We're Here!

As I write this right now, it is around 21:18 (9:18 PM)  on Sunday here in Bath, UK.  Farrah and I are sitting in our room at The Parade Park bed and breakfast, watching television and trying to recover from the day’s events.

The flight on Virgin Atlantic from SFO was long but as comfortable as possible.  The seats don’t give you much room.  Luckily you do receive a personal entertainment screen.    You can choose from over 50 movies, television shows, and games to pass the time away.  I managed to watch “Smokin’ Aces” and " The Illusionist "  and a few minutes of “Music and Lyrics”.  Farrah watched “Borat”, “Catch and Release”, and “Music and Lyrics”.

The food, dinner, and breakfast, were not bad for airline food.  They even provided free headphones and a free toiletry kit.

Once we landed at Heathrow, we took the long walk to Central Bus Station and waited about 90 minutes for our bus.  At this point Farrah and I were pretty much whipped, having only slept a couple of hours - if that much - on the plane.  We both fell asleep off and on through the two-hour bus ride to Bath.

We easily found the bed and breakfast.  The room is on the third floor - what we would call the fourth floor as the ground floor is not counted.  Our room is small, but it does have its own bathroom.

The sink has separate hot and cold water faucets and flushing the toilet requires you to pull the lever several times in a row - almost as if you are priming the pump.  We can see the Abbey from our room, as you can tell in the photo above.

All in all an adventurous day in the UK.

Regina Spektor - The Warfield

Photo Title: reginaaa3 which was initially uploaded by beisenhood

You are my sweetest downfall I loved you first, I loved you first Beneath the stars came fallin' on our heads But they're just old light, they're just old light Your hair was long when we first met

The Warfield is always an excellent place to see a show, and seeing Regina Spektor there was a treat. The little Russian born redhead with a powerful voice started off with a capella number. (Sorry, I’m not too familiar with her song titles). I cribbed a list of her song set from here:

  • Fidelity
  • Better
  • On the Radio
  • Field Below
  • Apres Moi
  • Hotel Song
  • That Time
  • Summer in the City
  • Uh-merica
  • Music Box
  • Baby Jesus
  • Poor Little Rich Boy
  • The Flowers
  • Human of the Year
  • Us
  • Bobbin' for Apples
  • Prisoners
  • Ghost of Corporate Future
  • Real Love (John Lennon)

She was without a band, mostly performing on her piano. She did use a guitar for a couple of songs. On “Poor Little Rich Boy” she played the piano with her left hand while beating a drumstick on a wooden chair placed next to her, and stomping her left foot for emphasis, through the song. I wish I could remember which song that was.

She does have some quirky, funny lyrics (see lyrics for Baby Jesus). Couple this along with her powerful voice, and sometimes unusual phrasing, it makes for a pleasant experience. You can often tell she is not entirely comfortable with a crowd, but she does warm up as the show continues. She was comfortable enough to say the Warfield is located in a “sketchy part of town.” (Really? I guess she didn’t travel to other areas of the City.)

Try to see Regina Spektor in a small venue if you can.

Progress and Packing

Our passports arrived today!!!

The passports were sent by overnight mail and arrived in our hands this morning. There was a slight scare earlier in the week when I called the passport office for an update. One of the customer service representatives I talked to on the toll free number said that my first and last name were switched on the application!

I wondered how that would affect our plans. I was beginning to think Farrah would need to leave without me and I would catch up with her once my passport was sorted out. Luckily it didn’t come to that point.

We started going through the packing list, checking off the items to be packed for the trip. We trying to pack light and right, brining what we think we can get by on a minimum, and getting guidance from lists such as the one on Rick Steves’ web site.

Right now we have about four bags we are bringing, all are light:

  • Backpack for the camera and laptop
  • Small backpack for carrying day items
  • Large backpack for check-in
  • Rolling bag for check-in

The two check-in bags are packed with a total of four days worth of clothing, plus medication and other knick-knacks, so there is still a lot of room in them to bring back souvenirs. I’m not sure how many souvenirs we’ll bring back - seeing how the British Pound is running 2 to 1 versus the US Dollar - but I’m sure we will bring back something.

One more week!

Google is Everywhere!

Did you know about Google Voice Local Search?

Google Voice Local Search is Google’s experimental service to make local-business search accessible over the phone.

To try this service, just dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411) from any phone.
Using this service, you can:

  • search for a local business by name or category.
    You can say "Giovanni's Pizzeria" or just "pizza".
  • get connected to the business, free of charge.
  • get the details by SMS if you're using a mobile phone.
    Just say "text message".
And it's free. Google doesn't charge you a thing for the call or for connecting you to the business. Regular phone charges may apply, based on your telephone service provider.

