There's always one thing .....

Made my to-do lists, followed my to-do lists.  Made my packing lists, followed my packing lists.  Booked our rooms, booked some tours, sold some jewelry I never wear and turned the money into "Cash Passports", the new version of AmEx traveler's checks. 

blah blah blah yada yada yada.

What did we miss?

The fact the in the UK, the official currency is still the British pound sterling, NOT the euro and most places really don't look kindly on the euro.  Big stores like Harrod's are coming around, but basically, you need to have pounds.

And we didn't want to get to Britain and have to get pounds at the airport, so we spent about an hour today getting pounds.  Wells Fargo keeps them on had and Gene is a customer, so problem was quickly resolved.  But sheesh, who knew?  (I know:  Sherri, if you're reading this, you knew, right?)

Travels in New Jersery

A beautiful day in the mid-upper 60's, sunny with big puffy clouds.  A perfect day to go down the shore.  Pleases note that last sentence.  Gene & I did not go to the beach.  We did not go down to the beach.  This is New Jersey, ergo, we go, down the shore.

We went off to Asbury Park, one of the great date-night destinations of my 20's:  hop in the car, drive an hour, go on some rides, walk on the boardwalk, enjoy the cooler temperatures nearer the water, drive home.  Perfection.

Oh my goodness, what Sandy did to the Boardwalk is so sad.  There is evidence of rebuilding, but it's got a long way to go and is just not the same. 



This is the old Convention Center, where I once saw Pete Seeger.  The building itself had an enclosed front and the theater was to the left.  You could walk through the center of the building to the other side, but you couldn't SEE through the building to the other side.

The fenced area is where the theater used to be.  Now it's still a pile of rubble with "Keep Out" signs. 



But there are signs the Boardwalk will be back.  This is looking down the strip with my back to the broken building above.  And when all else fails, the Stone Pony below still exists 
|
|
|
V



And there's always the wonder of the Atlantic Ocean that draws people in.

And we had a fabulous lunch on the Boardwalk over looking this ocean at a swell place that let us order dinner even though it was 45 minutes before the dinner service was scheduled to start.  A great day.  The Jersey Shore will be back!

But wait, there's more....

Here are the official levels that board prior to the fabulous "don't you want to spend $79/year so you can get the preferred boarding that is Zone 2"?  First there are the preboarders -- those who borrow or rent kids so they can get on board early -- and the military, of course.  Next up, in no particular order is:

Business Class
Dividend Miles Chairman's Preferred
AAdvantage Executive Platinum
oneworld Emerald
Dividend Miles Gold Preferred
Dividend Miles Platinum Preferred

AAdvantage Platinum

oneworld Sapphire

Dividend Miles Silver Preferred

AAdvantage Gold

oneworld Ruby

 

Oh yeah, and the people who pay $26 a pop for "preferred boarding"

 

Then comes Zone 1...

 

And then finally there was us. 

Almost there, but first a little diversion in New JERSEY (Not "Joisey". NEVER "Joisey")

This weekend is my (mumble mumble)th college reunion.  So we planned all along to make a stop in my native state before heading on to Europe.  I went to Douglass College, at the time the women's division of Rutgers University, when they still had all-male and all-female schools. 

But let me tell you about US Airways:  they are okay.  I will continue to use them, but I think I will drop my US Airways Dividend Miles card.  It's supposed to give me "preferred" boarding -- Zone 2 and it does. 

BUT....before they get to Zone 2, they go through preboarding, military, diamond, platinum, silver, ruby, sapphire, preferred, & gold and those were just the various "levels" I remembered.  It turned my whoop-de-do "Zone 2" in the "cubic zirconium" level. 

Sheesh.

But we took off on time, landed on time and only had a few instances of turbulence -- nothing horrible.  We got our rental car and fought the traffic problems on the NJ Turnpike.  Now Gene is happily hunkered down with his new camera.  I've converted him to QVC and he bought a Canon Rebel that he always wanted and they shipped it here so it would be waiting for us when we checked in.

And now off to find something to eat.  The hotel has a restaurant, but .....it's HOOTERS (I'm not making this up.  I wish I were).  So back to the awful truck route known as Rt 18. 

Lord, helpt me to meet this self-imposed and thoroughly unnecessary challenge....

The biggest challenge facing us, the intrepid travelers knows as Gene and Carol, is here.  We can't avoid it any longer.  It's called packing.  We are decent enough travelers -- looking forward to new adventures and weather and food and beds, and what-have-you.  But we are TERRIBLE packers.  We try to take the house with us.  We try to take our tech toys with us.  We will implode (no, really; we will) if we don't have our iPads and laptops with us.  And then there are the various plugs and adaptors associated with same.  It's just the way we are. 

So we have to decide if we will accept our quirky -- but very real need to travel with our stuff -- as part of our charm and therefore accept what may be the consequences of said quirks -- ie a charge for an overweight piece of luggage.  It adds up, but in the grand scheme of things, if you're paying a pretty penny for a 3 week vacay in Europe, is $100 (that's what over-weight bags cost these days) worth the peace of mind it will bring for making packing easier? 

Starting to get the clothes ready for packing!!  About 1/3 of the clothing I'm taking will not be coming back -- have to make room for the stuff I will be picking up along the way.  But my vow is that I will purchase nothing that was not made in the country I'm visiting (can you say "Dr Who memorabilia from the UK?  chocolate & lavender honey from France?  Olives & cheese from Spain?)

At any rate, the 1st world of 1st world purchases arrived today to help out in the "make that suitcase empty for cool stuff":  disposable underwear from Magellan's.

My trip life is complete.

No seriously.

Gettin' Close !!!

OMG!  11 DAYS and counting.  No more "___ weeks until..."  It seems like my obsessive-compulsive self has sooo many things to do, but I keep reminding myself that we could pack up and leave tomorrow and fake it. 

At any rate, for those of you who laughed every time I said "Oh this [piece of jewelry]? Got it from QVC", just know that I took a bunch of it I wore happily over the years, but slowly put away when something else came along that caught my eye, and went to a pawn shop and then went to a local entity that purchases gold.  And I walked out with enough cash to fund all our incidentals for the entire vacation.  Airfare, accommodations, train travel & tours are all paid for and all we needed was cash for food, incidentals, souvenirs, etc.  And now that's taken care of as well.

So all that jewelry came in handy (and don't worry; I still have way too much left).

Next up:  figuring out the new camera I bought a couple of months ago, so I can use it on the fly and not have to futz around with the settings and figuring out the new phone & SIM card that will be usable in Europe.  I learned that JackBauer (what I call my iPhone because it does everything) is just that:  JACK Bauer.  It's not "HRM Jack" or "Jacques" or "Juan" Bauer and is only usable in the US.  I'll bring it along for wifi opportunities, but need a phone that can text & call.  Got one and now I have to figure out how to start it up and use it. 

Such challenges over the next less-than-2 weeks.  (such first-world problems)