Looking Back

With the entire world closed, it looks like it may be awhile before I can do any traveling. With that in mind, I’m re-posting from my original blog. I created the blog to keep family informed while I took my mom on a cruise to Greece.

Here is the first entry:

It's 10:30 p.m. In less than four hours I take off with my mom on our whirlwind trip first, to New York City, than to Venice Italy. From Venice we board a cruise and travel to the Greek Islands, Croatia, and return to Venice. After spending one more night in Italy, we return to NYC for two days and return home.

It's not a trip I ever considered taking, my thoughts have always been of traveling to Scotland where most of my family hails from. But this is something my mom has always wanted to do, so I'm in. The more I worked on putting it together, the more excited I have gotten. At this point, I can't even sleep.

It's been months of planning, and we have already hit a couple of bumps. Nothing big. Mom hurt her back last week, and I decided to get a cold just a few days before leaving. Today as I was packing, I noticed that the charger my friend from Canon sent me to use didn't match the camera. So I guess my first stop tomorrow will be at B and H photo in NYC. Which is kinda cool, I have always wanted to go there.

Not Going Anywhere

Last night I started to write a new blog post “Should I Stay, or Should I Go.”

The thought behind the post was based on the current concern over the COVID-19 Virus.

I’ve been waiting to start my travel adventures for many years. When my wife and I got married 37 years ago, we dreamed that one day we would travel the world, see the sights and enjoy life.

But because our families were on opposite coasts, we spent our vacations visiting whichever family was farthest from where we were living at the time. We always said we would travel in our “Golden Years.”

Finally, in the last year, we began taking our first “real” vacations. Our first was to England in September 2019. The trip was everything we had hoped for, and on our return, we began to look forward to our next adventures.

We signed up for a Panama Canal cruise, starting in Florida in late April 2020, traveling thru the canal, arriving in Los Angeles in mid-May.

We chose a mini suite, made arraignments for our shore excursions and waited for months for our embark date.

I even booked us first class flights to get us to the cruise port, the first time I ever ponied up to sit in the front of the plane. It was to be the perfect trip. We were even scheduled to be in Cabo on my wife’s birthday. She wanted to swim with the dolphins on that day, something I knew for years was a “bucket list” item for her.

I also booked a quick trip to Vancouver BC for our 37^th anniversary in March 2020.

Then came news of the COVID-19 virus.

We watched as the virus spread and we were surprised as the world began to panic. Then came the closures.

We debated the pros and cons of cancelling our cruise and made the decision to go anyway.

It looked like the decision was going to pay off, literally, the cruise line was giving us a credit of $200 on our ship board account.

Then yesterday morning, Princess Cruises made the decision for us. They put all their ships on a 60 day stand-down. Our trip was 45 days out.

My first thought was that they were over-reacting. They had increased screening, they were checking temps of passengers and crew, and had made changes that decreased the risk to passengers and crew.

But, even though I think they are taking it too far, I can respect the decision.

It wasn't the first time we had trouble while traveling.

Years ago, we were involved in what Jet Blue Airlines refers to as the “Albuquerque Incident.”

It started out as a typical vacation visit to the family on the East coast.

Not long after we arrived, I began to feel a little sick. I ended up spending the better part of two weeks in bed with an extreme fever. During the “vacation,” my wife hauled me off to urgent care or the emergency room three times. After two weeks on antibiotics and pain killers, I was ready to head home. We made one last trip to the ER, where the doctor cleared me to fly home.

After boarding our Jet Blue flight at Boston’s Logan Airport, the first announcement over the public address system explained that we would all be getting a voucher for $25 towards our next flight. The reason – our “direct” flight would have to take on fuel in Albuquerque New Mexico.

The pilot told us that because of headwinds, the plane couldn’t carry enough fuel to safely make it from Boston to Long Beach, California. It seemed like a reasonable accommodation, we wouldn’t go to a gate, just land, fuel and be off.

I won’t go into all the details of the flight, but I will tell you it ended in Albuquerque with a Class A ground handling incident. (I’ll write about the Albuquerque Incident in a couple of days)

Once there was an entire plane full of Jet Blue passengers stuck in a remote corner of an airport in New Mexico, the Jet Blue team went to work.

They arraigned for hotels for all the passengers, found transportation and got everyone checked in for a few hours of sleep (I think it had been about 18 hours since we left Boston).

The next morning, we all got wake up calls, and proceeded to breakfast buffets set up in our hotels. After breakfast and a few minutes to get ready, they transported us to the airport.

When we arrived at security, we were greeted by escorts and taken immediately to our gate.

At the gate there were several members of Jet Blue upper management, flown in overnight to make sure we didn’t have any further problems.

