Leaving on a Jet Plane

Pete and I believe that family vacation time is very important. It is important to both take a break and have dedicated family time, and also to explore the world. This year we decided to take a big trip, as it could be a few years before we will be able to take a trip of this magnitude or length again. So, two weeks ago we headed off to Great Britain. After a delayed and changed flight, we finally made it into London. We were able to spend 5 days/4 nights there and see at least some of the wonderful sights, including the Tower of London, the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, the New Globe Theater, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, and the British Museum, as well as other sights. We also got to see a performance of Billy Elliot in the West End. From there we rented a car and headed to Stratford-upon-Avon to see the Shakespeare sights and saw a performance of Antony and Cleopatra by the Royal Shakespeare Company. We spent the next day at Warwick Castle before heading up to York. In York we saw Yorkminster Cathedral (which was extra fun as I had gotten to sing a Vespers service there while I was in high school), the Jorvik Viking Center, and the National Railway Museum. We then headed up to Edinburghm stopping at a Roman Fort and Hadrian's Wall. In Edinburgh we got to see the Palace of the Holyrood House, St. Giles Cathedral (which I also sang at in high school), Edinburgh Castle, Craigmillar Castle, the Scottish Museum, as well as many other places. We also got to see a military dress rehearsal for the installation of a new Governor of Edinburgh Castle, complete with pipes, drums, and military band. It was very cool.
As much fun as we had, a major theme of our vacation was getting lost. We had reserved the rental car with a GPS, however, they didn't have any GPS available. It was then a scramble to find directions (without any cell phones or internet access). After getting lost in Oxford and missing our planned upon sightseeing and dinner, we finally bought an atlas. However, it still didn't have big enough detailed maps of some of the places we needed to drive. We really learned the geography of the parts of England and Scotland we drove through! It really made me appreciate the technology we have now, and realize the need for streets to actually have street signs in visible locations. I bet there is another lesson in this experience as well...