Amsterdam and My 30 before 30 Page

Amsterdam
Ok, so the last few weeks have been... interesting.. I can't remember if I blogged about Amsterdam yet.. don't think I did, but it was fantastic! So far my favorite CITY in Europe. I feel like that was because I didn't go there with any real expectations on what it should be like, so I didn't set it up for failure! : ) As great as Paris and Rome were (ok Paris wasn't great.. it was yucky..).. I thought they would be these magical places, which they were not! Don't get me wrong, there are magical places INSIDE these cities, but the cities themselves were just.. well.. cities!

Back to Amsterdam... Everett took me as a birthday present and we went with another couple with whom we are great friends, Jonathan and Ashley Taylor!

Ashley and Jonathan Taylor

We didn't really DO much, but we SAW a lot! On the very first day we were there, we got to know just how much walking we would be doing, so on the second day we decided to rent bicycles for the remainder of the trip. At first, Ashley and I thought this idea was completely stupid as we were swerving in and out of traffic, that included large trams that did NOT stop! I, of course, haven't rode a non-stationary bike in about 10 years.. and considering my past track record, which may or may not include running into a parked vehicle, I started off on the bike very, very wobbly! By the second half of the day, I got my confidence and did much better! Although whenever I had to maneuver in tight spaces my wobbliness came back!

Me on the bike in front of our apartment!

Anyway, the bikes ended up being a brilliant idea. They allowed us to get to and from places quickly, which enabled us to see more! The downside was that I was unable to take pictures while riding, but I have a lot of mental images! : ) What we got to do was: go to both the Albert Cuyp market and the Flower market (Bloemenmarkt), the Heineken Brewery Experience, Anne Frank House, and the Red Light District. We didn't really DO the Red Light District, but we definitely spent a few evenings there people watching..

Everett and I in front of a windmill.

We stayed in a really cute apartment in a really nice part of town. Of course I forgot to take pictures of inside the apartment, but just trust me.. it was cute! The canals there were beautiful.. no pictures could ever do it justice! It was just a really great time with really great friends! We did not get to go out to the tulip fields, they were just beginning to bloom, and we were having so much fun in the city that we didn't want to take away our time by finding a way out into the country! I did get to see one little tulip blooming while I was riding my bike and that was enough for me!

Overall, I found Amsterdam to be a very interesting city, with plenty to do, wonderfully kind people who spoke English, beautiful sites to see, and a place I could actually see myself living! I can't say that about any of the larger cities I've visited thus far! If you would like to view more photos of my trip you can do that here!

30 before 30 Page

So I installed a new page to the blog called 30 before 30. It's just a page listing 30 goals I want to accomplish before I turn 30. Now I have 4 years to do this, but as I'm sure you have experienced, 4 years can FLY BY!! Some of the goals are serious, some are silly, but I hope to accomplish all within the next 4 years!

More Thankful.. Less Whining...

While perusing the travel pins on Pinterest this morning, I began to realize how many wonderful opportunities this life has afforded me in my 25 and 11/12 years. I can be a pretty big whiner and complainer when things don't go my way, which I'm fairly certain my husband takes as some of my more charming qualities... but sometimes things catch me and I have to stop and be thankful for what I do have...

One of the biggest things I complain about on a daily basis is living in England.. The weather isn't warm enough, the people think I'm an over-emotional, rude American (what??), I'm thousands of miles away from the people who love me, they talk funny and I can't always understand them (the English.. not my family), my husband is always gone, blah blah blah..

What I seem to forget is that holy crap.. I LIVE IN ENGLAND!! That's like a huge bucket list item for at least 80% of Americans right? Well.. maybe not living in England specifically, but definitely packing up and moving to a pretty cool international destination for a few years! And as much as I miss the convenience that America offers, I know without a doubt that I will miss what England has been offering me these last 20 or so odd months way more! I'll miss knowing that when I have to make a right turn (the one that's across traffic in these neck of the woods), it's almost 100% guaranteed that if there's tons of traffic, the car that has the right of way will stop to let me go.. yeah.. they are that nice here.. And I will miss speaking in a "British" accent during Mass so that I don't get stared at.. (that's in quotation marks because I still haven't perfected that accent.. but I have gotten significantly less stares..) And I will miss knowing that I can figure out how to get Road Tax while my husband is gone or navigate around letting agencies who refuse to fix your moldy ceiling for 2+ months or listening to your neighbors have an all out fight in their backyard at 3am because it's the middle of summer and your windows are open because you don't have air conditioning.

No doubt it does suck being what seems like millions of miles away from my family during holidays or other special events, but I can't forget that I have a new family that I made with my wonderful friends here.. Friends who DO in fact love me or else they wouldn't put up with my crap! And it does suck that I wish I could get a full time teaching job here since that's what I worked my butt off for 4.5 years in college to do, but I can't forget the amazing people I'm meeting and the new classroom experiences/techniques/ideas that I am getting from Lakenheath Elementary. And it does suck that my husband has deployed more here than he did at McConnell (at least that's how it feels..), but I can't forget all the cool places I've gotten to visit because of his deployments.. not many people have been to Iceland before!!

Life might not always be what you pictured it to be, but it is probably better that way! If I had my way when I was 16, I'd already have like a 5 year old now... And not that I don't want kids.. but I wouldn't be who I was and have the experiences that I do if I would have locked down at such an early age..