Once airborne, they informed us that our flight cost would be refunded and we would all receive a voucher for a free flight anywhere they flew.

A couple of days after we arrived home, Jet Blue called the house to see if we had incurred any additional expenses. If we had, they were going to send us a reimbursement check.

I cannot imagine anything else they could have done. The problems were not caused by their actions, but they stood up and took care of all the passengers.

I have been a loyal Jet Blue customer ever since. I even invested in Jet Blue stock

This week, Princess Cruise Line made a difficult decision. Putting all their ships in port to make sure that they provide the safest possible experience, even though it’s costing them a lot of money.

They are putting their corporate values and customer service above corporate profit. That’s rare in this world.

They may have just made me a lifetime customer. Oh yeah, I did just invest in their stock.

Warwick Castle Brought To You By Legoland

We have many pictures hanging on the walls of our home. Although most are of family, a good number were taken during our travels, some here in the US and some in other countries.

In the hallway, near the guest bathroom, hangs a picture my daughter took on a high school trip to England and France.

She had climbed to the top of Guys Tower in Warwick Castle and shot a photograph of the Castle Mound across the open courtyard.

My wife was particularly impressed by the trip to Warwick, she has always talked about what a great day it was. She loved the peacocks, the swans and the views along the River Avon near the castle mill.

The morning came for us to move from Oxford, Northeast to Derby. Along the way we planned on stopping at Warwick Castle, then maybe head to Manchester for a quick visit to the Food and Wine Festival. A marathon 5-hours in the car, but nothing compared to the 6+ hours for our trip to Dover.

We got a pretty good start, but it seemed the weather would be the determining factor as to how we spent the day.

We hadn’t pre-purchased our tickets, so we headed to the ticket window.

As we stood in line, an Asian woman was talking to each of the groups ahead of us. She said that her group had double purchased tickets and the box office wouldn’t give a refund. She was willing to part with four tickets at a discount to recover some of her money.

I’m pretty skeptical of people hawking discount tickets outside of any venue, but we took the chance anyway, paid her cash and quickly made our way to the entrance. Turned out the tickets were real, and we went right in.

Crossing the drawbridge into the castle is impressive, but we had already been to the Tower of London and Dover Castle, so it wasn’t the first drawbridge we had seen in the five days we had been in the UK.

As we entered the courtyard, I noticed one very large change from the picture in our hallway – Food Trucks.

As we traveled deeper into the castle, we noticed that along with the food trucks, there were booth selling cheap trinkets, and other fine imported plastic bobbles.

We went down by the river and found that you cannot cross over to the island, and there is now a bird show stage. I started to think about other “castles” I’ve been to and was reminded of a certain SoCal location that is all based of the life of a mouse.

My wife wanted to find the castle mill, but it seemed that the path was gone. However, I spied a path that went behind the hot-dog stand and we found the mill.

Sometime in the 16 years since she stood above the courtyard, the castle came under the control of Merlin Entertainment. The same company that owns Madam Tussauds and Legoland. I guess I wasn’t that far off.

The White Cliffs of Dover

363 miles. 6 hours and 24 minutes of driving.

That was the plan.

Actually, it was the back-up plan.

The original plan was to fly from Long Beach, California to Boston Massachusetts on the red eye, then spend the night in Boston. After a good night’s sleep, get a late check-out and head to Logan Airport for the flight to Heathrow Airport in London.

By breaking up the long flight into two days, I thought we would be able to land in London and maybe head over to Stonehenge before checking into the hotel.

Unfortunately, a little miscalculation had us on two red eye flights with about a 10-hour layover in Boston. Since hotel check-in is usually about 4 pm, we didn’t have any chance to get some much-needed sleep.

By the time we landed in London, picked up the rental car and drove to Oxford, we were beat.

We had tickets for an Oxford River Cruise on Thursday, a Friday appointment for a tour of Buckingham Palace and the London Tower tour.

Since we were moving to a hotel in the Midlands on Sunday, that left only Saturday for two of the locations on my bucket list, Stonehenge and Dover Castle.

We got up early, had a good breakfast and headed to Stonehenge.

After touring Stonehenge, we jumped in the car just before lunchtime and made the mad dash to Dover.

About three hours later, we arrived at the port of Dover.

As we drove past the port, Dover Castle dominates the view. It is, to say the least, impressive. I do have to admit, it is the first proper castle I have ever seen in person.

The closest would have to be the Old Port at Dubrovnik, Croatia or the Old Town of Rhodes, which are fortifications, but I don’t think that they count as “castles.”

