I think it was the winter before that we decided to travel to the UK in the summer of 2002. We belong to a home exchange organization, and we’d received an offer in the spring of 2001 from a family with a townhouse in the little village of Woodstock, about seven miles north of Oxford, England. By the time we got that offer we’d already made plans for a home exchange near Washington DC. But we kept the UK email for future reference.
In January of last year I replied. I said that if they hadn’t found an exchange to Seattle in 2001, would they be interested in one this year? They wrote back. They’d exchanged with a family in Calgary in 2001, and yes, they were interested in Seattle for 2002.
Before confirming the exchange, we bought an oversized map of UK and a copy of Rick Steves’ Guide to Great Britain. Rick has written a series of travel books called Europe Through the Back Door. We had used his Ireland book back in 1999 and found that, for the most part, his recommendations were pretty close to what we look for when we travel. We like to get away from crowds and tour buses and experience the region closer up, sometimes in out-of-the-way places where we’re just about the only Americans around. We like to experience the flavor of the places we go, and meet the people who live there.
We cleared off the dining room table and opened the map. We planned to do some sightseeing, so we wanted ease of access both to London and to areas outside the metropolitan area. Oxford is about an hour north of London by bus, so it would be out of the congested areas but still close enough to the city for daytrips. It’s within easy driving distance to Rick Steves’ recommended close-by destinations. Plus, Oxford has a train station from which we could depart to points north.
Woodstock looked like a good base of operations for our trip. In early February we emailed the English family, Peter and Veronica White, and finalized the exchange.
Art and I are walkers, so I investigated various walking holidays for part of our stay in UK. In Europe, “walking” means hiking. After some time exploring on the Internet I decided to book this part of our trip through Contours, a British company. My questions were answered promptly and patiently, the locations looked interesting, and the company offered several kinds of walks.
The first type was an independent walk from bed and breakfast to bed and breakfast. Art and I took one of these walks in western Ireland in 1999. That trip lasted seven days. On the four scheduled days of walking, we covered 9 to 14 miles each day. I learned quickly that my fitness level wasn’t up to these distances. And I hadn’t wanted to spend the money for the right shoes. So I was exhausted and footsore most of the time. Also, we found that, as we walked along, we didn’t know exactly what we were looking at, even with the help of a local guidebook. We missed learning about much of the history, geology and culture of the area. Plus, when we arrived at our destination in the evening, we had to unpack our suitcases for a one- or two-night stay, then find a place to eat dinner – when what we really wanted was a shower and a nap.
Looking back, we decided that 9 to 14 miles a day was too much distance to cover; 8 to 10 miles a day would leave us with enough energy to enjoy other activities during the non-walking hours. Most of the independent walks from B&B to B&B offered by Contours were longer.
Another possibility was a “centered” independent walk. With this option, we would be transported to the starting point for each day’s walk, picked up at the end point and returned to our lodging. That would solve the packing and unpacking issue, but we’d still not know what we were seeing. Contours offered a few walks of this type that we seriously considered.
The third option was a centered walk with a small group and a guide. This would be more expensive, but it would resolve both the packing-unpacking and the knowledge issue. Plus, all meals were included.
We decided on a centered group walk of the Eden Valley, in northern England just east of the famous Lake District. We’d be based in the town of Penrith. Each day our group would be picked up at the hotel by the guide and taken to the starting point for the day. The distances each day were between 8 and 10 miles, and we’d be exploring a non-touristed area of the UK.
With the walking holiday issue resolved, we turned our attention to the rest of the trip. We talked about the cities and regions recommended by Rick Steves. We decided we wanted to see London and Bath, Blenheim Palace and the Cotswolds, Stonehenge and Avebury, Edinburgh and York. We’d miss Wales for this trip, but Rick says “Expect to return”, so we were able to let it go.
We had agreed with our exchange family to swap cars as well as houses, so we would have our own transportation. We knew, though, that driving would be a challenge. We’d discovered in Ireland that driving on “the wrong side of the road” and negotiating roundabouts (an intersection issue) was stressful to the driver. So we decided to use the car for the shorter trips and to buy a BritRail FlexPass for the longer distances. The plan we chose allowed us to travel any four days in a two-month period. We agreed to travel by train from Oxford to Penrith for our walking holiday, then on to Edinburgh, then York, and back to Oxford. That turned out to be a mixed blessing overall, but the best way for us to go.