You may be asking yourself.. what in the world does this have to do with the Travel pins on Pinterest? Well.. when you realize that those are probably the top destinations that people want to go see.. and you have already been to quite  a few of them.. it humbles you a bit..

Blue Lagoon in Iceland.. Oh how I wanna go back!

The Super Blog: Our First British Winter

Sorry.. no clever title to this one.. it's ALLLLL business!! I have been meaning to blog since.. ummm... well the middle of December, but with the holidays and our cruise.. time just went by too fast!! Then after it died down, I was so overwhelmed that I have just been putting it off! No excuse... I know...... Instead of doing a million singular blogs, I'm just going to do one big super blog.. subtitles included!! Here goes nothing!

Christmas

As many of you know, I was a little bummed about being away for my very first Christmas, so we decided to cheer ourselves up by making it an exciting one! On Christmas Eve morning, we woke up bright and early, and headed for the closest Tube station. We began our hour long journey into the center of London, and went to the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. It is basically a Christmas themed carnival/Renaissance festival.. some of my very favorite things! We started off the day with the hard work: Ice skating!

After we worked our behinds off at ice skating, it was time to explore the Christmas markets there and EAT!! The markets were filled with all sorts of interesting things... from fake snow to wooden ties! Everett decided he couldn't resist the opportunity to purchase a wooden tie.. here he is modeling it for you--------------------->

I decided I didn't need any of the goods they had available.. instead I went straight for the food! I had a Christmas tree shaped waffle.. it was very very delicious!

After we had all our fun at Winter Wonderland, we headed off to go to Christmas Mass at St. Paul's Cathedral. We arrived over an hour early in hopes of getting a seat inside, but as soon as we walked up and joined the queue we were informed that all of the seats inside had been filled.. However, in the square next to the church they had a large screen in which they were broadcasting the Mass. By the time Mass started, the square was filled with tons of people, which was nice because then we kept warm! It was a carol Mass, and my first experience with the Anglican church, and here is how I interpreted it: Sing a carol, an important person says a reading, rinse and repeat oh about 10 times.. Then the Arch Bishop of London says a few words and Mass is over! The choir was an all boys choir which I have never seen before in person, so that was really cool... They were extremely talented, and we got to see them as they paraded out front after the Mass. I didn't know many of the carols, but the ones I did know I was sure to sing!

Trafalgar Square at night

After the Mass was over, our friends Jonathan and Ashley Taylor met up with us for some touring and dinner. We first headed to Trafalgar Square to see this big Christmas tree that is said to rival the one in NYC.. Well it was only decorated in white lights, so in my opinion... not as great! We also went and looked at some of the streets that were supposed to be heavily decorated, but once again we were disappointed. Cold, tired, and hungry, we headed off to our dinner reservations at the only restaurant in the city of London that seemed to be open... and I tell you what.. It was definitely no substitute for Grandma Gerstenkorn's Christmas Eve meal, but it was really really delicious! After dinner, Ashley and I were presented with roses from the owner, and we once again headed off to Winter Wonderland so that Ashley and Jonathan could see what it was all about. After a quick walk through, we decided to go visit Kensington Palace, which is also in Hyde Park... but after walking around 3 of the 4 corners of Hyde Park (no easy feat considering the size of Hyde Park) without finding it, we gave up and found the closest Tube station back to our cars... Ashley and Jonathan looked it up the next day and found out that if we would have walked in the opposite direction to begin with.. we would have walked right into it.. WHOOPS!!


On our way home, around midnight, when I should have been enjoying Grandpa and Grandpa Cooley's company, our luck had apparently run its course for the day as Everett noticed some sparks flying up in the rear view mirror. Fortunately, the Taylors were following us and pulled up behind us. Using their headlights, because we didn't have a flashlight and the high ways here are very poorly lit.. and by poorly lit I mean not lit at all, Everett discovered that our muffler had fallen down from its correct position. Unfortunately, the only tools in the car we had to fix it were a screwdriver and a paperclip. After about 15 minutes, Everett successfully Macgyvered it and we were on our way home to get a good night's rest before our busy Christmas day!

We woke up around noon on Christmas day.. yes the perks of being without children and opened our presents shortly after. I had gotten the dogs some treat filled stockings, and being the crazy dog lady that I am, I made my dogs run down the stairs towards the Christmas tree for a photo op... After 20 attempts I finally got a decent shot.. and they got their treats! Everett and I were very excited about all of our presents, but we didn't get a chance to play with them before we had to be over at Everett's coworkers house for Christmas lunch!

We were joined there with about 10 other coworkers and spouses, enjoyed some really really delicious food, although it wasn't the same as being at Grandma and Grandpa Slusser's house!! We did a gift exchange, we got some really cool presents, and then Everett settled down to a 3 hour long game of Monopoly. This being my least favorite game in all the world, I was not too excited about that. I was really ready to go home to enjoy my Christmas presents!! On our way home, the Taylor's invited us over to their house to end the night with a bit of drinking. My only request was that I could bring over my Christmas presents so I could enjoy them! They agreed, which turned the night into one large dance/karoke party... It was a LOT of fun!

Overall, we had a great first Christmas together. Although I was sad not to be home doing our normal Christmas traditions, it was still a good Christmas!!

