was a hornet's nest.

Back to the trip.  We returned the car on Thursday.  It was a three-hour drive from Lincoln to Heathrow.  Our hotel was down the street, a few blocks.  We booked a room at the Ibis.  Well, my bad.  There are two Ibis on Bath Rd.  They are two different franchises, although one is Ibis Styles.  A very nice room at an affordable price.  

The next day, we headed into London near the Norbury Station.  Our Airbnb was just a block off Norbury and four blocks from the train station.  However, when we got to Victoria station to transfer to Norbury, the system was down, or at least that's what they said.  There was a transportation strike underway.  We took a city bus that was about 30 minutes longer, but it dropped us off right on the corner of the Airbnb.

For the most part, the underground is old and rundown.  Millions of passengers each day take their toll on the system.  It's fairly clean and has little to no graffiti.  People are pushy but friendly, and you need to move or get run over.  It's an experience for sure.  The oldest operating station is the Baker line, which was built in 1863, and you can see some stations, just by the type of construction, that are from the 1800s.  The tunnels are narrower, and the rail cars are also the same.  The subway is very noisy when you are in the cars, and you can hear the squealing of the tracks.  It can be very hard to talk to someone without yelling.

Victoria Station is a huge terminal and hub for the system.  It is within a few blocks of Buckingham Palace and has shops and restaurants.  In the last segment of this trip blog, I will show you how most people eat and what they eat.  Very different.

Saturday, we took off for Camden on the northwest side of the city.  Everyone told us we needed to go there.  Each has a reason, and mine was a bit different.  It's basically a New Orleans-style street area filled with shopping, eating, drinking, street art, and music venues.  Thousands of people were walking around as if it were some type of fairgrounds.  But there is so much more to the place.

First is the Georgian charm architecture.  Beautiful old buildings line the streets.  Camden was developed in the late 1700s into a residential and industrial area thanks to the waterway and the railroad.  The town is located on what was once the Earl of Camden's manor and grounds.

Camden Town's main drag is roughly 1/2 mile long and filled with some pretty interesting shops and stores.  There are side mini-malls filled with stalls of all kinds, selling name-brand clothing, souvenirs, and food.  The food stall employees hawk samples as a way to sell their products, most of which you can carry and eat while you walk.  

We have seen locks in Canada, Panama, and now the Camden Lock.  It was constructed in 1820 and used to transport goods from the Midlands to the docks.  The architect, John Nash, was also responsible for the massive extension added to Buckingham Palace under King Edward IV.  

Today, the canal boats take tourists through the locks.  We watched the "captain" check the engine compartment, the exterior, and prepare the deck for the passengers.  

I'm not attracted to these tourist places, but I do enjoy watching all the people.  They come from all over and speak many different languages.  There are even punk guys who hang out on the bridge, and you can pay to have your picture taken with them.

It amazes me how much stuff people can sell and equally how much stuff people can buy.  The world is filled with so much of the same these days.  The same souvenirs are sold by all of the shops, and people are lured in with promises of an even better price than the guy next door.

Before we headed home, we had one last stop.  Juan wanted to cross the street at Abbey Road.  Several of his friends had been urging him to go.  We had walked quite a bit that day and took the underground to St. John's Wood station.  What a great escape from the people and noise at Camden.  The neighborhood is very upper-class and very quiet.  It was similar to walking in the La Condesa neighborhood in Mexico City.

Beautiful homes line the streets along with some apartment buildings.  One thing about England is that most of the housing is townhouse style.  Supposedly, the style came from the industrial era when large groups of workers were needed.  Building townhouses was part of the solution, along with limited land and high prices.  We really marvel at the homes in the U.K., where many or most are built with exterior brick and slate roofs.  

Back at the apartment, we had a drink, had some leftover pizza, and watched a movie.   Waking up on Monday, we fixed breakfast, cleaning up what food we had left.  It was a few sausages and eggs with toast.   

We headed back to Heathrow to the other Ibis hotel.  Pretty much the same except for the fact that we arrived an hour early and they wanted to charge us 20GBP for an early check-in.  We waited in the lobby and used the internet.  I walked to the store nearby to get a sandwich and a cup of noodles for our dinner.

Up at 5:00 a.m., we watched our Mexican news program, showered, and took the bus to the terminal. 