Note: Google Voice Local Search is still in its experimental stage. It may not be available at all times and may not work for all users. We’re fine-tuning the service to get better at recognizing your requests. It’s currently only available in English, in the US, for US business listings.

I should program this on my cell phone because Verizon charges, I think, $1.99 per information call!

There is also Google Notebook which can be used while you’re surfing to gather information.

Ultimate Star Wars Personality

What Star Wars personality are you most like?  Well, you can see my results below.  To find out who you are like, click the image below.  I guess I’m a little Qui-Gon-y.

How We Planned Our Trip

Trip Itinerary

As with any trip you take, the first thing we decided on was when to go. When Farrah went on her semester abroad she did most of free traveling in May. From what she recalled May was a good month to travel, just avoiding people getting off of school and the family summer vacation rush. We chose the first half of May to travel. A basic sketch of our plans are:

  • Four day in Bath, UK
  • Six days in London day
  • A day trip to Paris
  • Three 1/4 days in London before heading home

If you want to see how our trip is playing out in a day-to-day view, check out our Yahoo! Travel page to see the sites we are planning to visit. This page will change of course.

Transportation and Lodging

We started with the first major expense: airline tickets. In an effort to obtain the best price, we first tried a service at Farrah’s work - a concierge service. The service is mean to conduct all the footwork for you. You simply need to supply the service with what you want and they will try to find the best prices for you. I always thought they would get decent discounts, but when we compared what the service had to offer versus an Internet service like Kayak, the difference was minimal. I was even able to direct the concierge service to a better discount using Kayak!

We chose our dates and airline (Virgin Atlantic) and booked the flight via Virgin’s site. We also booked our bus tickets from Heathrow to Bath and back to London. We’ll be staying in Bath for our first four days, then the rest of the time in London, with a long day trip to Paris.

We used several resources in planning our trip. Of course we used the Internet, but also sought advice from friends and co workers, and of course good ol’ books. Plenty of research can now be done on the Internet, foregoing the purchasing of books. But it is nice to have and carry a tangible reference guide on the trip.

After looking through several books, we found what we believe are three good choices:

The three books bring different views on what is must see in London. The Rick Steve’s book takes a historical approach, offering tips on what historical sites can’t be missed and what you can live without visiting. Pauline Frommer’s book brings a woman’s perceptive to traveling in London (e.g. places to shop), but also offers frugal places to stay and eat. Time Out London stays with the hip and cool places to stay and see, just like the newsstand magazine.

The Internet has changed much since 1997 when Farrah was planning her semester abroad. At one point back then, she was wondering what to pack and wear in Europe. I said to her, Let me post the question in a newsgroup. I found the old Usenet posting I submitted doing a search on Google. Nowadays you don’t need to use newsgroups, but message boards are the thing. I’m sure there were some travel sites on the Internet back then, but nothing really known. Nothing like the ones we used on this trip. The most useful sites have been:

I am on Tripadvisor daily and find it the most helpful site of the two. We looked at lodging reviews there making our selections based on reviews and community photos.

Passport Update

I managed to get a hold of the passport office. They confirmed they received the paperwork, but they confirmed they won’t do any expediting until there are only 14 days before the trip! So you know what I’m going to do on that 14th day - I’ll be on the phone dialing.

Congratulations!!!

Yen and James

This morning we had breakfast with Yen and James at Hobee’s. They shared with us great news- they are engaged!!!

Congratulations to you both!

We Be Trippin'

For those of you who do not know already, Farrah and I are in the midst of planning a trip to the UK and France. We’ll be going for a total of two weeks in May, hoping to beat the summer vacation rush. Our plans include visiting Bath and London, with a quick day trip to Paris!

It’s All Part of the Process (passports)

We started the passport process in mid-February, renewing our passports at the post office. Currently there is a 10 week waiting period in receiving the passport back. There has been a large rush in obtaining passports due to the new requirements when traveling to Mexico and Canada.

This is causing slight grief and anxiety on our part as the 10 weeks they are estimating to process passports falls only one week prior to our departure date in May! The US Passport web site allows you to check the status of your passport application - but this is not really helping. It shows Farrah’s passport has been accepted, but my passport application has yet to enter the system. Yikes!

From what I’ve read about this subject on the TripAdvisor message boards, passports have been arriving for people, but some have had to call to have their passports expedited (aka “Give us more money to grease the wheels!”). I’m not supposed to call until 14 days before the trip to have the passport expedited. I wonder if they FedEx it when it’s so close?

Oh well, can’t go on the trip without a passport, right?