To see the entire album of our Christmas, please go here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2540891&id=16800957&l=2a2d54e602

New Year's 2011

New Year's this year was a bit of a mixed up mess. We really wanted to go do it big in a really cool location, but planning that only a few days in advance was not such a great idea. In the end, we just decided to do a party at our house, and then go to a club on High Street to ring it in. This plan was further complicated when Everett got called to go fly, and as typical Air Force business goes, his plane broke and he was delayed with a possibility of not being home on New Year's Eve. But, the Air Force came through for once and he landed at about 6pm, when our guests were scheduled to arrive around 8. 

As hectic as it was, we still had a lot of fun, although pretty uneventful!

Our Cruise/Quick Visit Home

Only a few days after New Years, we were scheduled to come home for our cruise!! We decided to take the military route home in order to save some money, but that ended up being yet another fiasco! Normally, there is a direct plane going from our base to the base in Wichita once a week. However, due to wintry weather conditions, this plane did not come to England, and went to Spain instead. So with no other choice, we decided to take a hop over to the base in Germany and see if we could get a flight into the US from there. Little did we know, our flight from England to Germany would be the last of our luck for the ENTIRE trip!

We wanted to get into Wichita a few days early so we could spend some time with the family. This, however, did not occur because of the huge mess that is Ramstein AFB in Germany. We arrived at approximately 8am on Tuesday morning, thinking we were definitely early enough to catch any flight back to the US no matter where it went. We had done a little research on where it would be easiest and cheapest to get to Wichita from, but beggers can't be choosers so we were open to anything. However, we decided that we would ask anyway if we could get onto this flight going to Balitmore. Since it was flying into an actual airport instead of a base, we could just hop onto the next flight to Wichita once we got there, instead of having to rent a car or taxi to take us from a base to an airport.

Well.... Things apparently don't work that way at Ramstein...... Since most of you are not in the military, you most likely have never flown Space A before, so let me explain how it works before I move on in my story. First, you have to put your name on a list saying you want a seat (or two in our case)... check.... Next, you have to show up and once again, your name is put on a list... check... While you are putting your name on the list, generally you tell them which aircraft heading towards a specific base you want to be on (for example, if I want to come back home I would tell them I want the McConnell jet)..... well in this case... no check.... but in general, you get the plane you want, they figure out priority, such as rank and importance, then you get notified that you are on the plane.. or not...

Back to the story, we got in line to tell them we were here, and that we wanted the flight to Baltimore. At that point they pretty much laughed in our faces and said that we don't get to chose which airplane we get to take back into the states, we just get to chose to GO to the states. Our name gets put on this super long list, it was long because of the wintry weather mentioned before, and once an aircraft for the states is ready to board, they take the first however many seats are available off the list. If your name gets called.. you're in.. if it doesn't.. you wait for the next plane... Great...........

So since we were approximately 100 people down on the list, we knew it could be a while. The first gets called.. 40 seats going to McGuire in New Jersey... Our name doesn't get called... Second plane gets called.. 40 seats going to Baltimore (the jet we wanted on)... Our name doesn't get called.... then, by a stroke of luck... a bunch of people hadn't shown up so they were calling additional names... 10 names go by.... then 5 more... we knew at this point we were getting close! It was announced that there were 2 seats left, and only 3 more names needed to be called before it was our turn! Two names were called... and then it was announced that there was only one seat left, so at this point we knew we weren't going to be on that jet.

Our hearts sank a little, but now we were at the top of the list, with 3 more flights leaving that day.. One to Charleston, one to New Jersey, and one to Travis AFB in California. Sure enough, we were one of the first people called for the Charleston flight. We got our tickets, and went over and checked our bags. (For a time check, this was about 3pm.) About an hour later, we were called down to come get our bags back because the flight was being canceled. Not to worry though, there were still those other two flights! So New Jersey was next, we got called, checked our bags, and went over to the Mall to get some food as it was about 5pm now.

By the time we made it back over to the terminal, our newly found friends let us know that our flight was delayed due to maintenance issues. 30 minutes later, it was announced that the flight would be delayed until the next day. Since there was still a chance at the California flight, we marched over to the bag check and asked for our bags back. We canceled our tickets, and waited for the California flight to be announced. Sure enough, we were on the plane, checked our bags, and did some more waiting (8pm)... About 2 hours later, it was announced that we were delayed once again, and didn't need to show back up until 3am. At this point, we got our bags back from the bag check (3rd time in one day), and headed for the hotel. After a few hours of sleep, we made our way back to the terminal for day 2. Our flight was still scheduled to go, so we checked our bags, and headed to some chairs for a little nap. Apparently we slept through our boarding call because it was announced that the Marshall's needed to make their way to Gate 2... We hurried off, making our way through security and immigration, and onto the plane. It was 5am, take off was supposed to be at 6am... We spread out on the plane, waiting for take off... and waiting.... and waiting... and waiting.... we did not end up taking off  until 8am.. so yes.. for exactly 24 hours we were stuck at the Ramstein AFB terminal......