The City of Dubrovnik, Croatia

 We parked in the free parking area (after the ticket in Oxford, I like free parking {see my entry “Sorry You Got the Wrong Numbers” to understand more).

It was a short walk downhill to the visitor’s center. We had our English Heritage 9-day pass, so we just checked in, grabbed a map and were on our way.

We headed downhill to the entry for the tunnel system under the castle. We joined the group waiting for the tour of the tunnels used by the British Navy during World War II.

It was from the command center deep under the castle that the British orchestrated the evacuation of Dunkirk and later in the war, was the headquarters of the fictitious 1^st US Army Group (FUSAG), supposedly commanded by General George Patton.

That ruse convinced the Germans that the invasion to liberate France would take place in the North and cleared the way for the D-Day landing in Normandy.

We took the tour for Operation Dynamo, the rescue of some 338,000 Soldiers from almost certain capture by the Germans at Dunkirk.

From the official description of the tour:

“Spitfires screech overhead and the boom, boom of anti-aircraft guns resonate while you feel the danger and desperation in the cramped tunnels. Vivid sets and original film give a graphic account of the horror of the French beaches under fierce enemy fire. It was here that Ramsay plotted and planned his brilliant operation, issuing the orders and making the decisions that saved so many lives.

The tour continues through some of the original rooms of the adjacent Army HQ. Dressed as they were throughout Second World War, they include the Gun Operations Room, Telephone Exchange, Repeater Station (communications room) and Coast Artillery Operations Room.”

Being an old Army vet and a history nerd, I found the tour to be very interesting.

Then came the tough part. We had been walking downhill, from the parking lot to the visitor’s center, to the tunnel entrance, and even lower thru the tunnels. Now we had to walk back up.

Officers New Barracks about 1/2 way back up to the parking lot

Oh yeah, and the Castle is above the parking lot.

So we started slowly back up, and up, and up. Finally making it to the gate of the castle.

Passing into the keep thru the Palace Gate, I found myself alone in the inner courtyard. As I walked around the keep, I tried to imagine what the courtyard would have been like during the reign of Henry II.

But instead of the sounds of a bustling royal court, there is nothing but the flags on the keep, snapping in the harsh winds.

I decided to go ahead and make the climb to the top of the keep. Inside the corner tower, there is a long stone spiral staircase that leads to the roof.

Not being in my prime physical condition, it was a bit of a climb. Twenty years ago, I would have probably run up the stairs, but today, it was a calm paced walk.

On top the views were spectacular, even if the wind did threaten to blow me off the building.

I only had time for a quick walk thru the great hall and kitchen areas before the castle closed for the day.

The Roman Pharos and Church of St Mary-in-Castro taken from the top of the keep

Here is a 360 degree video of my visit.

Video of Dover Castle

It's a Posh, Posh, Traveling Life, Traveling Life for Me

Back in the 1980’s, I had the pleasure of being one of the first employees at the brand-new Ritz Carlton Hotel in Rancho Mirage California. 

I had just moved back to the state after spending a year in Massachusetts after my discharge from the active component of the US Army. 

I had applied for a job at the Ritz in Boston, but I didn’t do well on the interview. I did well, but I stumbled when we were talking about dealing with high end guests. 

Oddly enough, my ability to tear into the hide of junior soldiers in need of a course correction, using long strings of carefully sourced expletives, was not seen as a force multiplier in the luxury travel sector. Go figure.

I did, however, find my first job in the luxury travel sector at the Hotel de Layfette in downtown Boston. The department head that hired me had been a US Army military police officer. 

I learned a lot during that brief time, enough that when I interviewed for the position at the Ritz in Rancho Mirage, I didn’t make the same mistakes as before.

Working for the Ritz Carlton changed the way I thought about travel. In my younger days, price was the sole motivation for where I stayed. After Boston and Rancho, I understood that sometimes paying a little more for service was worth the cost. Sometimes. 

I’m still a bit uncomfortable staying in truly “posh” accommodations, but sometimes it can be very enjoyable. 

Which brings me to the Langley in Buckinghamshire, England.

I was looking for a hotel near Heathrow Airport (but not too near) for our last night in England. When I saw the picture of the front of the Langley, I had to stay there. 

The front of the Langley Hotel

Turns the hotel was under renovation and it hadn’t opened when I reserved our room, but it had been open for about three months before we arrived.

The best way to describe the hotel and grounds are breathtaking. Several employees were able to shed some light on the history of the site, but I did some digging and found a bit more, but not much. 

The development of the site goes back to the 1700’s when Charles Spencer, the third Duke of Marlborough constructed a hunting lodge on 150 acres in the Iver countryside. In 1758, he commissioned Stiff Leadbetter to build a new manor home on the site, which I believe is part of the hotel.