This really worked out well for us.   The hotel is five minutes from the Heathrow bus terminal, which is at the airport.  We walked across the street, hopped on the bus, and there we were.  The moving sidewalks do the rest and before we knew it, we were in the airport.  We used the check-in kiosk, and it gave us our seat assignments, but wouldn't print Juan's because he needed to scan his U.S. visa, and it wouldn't seem to do it.  We asked for assistance, and the woman asked if we wanted to sit together.  We didn't pay for seats, so it was a good thing.  We ended up in row 52 at the back of the plane.  We both had side-by-side aisle seats and no one on either side of us.  

The in-flight service was the best ever.  Very good food and snacks.  The flight left at 9:26 a.m., and we arrived in Atlanta around 2:30 p.m.  A two-hour layover, and off we went on AeroMexico to Monterrey.  I watched Sarah's Oil, a very good movie.  Juan was disappointed with Anaconda.   

Back home at the ranch, everything is green and back to normal. Our gardener did a good job of keeping the place up.  Of course, our cameras helped us to keep things in check.  

I still have another post or two about how things worked out for us on this trip.  It was expensive, but we knew that going into it.   We may have given up boondocking in Mexico but our rving days may be far from over.  More on that later.

Fixed - Lincoln and Old Town

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

I'm writing this as we fly over Halifax on our way to Atlanta and then Monterrey.  More on that in the next post.

After stopping in Nottingham for a few hours, we left Robin Hood behind and headed for Lincoln.  Pretty beat from all the travel we were glad we booked four days.  

Our stay was another good one.  It takes a lot of time to find what you are looking foe.  It appeared hat Loncoln was a relatively inexpensive city but choices were limited.  I do most of the planning and I asked Juan to do some research.  Right off the bat he found a place called SimplyStay.  The lowest price yet per night.

Turns out the place is in the center of Old Town.  The castle is three blocks up the hill along with the cathedral. 

I may have explained about the parking but I'll do a bit of it again.  There is very little to no free parking in the U.K.  This stay is located in front of 12 spaces.  Charges during thr day and free all night after six.

Out the door at 7:45 to move the car before 8 a.m., drive around the building to the NCP parking lot.  Early bird is in before 9 a.m. and you can stay until 23:59 p.m.  all for 6.25 GBP.  Stay one minute more and get caught and you pay 60GBP.  So, at 5:45 p.m., to receive my happy hour cocktail, I would move the car back to free parking.  I'd get there, put on the emergency flashers and wait.  

This is a real game and people play it.  First come first serve.  I'd wait foe someone leaving and as they pull out the vultures attempt to circle.  I actually had a near bumper to bumper getting a space one night.  🤣🤣🤣

Anyhow, the Airbnb was  very, very well equipped.  There was nothing we didn't have.  

Thw cathedral was built in 1092.  After a devastating earthquake in 1185 the new construction began.  It was the tallest building in the world for over 200 years.

Walking up the hill through Old Town.

Many small shops and restaurants in buildings from 500 years ago.

This was the view from our stay.  You couldn't get any better.

The architecture way leading to the cathedral grounds.  This also were people came to pay their land, house, and tax payments.

Queen Eleanor's is  buried here.

The cathedral has quite a bit of security.  Any room we entered alone a volunteer, priest, or nun would appear.  Here we are on the CCTV.

All.the weeks in the U.K. and we still hadn't gone to a pub and we couldn't go home without doing that.  We went to Katie O'Brien's Pub about a block away. 

We didn't tour the inside of the castle.  Some reviews weren't so good.  We walked around the wall and perimeter.  The walls are 8 to 10 feet thick. Even though, thw castle saw several battles in the 13th and 14th centuries and the Parlamentarian Civil War of 1644. 

A walk along the Witham River.  Canal houseboat line the river and some are well-equipped with solar panels and comfortable decks.

Revitalization projects are going on to revise the economy.  We met a guy from Shri Lanka who was opening a GDK German franchise.

The oldest medieval style bridge house in existence today.  Named the "I can't say" it was built in 1550.

The Harliquin House, also known around town as the Wonky House, is just down the hill two blocks from the cathedral.  Made of timber and built in the 1500s, it has been a pub, public house and antique shop.

 

The oldest surviving cemetery in Lincoln.  We weren't able to enter.  It would be have been cool to check out some of the people buried there.

The water tower that still supplies some of the towns water is over 125 years old.  It also has a keeper's house next door.

Getting older but  a lot more travel to go!

I apologize for any errors but I wrote this on my cellphone.  😅