The good thing was that we did actually take off, and about 2 hours into the flight they announced that we were no longer gong to California, but instead we would be landing in Dover, Delaware... Awesome, thought Everett and I, they are dropping us off in the only state that does NOT have an airport..... wonderful! So, once we landed, we got a rental car, traveled an hour to get the the Philadelphia airport, went straight to the ticket counter and asked for the first plane leaving to Wichita (I totally felt like I was on the Amazing Race). We knew there was one leaving in 35 minutes and asked if there was any way we could get on it. Sure enough he got us on it, we rushed through security, and made it to the gate just as they were finishing boarding.

From there, we had a pretty smooth flight, nice little 45 minute lay over in Atlanta, and we arrive in Wichita around 11pm. Almost exactly 48 hours after we left England.... What a journey that was.... UGH!!!!

Since it was 11pm on Wednesday when we landed, and we were planning on leaving Thursday afternoon, we did not get to see ANYONE in Wichita.... I was super bummed, but figured we would catch them on our way back. We had a great time in Texas. We got to visit both of Everett's Grandmas, most of his family, and of course we got to see Zach for a little bit!

Sunday morning bright and early, we left the Dallas/Ft. Worth area to make our way to Galveston for our cruise. We had our friends Charlie and Bethany with us who were going on the cruise too! Since we got there a little early, we decided to check out the NASA area, although there wasn't much to see. So we headed further down and dropped Charlie and Bethany off at the port so they could check in early while we met up with Grandpa and Grandpa Slusser, Rita and Jim, and Renae and Jacquelyn at the hotel to park the car. I was really excited to see all of them, and shortly after we got there, it was our turn to get on the shuttle to get to the port!

We made our way through the line, we were some of the last passengers there. Unfortunately, halfway through the line we spotted Charlie and Bethany being pulled off to the side. Apparently they did not accept Bethany's birth certificate, so they were waiting for her Mom to find the correct one and fax it in. So we kept on going, got checked in, took our picture, and made our way on to the boat. About an hour later, we found out that since they couldn't find Bethany's birth certificate, they would not be allowed on the boat. We were really bummed since we were looking forward to spending time with them... plus Charlie had plans to propose during the cruise.. it was a real let down : (

Cruise Day 1: We left the port, had a really great dinner, and began our Cruise Bingo game! Socks with sandals? Check! Speedo? Check! Home grown sweater? Check check!!

Cruise Day 2: We had our first day at sea! The weather was beautiful and the sun was out, so we laid out and got our tans started! We also participated in a few events, Rita even judged the Hairiest Chest competition!!

Cruise Day 3: Our second day at sea, laying out and getting a tan! Once more we participated in the ship events... Failed miserably at the photo scavenger hunt and I'm pretty sure I ate my weight in ice cream!!

Cruise Day 4: Our first port... Jamaica!! Jim, Renae, Jacquelyn, Everett, and I participated in some zip lining through the forests! The guides taught us a little Jamaican... in which I practiced on the other guides. At one point, after saying "What's Up?" (in jamaican of course) to one of the guides, he shouted out, "Oh my gosh... we have J'Americans with us today!!" We had a lot of fun, wish we could have done a few more zip lines, but we thoroughly enjoyed the 4-wheel drive jeep tour on our way to and from some zip lines... The theme.. "Drive it like you stole it!" And they did... Renae almost fell out because of it! Once back at the port, none of us really needed any souvenirs so we made our way back on the ship. Everett and Jim participated in a corn hole competition while us "Gold Card Members" (Renae, Jacquelyn, Gma, Gpa, and I) got to drink as much as we could in an hour at the Past Guest Party... Needless to say we got VERY close to our waitress Sylvia!

Cruise Day 5: We woke up to a VERY rocky boat, and some really terrible rumors that we weren't going to be making it to our next port: Grand Cayman. Since we needed tenders for to get to the port, regardless of the rumors, we made our way to get into line so if we DID get to go, we would be on the first tender out. 10 minutes into waiting, the announcement was made that the waves were too big for the tenders to safely take us to shore, so we would be moving on to our next port early... And we would use this day as our 3rd day at sea. We immediately went back to bed, to sleep in little. To make up for the disappointment, a few members of our party decided that it would be their goal to be drunk by noon... which most of us achieved! We spent the day laying by the pool with no sun : ( and once again participating in ship events. Renae and I accidentally took 2nd place in the corn hole competition! We were pretty excited to receive our medals!

Cruise Day 6: Cozumel-Since we made it to port very early, and our SCUBA diving wasn't until later, we decided to sleep in a bit. Once we woke up and went up for breakfast, we overheard rumors that all water activities were being canceled due to high waves. We went to the guest services desk to check, and sure enough... yet another excursion canceled..... So... once again.. how do we make up for the disappointment?? We drink!!! I personally love Mexico, especially their margaritas, so we headed downtown to find a good restaurant.... and boy did we! We got 2 for $5 margaritas.. and as always they were delicious! After two rounds, Everett, Jacquelyn and I decided to make our way back to the port since there wasn't much we could do downtown.. Once at the port, we decided we weren't done drinking just yet, and got a couple yards at Fat Tuesdays, and as luck would have it Renae, who had spent the day with the rest of our party, found us and began to drink with us too! A few yards later we were feeling REEEEEAAAALLLLYYY good and it was time to get back on the ship! We got to watch the sunset from the pier and that was about the end of our day considering we all took a very long nap once we were back in our cabins!

