Our Spring Trip to England - Canal Boats Are Like RVs Here

Canal boats are English RVs - skinny - long - slow

Inside a canal boat - I had a full English breakfast
 (beans - eggs - toast - rafters - mushrooms - tomatoes -  sausage)

Our main reason to come to England in March is that Lulu has a conference to attend at the University of Sheffield. We are at that conference now - but will spend an extra week in London.

TRAVEL OVER VIA BELGIUM

Thursday we left Tallahassee by Delta jet to Belgium via Atlanta. The reasons were pretty simple. A straight flight to London cost about $1500. Lulu found some great fares by flying to Belgium ($500) - then taking a local plane to London ($80). Also - Delta had given us $4000 of vouchers for bumping us of a trip last summer. We had used those vouchers to fly to London last November - and will use more of the "delta bucks" to fly to Hawaii - in April. It is like getting 4 trips for the price of 1.

Our buddy from Tallahassee - Joan -
lives and works in London

We arrived in Belgium Friday morning. We each had two seats on the Delta 767 - so we could stretch out. the short flight from Brussels was full - and only cost $80. We spent Friday night with our friend Joan who lives in London. We had supper at Joan's. Joan lives in Little Venice - just north of Hyde Park in London.

Sheffield is famous for its stainlees steel -
this fountain has a wall of stainless steel

Saturday morning - we had breakfast on a canal boat - that was really cool. England is crisscrossed by canals - once the backbone of the Industrial Revolution - today they are used by recreational canal boats - water campers if you will. The boats are long and narrow - less than 8 feet wide. They putter along at less than 5 MPH.


We went to Kew Gardens - where Joan is a member. It was 40's and overcast - but we loved the plants - particularly the tropicals indoors.

Saturday at 5 PM - we caught out train to Sheffield - with a train change in Doncaster. It was truly remarkable how silent it was in the "quiet" car. No cell phone talking allowed - people were sleeping - eating - and reading on their computers and phones. In a little over 2 hours - we were in downtown Sheffield - and a cab took us to our Hilton Sheffield Hotel.

Lulu and I at Kew Gardens - I like wearing a tie here -
it just seems more civilized

WATCHING FSU PLAY IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT AT 1:00 AM

Saturday night we were very tired - but the FSU Seminoles were playing in the NCAA playoffs - down to 8 teams. Because England is 5 hours ahead of Florida time - the games started here around 1 AM. We were able to watch the game on our computer using our Slingbox from back home. We saw the whole game clearly from the TV back home. FSU lost by 4 points to Michigan. At 4 AM - we went to sleep and Lulu had to get up at 7 AM to go to her conference. At 4 PM - as I am typing this - she is catching up with a nap.

PHONE SERVICE

If you own your cellphone outright - no extended contract - you can have it unlocked and purchase a local phone chip. When we were in London last November - we purchased chips. You buy service by the day or by the data amount. You can buy 30 days and 1 GB of data for around 7 pounds. You can even buy it online once you land. My iphone 7 worked right away. Lulu got a new iPhone X for Xmas - and it was supposed to be unlocked - but it was not. ATT had it locked. After visiting the EE phone store - and the Apple Store - they told us we could call ATT anywhere in the world dialing 611. I called ATT and they unlocked Lulu's iPhone. She was then able to buy more data and use her phone.

I cannot tell you what a difference it is being able to use your iPhone for maps - information - directions. It took me most of Sunday morning to go to the mall - use Uber - use a bus - to finally get it straight. So for 10 pounds each - we each have 1 GB of data and 30 days of calls. Who will we call - each other.

SHEFFIELD

Sheffield is famous for being the center of the English steel industry. They mined coal and iron here for hundreds of years. It reminds me of Pittsburgh with all the big mills and tool factories. They specialize in giant forgings - knives and fine tools. Lulu's conference is at the University of Sheffield - about 1 mile from our hotel on the river. There are flocks of canal boats outside our window. We spend Saturday night - Sunday - Monday - Tuesday night here.

LONDON THEN HOME

Wednesday we will head back to London and spend 5 more nights in our favorite city - before we take a train under the English channel to Belgium - and fly home. When we get home - we will drive to Orlando to spend a few days with Drew and family in Disneyworld. Just talking about all this activity makes me tired - I think I will go and catch a nap too.

More Canal Boats - our hotel is on the river and canal

TRAVELING QUIRKS

As people get older - they get "funny" - they do strange and weird stuff. Young people shake their heads. I love tea. But I am not a big sampler - I like my plain Lipton tea using Splenda and lemon to flavor it. Lulu likes choices - Sometimes the best surprise is no surprise. I also love to read the newspapers from back home - the Democrat - the NY Times - the Wash Post. I like using the Slingbox to watch our TV from back home. I like email but not text messages. I like clothing without writing on it - no Nike Logos - no Seminole lettering. It is easier to hide in a crowd with just colors. No white sneakers - plain cotton - plain wool - jeans and khakis. I like keeping track of money - etc - from back home instantly. I guess it is all OCD stuff. So here I sit typing away on MacBook - listening to CNN - drinking my Lipton - "carrying tea to England - funny."

We are in the University district of Sheffield

The main Sheffield Station is about 1/4 mile from our hotel

Steel fountain wall

Canal board are about 7 feet wide and 70 feet long.
They putter along at less than 5 MPH.
I would be zigzagging all over.