Lessons

Lesson one: Never follow directions from the counter girl at the rental car agency after even she freely admits that not only do they not provide maps but she isn’t even from around here…

Lesson two: Always have a good map with you when you travel.

Lesson three: A good guide book contains a good road map, even if it’s a simple one. I dont have a good guide book. :(

Lesson four: It’s a good idea to get some sleep before trying to navigate in a foreign country where none of the roads are straight or marked similarly as in the US.

Lesson five: Honking is never polite, no matter what country you may be travelling, so watch it Mr. Angry British Motorist, it may be a tired, lost, hungry American simply trying to find his B&B and pub who is having a bit of difficulty navigating the ridiculous roads in this tiny shoebox of a town where every road inexplicably narrows to one lane either because, again, inexplicably people simply park on one side of the road facing any direction they darn well please OR the road narrows into a suicidal one lane with a small sign that reads "Give Way". Sigh.

Lesson six: Englishmen are wonderful people who will INSTANTLY engage you in politics. Love it. Plus, they aren’t conservative windbags! Cheers!

Lesson seven: When picking a place to stay in England, please consider getting as lucky as I have been in picking a pub/restaurant/B&B where the food is excellent and the beer sublime. Wait, That isn’t a lesson, its simply boasting. Too bad.

Lesson eight: Getting to bed by 10:30pm after a marathon day of travel is a good thing. One’s body clock waking up automatically after 6 hours of sleep is annoying when one is on Greenwich Mean Time and its 0430. Ugh. I should be back on schedule (said with a very British accent, schedule) by tomorrow.

Lesson nine: This one is incomplete. I have no idea what I will be charged for overseas text messages. I prolly should have found that out before I left… ☺

Lesson ten: Never forget a raincoat when traveling in Great Britain.

Lesson eleven: home shopping channel in England is hilarious. Lovely! And the game shows on the BBC are fantastically English. I love it. I could watch the telly every day. Im always fascinated by mundane and ordinary things in other countries. Ill do a better job having the camera ready. It is a bit much to ask for an exhausted, jet lagged, American driving on the left for the first time in a manual transmission car with the steering wheel on the right side to also keep a camera at the ready while driving 80 plus MPH on the motorway. But Ill do better today. Oh, there is a cooking show on the Beeb now with a guy cooking a small pheasant and some cabbage stir fried with bacon and chestnuts. Mmm…bacon…