Cruise Day 7: Our 4th fun day at sea, we decided to end the trip with a bang and participate and medal in every competition we could.. including the build a boat competition in which Renae and Everett were the only two competitors they had.... in the last few months!! By the end of the day, as a group, we had won 10 medals, 7 ships, and 1 bottle of champagne. What a success!!

Cruise Day 8: Back at port in Galveston! We were pretty ready to get off the boat considering it had been an EXTREMELY rocky ride since day 4. After waiting over an hour for our shuttle to pick us up, we met Charlie and Bethany back at the hotel where they announced that they had gotten engaged!!! We were so excited for them, and happy they made the best of their failed trip by spending some quality time in the Houston area. We drove straight home that day.. and ended up getting back at the house around 1 or 2 in the morning.

As much as I tried to talk Everett into letting me stay an extra week to see everyone, he reminded me that I had left the paperwork necessary for me to travel by myself back home in England, so there was no way. All I had was Monday to see as many people as I could.. Of course.. Grandparents were of highest importance, so they were the only ones I got to see... besides Kelly, Ben, Paige, and Kate who made a surprise appearance at the house! I was so happy I got to see them, since I probably won't see Kate again until after she is 1!!

After a busy Monday, Tuesday rolled around and it was time go to McConnell to get on our jet back to England... After another 7-8 hour wait in the terminal there due to maintenance issues... we took off and made it home early Wednesday morning! Although it wasn't the trip we were hoping for, we were glad we got a little bit of a vacation!!

To see all of our cruise pictures, please click here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2550750&id=16800957&l=b76dd0a4e2

February

In late January, we celebrated the puppies' very first half birthday, and our 6 month wedding anniversary... As always, time has flown by.. including February!! I can't believe it's almost March!! February has been kind of a lazy month. We have been trying to change our diet around a little bit and working out some more... we are still working on that.. haha!! Also, after a horrific experience in taking the puppies to the vet by myself, we enlisted the help of a trainer to teach them a few things. I have been trying to work on it with them.. Kacee is my smart girl, very quick learner!! And Dallas... well... as the trainer put it, he's my "special" child... Haha!! He tries hard, but has more brawn than brain!! And boy... are they GROWING!! Dallas is quickly approaching 80 pounds, while Kacee is trailing behind at about 60 pounds.

Click here to see updated pictures of the puppies:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2526367&id=16800957&l=0ba088e7cf

Everett has been flying a lot this month. He switched jobs at work so he is no longer at a desk job. This allows him to fly more often.. usually at least 3 times a week! He has been out of town the last two weekends doing different missions.. I sure do miss him!! Especially since he will be leaving soon to spend almost two months in Spain for work... the only good news on that is that I get to visit him!!! Kind of like Iceland!! When he's not flying, he has been playing on a tackle football team here called the Cambridgeshire Cats. Their games start this spring and they will be playing all over England! I'm excited to get to watch him out on the field!!

As for me, I have been my good ol' procrastinating self... Two of my good friends and I have joined the Newmarket Leisure Center (the gym) and have been swimming 3 mornings a week... and by mornings I mean 7am.... VERY early for me!! It has been a great way for me to get in shape, and I have been improving every week!! The first day I swam only 6 laps in 30 minutes. Now I am up to almost 20 in 30 mins!!  I also received my military passport while we were on our cruise, and as soon as we got back I applied for my Visa. I should be getting it back this next week so I can start looking for a job finally!!! I will keep you updated on that one!

Valentine's Day wasn't much for us! Everett was in Germany, and didn't get home until 11pm that day. He woke me up when he got home by stuffing the flowers he bought me in my face... Thanks honey....... We didn't really do much celebrating.. I just cooked him a really yummy dinner the next day! Good enough for us, especially since our birthdays are quickly approaching!!!

Whew.... I think I'm done!! All caught up!! I will TRY not to put these off any more!

Miss you and love ALL of you!!

London on a budget!

Hello!! Sorry it has been a while since I have posted last.. It has been an extremely busy week, and I'm just now getting to it!!

So last Wednesday I went on a day trip to London by myself.. Many people think that England is very expensive (well... it is..); however, there are many things that you can do here for FREE!! I decided that I was going to try to save as much money as I could on my trip to London, AND it gave me the opportunity to experience some things i.e. museums that I can add to my "tours" I will be giving next year! : )

So here is my day:

Woke up at 7:30 to leave by 8:30 so I could catch the 9:20 train in Cambridge.. I had a WONDERFUL friend who offered to drive me to London so I wouldn't have to 1) drive through the crazy Cambridge traffic and 2) pay for parking (see.. already saving money!!) So my first purchase of the day was my 20 pound round trip ticket to London Kings Cross.

  It is a 50 minute train ride to London, so I arrived around 10:10.. Since I was already by the British Library, and had a little over an hour before I needed to be at Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guards, I decided this is where I would stop. Inside this ginormous library, they have many different galleries. The one I really wanted to see was the Gallery of Treasures. This free gallery has so different many "treasures" in it. It contains original compositions from famous composers ranging from Mendel to the Beatles. They also have the Magna Carta, original Shakespeare work, the original Beowulf, the Gutenberg Bible, and da Vinci work. The odd thing I found was a collection of different types of Alice in Wonderland books, from Disney to Robert Sabuda (pop-up book) to Salvidor Dali. This is just the most famous things, they also have original manuscripts from a variety of different regions of the world. I spent about 30 minutes there, but you could spend a LOT more time depending on how much you like to read! They don't allow for pictures inside, so here is what is on the outside of the Library! Cost: FREE!