It seems that the historic property fell into a bit of disrepair, there is mention of it being inhabited by bats, but after a multi-million six-year restoration, it has opened as a luxury resort managed by the Marriott Corporation.

The property sits alone in the middle of Langley Park, which makes the drive in feel like your arriving at the palace. 

View of the hotel from Langley Park

We arrived on a rainy afternoon and were met by the bell staff, armed with umbrellas they made sure we made it to the lobby as dry as possible. 

The lobby area is just amazing. I can’t remember ever taking pictures of the front desk area while checking in.  

Sitting area in the lobby

Our room was in the front of the property, on the second floor. Unfortunately, there is no elevator for that part of the hotel (of course the bell staff brought the bags up, so a little extra tip for the effort was in order).

The bedroom was large, with some of the nicest furniture I have seen in a hotel, with a big fluffy bed that made you want to just stay in all day. 

There was a good size living room, with plenty of space. 

The living room

I do have to say, my favorite part of the room was the bath. I think every hotel bath should have heated floors and towel racks. 

The bath featured heated floors and towel racks

We only ate dinner at the hotel, and to be honest, we felt that we were too under-dressed to go into the main dining room. We ate in the lounge, the tables were a bit awkward for dining, but the food was fantastic.

The Lounge

I’m really sorry that we only had one night at the Langley, I would have liked to stay longer.

The Manor at Minster Lovell

­Before I left on my first ever trip to England, I spent a great deal of time researching what to do while I was there. I knew that I would only have nine days, and wanted to see as much as possible, without trying to cram in so much fun, that I ended up burning out.

I knew that I wanted to see the ancient stone array at Stonehenge. Even though it consistently makes the list of overrated tourist sites, and my own brother described his visit as “meh.”

When I went to buy advance tickets to Stonehenge, I came upon the English Heritage Foundation Website.

As I looked at the 400 or so sites under the care of English Heritage, I became aware of the ruins at Minster Lovell. Looking at the photographs I penciled it in as a stop while we were staying in Oxford.

View of the Church at Minster Lovell looking thru the ruins 

Reading more about the site, I learned that the first manor house at Minster Lovell was built around the 12^th century, but the ruins that remain to this day are from the 1430’s when William, Baron of Lovell and Holand returned after the French Wars. He had become one of the wealthiest men in England and the manor was built to show his wealth.

William’s grandson, Francis became the 9^th Baron of Lovell. His father had fought in the War of the Roses on the side of the House of Landcaster, however Francis was raised as a Yorkist, and was appointed Viscount Lovell by Richard III.

With the rise of the Tudors and the defeat of the House of York, the manor passed to the hands of the Crown.

The manor house

In 1602, Sir Edward Coke gained control of the manor. His descendant Thomas Coke resided in the manor from 1721 until 1728 and assumed the title Lord Lovell of Minster Lovell.

The hall would be abandoned in the 1730’s in favor of the family holdings in Holkham, Norfork, and most of the buildings dismantled for the building stone.

The nearby church and cemetery are still in use, but the manor is in ruin.

The Church and Cemetery

That said, I wish we had made it to the site earlier, the ruins make for wonderful images.

Sorry You Got the Wrong Numbers

In an earlier post I mentioned the trials and tribulations of driving to Oxford for a little day trip. Driving was interesting, but I knew better than to drive into the city center.

Which is how we found ourselves standing in front of an automated parking fee kiosk.

Fortunately, we were in England and the instructions were seemingly easy to understand. It seemed.

We were instructed to enter the license number of the rental car into the machine, then insert a credit card for payment. The cost to park was only £4.80 or a little less than $6, for someone who is used to paying for parking in LA that’s almost free.

The only issue was we were parked in the far corner of the parking lot and I didn’t really feel like walking back to the car. But I looked at the key fob for our trusty rental and noticed that there were several numbers on it.

Not being familiar with the alpha-numeric complexities of British license plates, I paused – staring blankly at the three possible solutions for our issue.

I figured the one set of numbers that was bold must be the license plate numbers. I entered it into the machine. After a second it spit out my receipt and we were on our way.

We proceeded into Oxford and had a very nice day.

At the end of the day we returned to the Park and Ride. As we approached our car, I noticed something taped to the front windshield directly in front of the driver’s seat.

I had gotten a ticket.

Now, I like to think that as I age, I’ve gotten a little better and controlling my temper. Not that day.

I angerly removed the ticket without opening up the clear plastic envelope. I tossed it into the back seat and got behind the wheel for our return trip to the hotel.

Hours later, and after dinner and more than one glass of wine, I opened the “ticket.”

How very British.