Next I hopped on the Tube and headed over to Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guards. I (wrongly) assumed that since it was a weekday at the end of September, which means no longer tourist season, that not THAT many people will come out for the Changing.. Well... This is what it looked like:

PACKED!! I found a spot off to the right side, hoping that I could at least see a little bit. Although I couldn't really see what was going on, they paraded in front of us, so I took a video.. here it is..

I just chalked this one up as a lesson learned.. Now I know where the best spot to view is and I know to get there at least an hour early so we can get that perfect spot!! Another great thing about this event... It's FREE!!

My View

After the Changing, it was lunch time. As I said before, it was a day of saving money, so instead of buying food, I brought my lunch with me to eat in St. James Park while on my way to Westminster Abbey. I was lucky that it was a BEAUTIFUL day out.. sunny and 70 degrees, so my lunch was very enjoyable!!

I brought a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and some tortilla chips.. YUMMY!! You can rent these chairs at the park if you are willing.. I believe it is 1.50 pounds for 3 hours. I opted to just sit on the ground, since it was free!!

 After my enjoyable lunch/stroll through the park, I headed over to Westminster Abbey for my splurge of the day! It does cost 15 pounds to get into the Abbey. I chose to swallow this cost because I have relatives buried inside. My Grandpa Slusser and Uncle Dean have done extensive research on our family heritage, and have found that my Grandma Slusser's family are direct descendants of the Plantagenet line of England, which ruled a LOOOONG time ago. Those royals are buried in Westminster Abbey, along with tons of other famous people. Not only are there lots of dead people, but also beautiful sculptures, stained glass, and architecture. As cool as it was, I probably would never do it again. I was really upset that I could not even take pictures inside... But I did get this one outside looking in... it does not do this Abbey justice though!

Next on the list was the Natural History museum. If you like science, this is your place! From dinosaurs to dodo birds, diamonds to magma, earthquakes to a 3 story cocoon.. and that's not even half of what this museum offers! The map has the 15 must see things, and it took me an hour and a half just to get through those!! I really can't wait to go back and see more, especially since its FREE! Think of KU's dinosaur museum times 1000! Here are just a few pictures from here..

The Outside

The Inside!

The dinosaur exhibit was huge!

Life size blue whale

The giant cocoon that houses the Butterfly Exhibit

Escalator going through a metal Earth sculpture

Whew.. by this time, my feet HURT! But I still had 2 more places to go before meeting up with my friends for dinner! Next up, the British Museum.. To explain this museum, I will use an analogy.. The British Museum is to History as the Natural History Museum is to Science... The one thing that I HAD to see at this museum was the Rosetta Stone. As cool as it was to see, this museum had so much more to offer! There were all sorts of sarcophagus-es and mummies, and relics from every civilization that ever existed! Not only that, but the architecture in the main hall literally took my breath away.. You walk into this really old building, and the last thing you expect to see is this: --------------------------------->

Rosetta Stone

It was built inside of the old building's courtyard. It was so cool! Anyway, I definitely did not have the time that this museum deserved to see even a quarter of their artifacts. One thing I thought was a little out of the ordinary was that it had the largest clock exhibit I have ever seen in a museum! Strange but true! Once again, this museum is absolutely FREE!!

After the British Museum, I only had one more place to go, the National Gallery. I have never been in a real gallery before, so I was really excited to see all of these famous paintings in REAL LIFE... I wasn't sure how exciting this museum would be, but it definitely WOWed me! It's amazing how vivid the colors are in real life!! I never understood how people could get emotional over art, but one painting actually made me tear up a bit.. It's just unbelievable how much thought and hard work goes into creating such a masterpiece! I was not allowed to take photos inside, so I'll just tell you the artists I saw. They had my absolute favorite, Van Gogh, along with Rousseau, Monet, Picasso, Michelangelo (and all the other Ninja Turtles), da Vinci, and Rembrandt just to name a select few.. basically it was the whose who in art history! Very cool and very free!!

Since the National Gallery is in Trafalgar Square, I got this pretty little shot of all the action.. Look for Big Ben in the background!

I had a super busy day in London, but my favorite part of course was getting to see my friends that I met in Australia. They live to the West of London, and I live to the East, so we met up in the middle for a little Pizza Express for dinner! It was great to catch up with them after a year and a half!!

After dinner, I made my way back to Cambridge and then on to Newmarket where I fell FAST asleep!!

So, here is a recap of my budget day in London:

Train Ticket: 20 pounds
Tube Day pass: 5 pound 40 pence
Westminster Abbey: 15 pounds
Dinner at Pizza Express: 10 pounds
Spending a day learning about all the different elements of culture: PRICELESS!!

In total, I spent 50 pounds and 40 pence, approximately $80.. and yeah... That's a budget day........ I told you it was expensive here!!

Ain't No Party Like a Reykjavik Party!!

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

Since we arrived in Iceland after midnight, technically it was a new day!! So we touched down and the boys surprised us by being at the airport with our bedding for the hostel! See the reason it was a surprise is that the base they were staying on closes its gates at midnight, and since we landed after midnight we didn't think they were going to be able to make it.. somehow they "worked it" and were there!! Which we were thankful for since they did have our bedding...

After a quick hello and goodbye, we boarded the bus to take us into Reykjavik (pronounced wreck ya veck) since the international airport is 45 minutes from the city center. We were dropped off at the hostel at 2am and we were SOOO tired.. we checked in and the lady told us that there were already 2 females in the room so be quiet. We got into the room and got ready for bed by the light of our cellphones..

A few short hours later, the alarm went off because it was horseback riding day... oh wait.. I guess it wasn't our alarm that went off but our roommates... And it wasn't a normal alarm it was just alarming because I was awoken by the sound of a man's voice....... We gave them the benefit of the doubt and just figured the girl had a cold, that was until the person got out of the bed from underneath me and even my legally blind eyes could tell that this was no female as the desk attendant promised.... We waited until they exited the room and Nichole and I had a little freak out together and decided to ask to be changed rooms. Before we were able to do that, the couple came back and we found out that they were Belgian and VERY nice.. but we still felt uncomfortable sharing a room with a guy.. We left to get some breakfast, changed rooms, and took a nap.. After the nap it was horseback riding time!!

We arrived to the site and found out that we were the only ones in the group who had ever ridden a horse before! For some, it was their first time seeing a horse!! We were placed on our horses.. mine was named Besse (although it was a boy)...

We made our way through the Lava fields... in the rain : ( As cool as it was to ride an Icelandic horse (the difference is that they are smaller and they give a much smoother ride), however the tour wasn't what we hoped for.. the people in charge did not explain where we were or anything.. they just kept telling us how great we were doing.... Here is a pic of the lava fields...

After the horseback ride the boys were supposed to meet up with us, but did not feel up to the drive : ( Us girls decided we were going to get ourselves a nice meal, and walked over to the Ruby Tuesday's... After that it was time for bed!!

Thursday September 9th, 2010

Today was the day for Blue Lagoon!! Nichole and I left the hostel to drive 45 minutes out to these geothermal pools where the boys were going to meet us.. Since we got there a little bit before them, we decided to get our swimsuits on and check out what it had to offer... We started with a glass of wine and then went over to put on some silica mud... before we made it over, we were stopped by a worker who yelled at us in Icelandic Sign Language that we were not allowed to drink in that area... we swam back to the bar, finished our wine and tried the mud again... We were a little unimpressed... felt like it dried out our faces than it did good... The boys still weren't there so we decided to sign up for a massage!! There were only 2 massages left, a 20 minute and a 30 minute, so we had to play paper scissors rocks for the 30 minute... which I won!! It was at that moment that the guys got there.. we hung out.. got our WONDERFUL massages from some large Icelandic we called Ivan.. We laid on a float thing and he put a blanket over us and he began.. I've never received a back massage laying face up but it sure worked in he water!! After the massages we got dressed and ate dinner at the Lava restaurant where we got to try some whale! It was ok.. not much flavor and I think I would have preferred it on bread or something.. Then it was time to say goodbye to the boys and get back to the hostel for the night..

Nichole and I in the Blue Lagoon

Outside the Blue Lagoon

Friday September 10th, 2010

We started off this day by leaving our hostel behind and making our way to the hotel where we stayed for the rest of the trip with our husbands.. We decided to use the "easy" Reykjavik bus system... easy maybe if you speak Icelandic!! We got on (barely.. my luggage almost didn't make it!) and picked the destination we were going to get off on and hoped and prayed it would be close to the hotel... We are so awesome that the stop was about 1/4 a mile from the hotel!! We checked in, dropped the bags and explored the city!! This is where we found our lovely mustaches... and had our day 1 of the photo shoot!

During lunch, there was an ash storm where it "rained" ash from the volcano... we didn't realize it was ash until the next day when an Icelandic guy let us know! We then went back to the hotel and took naps until the boys made it! We then decided to go get some liquor since the boys didn't bring much (in Reykjavik because alcohol in the bars is SO expensive they drink at home until midnight and then go out to the bars..), we had seen a liquor store "down the road" earlier in the day and set off... little did we tell the boys that down the road was about a 20 minute walk... they weren't too happy with us, especially considering the liquor store was closed by the time we arrived!! We decided to make our trip worth it and got the famous Icelandic hot dogs before we went back to the hotel... These hot dogs are "best served" with everything on it... which includes grilled onions, funyuns, mayonnaise, and remoulade (sort of a tartar sauce gravy)... I surprisingly tried it with all of that considering the only thing on that list I like is mayo... and not with hot dogs! It wasn't bad.... but I probably wouldn't eat it again!! That night we had our first night out in Reykjavik.. it was fun but tiring!!

Fist pumps!!

Saturday September 11th, 2010

We had to wake up super early to go snorkeling in the tectonic! We made our hour long journey out to the highlands passing by all the wild sheep.. We had to wear dry suits because the water was SOOOO cold! Your face is the only thing not completely covered and it goes numb within a few seconds of being in the water! After the snorkeling, we got to jump off the rocks into the beautiful blue water..

Me jumping!! See my reflection?

After that our Icelandic guide gave us a little tour of their National Park then it was time to get back to Reykjavik to take naps before our next night out!

Oh I forgot!! I got to see my first glacier that day too here it is!

It's that mountain looking thing in the background.. why is it not white you ask? Because the recent volcano eruption covered it in ash....

Sunday September 12th, 2010

This was our last full day with the guys.. so we decided to see the Golden Circle, which is a tour that includes the National Park (which we already saw), the original Geysir for which all other geysers were named.., and Gullfoss, a large waterfall.. Since taking a bus for this tour would have cost us $82 per person, we decided to use the car the boys rented to take the tour... So I put Gullfoss into the GPS and we were on our way... However, about an hour later, we felt like we were probably lost... The GPS told us to turn down "Unnamed Road", which was probably our first mistake... This road was THE worst road I have ever been on, I mean our car bottomed out at least twice and then we had to go through this rock formation that our car barely fit through... Unfortunately we never got pictures of this part of our trip, but after about an hour, we found a random Icelandic guy and got back on the right road!

Our car on the better road we found...

Random waterfall we found..

The first stop was Geysir.. The original one no longer erupts, so we saw this other one..

Everett and Wold being Japanese tourists in front of the original Geysir

We then made our way to Gullfoss...

After Gullfoss we went back to Reykjavik to dry off (oh did I forget to mention it was raining all day??) and then we went to the base in Keflavik to just hang out for the night.. I got to see my last Icelandic sunset..

That night we made our way back to the hotel when I noticed it was the first clear night we have had since we got there! So I asked if we could drive down a random road to get out of the city lights so we can see the Northern Lights... which we did!! They were faintly green, not as bright as normal because it was not yet that far into the Winter and the lights of Reykjavik were still showing! But nonetheless.. they were beautiful and I was so excited to see them!!

Monday, September 13th, 2010

We woke up, got packed, and sadly said goodbye to our husbands : ( We decided that we wanted to finish our mustache photoshoot around Reykjavik before we had to board the plane back to London... Here is a sampling of what we have..

After the shoot, we quickly got on the bus back to the airport, boarded our plane and after a VERY VERY SCARY flight, we safely made it to London! That was just the first two stages (bus and plane) of our long journey back home, once we made it to London, we had an hour long Tube journey to the train station, then another hour long train ride back to Cambridge, then a 30 minute car ride to Newmarket! Boy was I ready to be home!!!

So there is my trip... sorry not as colorful as normal because I knew I had a lot to cover!! To make up for that I will be posting TOOOONNNS of pictures which I will put the link to on here as soon as I upload them!! Hope you have enjoyed my recap! Come back soon for the link to the pictures!!

London Times

Alright.. I'm forcing myself to sit here and pen out my trip to Iceland.. I'm going to do it on a day by day so I will hopefully not forget anything! So.. here goes!

Monday, September 6th:

Nichole picked me up from my house and we made our way down to Cambridge to jump on the train that will take us to downtown London. We decided to go a day before our flight so I can see London in the daylight. We were dropped off on Platform 9 at Kings Cross Station. For all you Harry Potter lovers, this is just 3/4ths of a platform away from the famous Platform 9 3/4!! We decided to cross that off the list first until we unfortunately noticed that because of all the construction, there was no way to get to Platfrom 9 3/4 : ( So I will have to save that for another trip...

So on we went to find out hotel and drop out baggage off. Because our hotel was overbooked they sent us to another hotel which the lady claimed was "so beautiful".. I looked it up before we got into the taxi and we were upgraded from a 2 star to a 4 star hotel!! SCORE!!! We made our way in the taxi, and were a little sad to see that we were not at the hotel that I saw on the internet, but it didn't matter because we were only going to be there for the night... So we dropped the stuff off and went off to find the only Chipotle in the United Kingdom... It was very easy to find and so we enjoyed our burritos while people watching.. two of my favorite things!! After dinner was shopping on Oxford St. and then it was back to the hotel for the night..

Tuesday, September 7th, 2010

The next morning we set off to go see the sights, only to be let down by the fact that the London Tube (subway system) workers were on strike that day... making the easiest form of London transportation unusable... we decided that that wasn't going to stop us and we set off to learn the London Bus route. Our hotel was by Hyde Park, so we got to see a little of that including Speakers Corner (no one was speaking..) where we loaded our double decker bus and set off to find Abbey Road. After a little navigating we found it!! We signed our names on the wall and walked across the road..

Next on the list was Buckingham Palace... I really wanted to take a picture with the guards, but we couldn't get to them : (

See the guard in the background? That was as close as I could get...

Then we walked through St. James park towards the Horse Guards..

Park with Horse Guard's House in the background

The horse guard and I

Walking down the street.. we found Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and the London Eye! Since you all know what those look like.. I will save those pictures for the album! We moved our little parade toward Piccadilly Circus, but we found Trafalgar Square first!!

One of the lions in Trafalgar Square

Piccadilly Circus is London's smaller version of Times Square.. By the time we reached it, it was time to get back to the hotel so we could pick up our bags and headed to the airport! Once again, because of the Tube strike, we had lost our easiest and cheapest transportation to the airport.. so we called a taxi to take us to the train station and had to take a train to the airport... We had allowed for plenty of time just in case we ran into issues, so we arrived at the airport 3 hours before our flight.. So we ate some dinner, charged our phones and waaaaaaiiiiitttttted... because our flight was delayed for more than an hour.. We finally boarded the plane and were off to Iceland to see our husbands!! After a VERY rough landing... we were there!!