I used Rick Steves’ book to make reservations at bed and breakfasts in Wells (a small town south of Bath), Edinburgh, and York. I’ve found I’m more comfortable if we have lodging arranged beforehand. I had a childhood experience where my family was crossing the country from California to North Carolina. Four of us in a Volkswagen, with no radio, in the middle of the Cuban missile crisis. We were driving through Oklahoma on one day, and my father passed through Tulsa without stopping for the night as my mother requested. We headed into the country, and there was nothing. No lights, no towns, nothing. Finally we arrived in the town of Henryetta, where there was a motel with a room available. That room had a TV, but it didn’t work. It also had roaches. I recall a vigorous argument between my parents and the fear I had about the international situation. Maybe that memory is the reason why I like to be sure I know where I’m staying each night. More likely I’m just an exacting planner. I may consider being spontaneous about these things someday. But not yet.
One of the perks of this trip was using frequent flyer miles. We have a credit card that offers them, a dollar earned for a dollar spent, on any airline offering domestic service. We put almost every expense each month on the card. By the time we were ready to book our flights we had enough miles for one round-trip ticket to Europe.
I called Capital One, the credit card company, in February and ordered two tickets. I wanted the first ticket to be purchased with the frequent flyer miles and the second to be billed on the credit card. I asked for a British Airways flight. The agent tried to talk me into United, but I said no, we wanted a nonstop from Seattle rather than the plane change in Chicago. Also, I’d heard that the service was better on British Airways. Having experienced the cattle-car atmosphere of domestic United flights, I was ready for something different. In the back of my mind, too, I thought there might be less risk of terrorism on a foreign carrier. I expect we’ll consider this kind of thing for a good long while.
I was told that the maximum amount applicable to a ticket with my frequent flyer miles was $1,000. The high-season cost of each round-trip Seattle-to-Heathrow ticket was $1,127. So $127 would be charged to the credit card for the first ticket, and the full amount would be charged for the second ticket.
The tickets arrived in the mail within a week, along with two receipts, each noting that my credit card number had been billed. The $127 for the first ticket appeared on the March credit card bill. The $1,127 did not. I waited until July, and then I called the credit card company. I told them I hadn’t been charged yet for the second ticket, and I wanted to make sure everything was straightened out before I got to the airport and found out I couldn’t board the plane because my ticket hadn’t been paid for. The customer service rep took down my information. Two days later, a different person called me back and took down my information again. She told me she’d get back to me. She never did. And, as of the October credit card bill, the charge for the other ticket has not turned up. Thank you, Capital One!
The time between February and August should have been easy. Our plans were made, after all. Bookings were complete. Just pack the suitcases, make arrangements for the pets to be fed, and leave for the airport, right?
Wrong. In March, I got a windfall from my mother and decided to redo the inside of the house a la modified feng shui. For five months we had painters, sheetrock men, silk plant experts, art framers and furniture arranging experts to contact, supervise and thank. Every room in the house was painted, and most got at least a partial remake. I made uncounted numbers of trips to stores for bedding, window coverings, office furnishings, family room accessories, and tabletop fountains. I scoured internet sites for what I couldn’t find locally. We were going to have an English family living in our house for three weeks, and I wanted it to be presentable.
After some initial enthusiasm and support, Art’s attention was directed elsewhere. In late May he fell off a truck while on an overnight overtime job, cracking a rib. He was off work on disability leave for three months. I expected that he would use the unexpected time off to install, hang, build and refinish some of the items I bought for the house. He chose instead to work off his own list, whatever that looked like. I’m not sure exactly what did get accomplished other than the slow healing of his rib, but it wasn’t what I’d hoped for.
Also, I spent some time finding the right footware for our hikes. I have middle-aged, flattening feet and a bunion. When we got home from Ireland in 1999 I spent several hundred dollars on a pair of Mephisto walking shoes that felt just wonderful – for the first three miles on the trail. After that they just plain hurt. I tried again last year with a pair of Merrell boots. They were just a shade narrow. As long as I didn’t walk downhill on sidewalks, they were okay, but they aggravated my bunion otherwise. As our vacation approached, I knew I needed to have friendly boots.
I thought about taking the Merrells to Shane Hayes at Shane’s Foot Comfort Center, even though I hadn’t bought them there. Shane was my salvation when I was trying to find footgear that could carry me through the walking marathon. For that event, I ended up with custom orthotics in Brooks walking shoes. That combination was exactly right. I’d tried to put the orthotics in the Merrell boots, but they were too snug. I called Shane, and he told me to come in. He said Merrell was a good brand and probably my best bet, given the type of feet I have. He removed the insole from the boots and stretched them on a machine for three days, then applied some kind of magic ointment so they’d hold their shape. I went for a six-mile walk on sidewalks – from our house to Lowe’s and back – and the boots were friendly.
As I watched the August 3 arrival of our exchange family grow nearer and nearer, and saw boxes still waiting to be emptied and their contents installed in the rooms of our house, I gritted my teeth to keep from nagging Art to do what needed doing while I was at work. I wasn’t always successful in keeping my mouth shut, especially when I came home to the same unfinished business and found out Art had spent the afternoon playing pinochle with friends. By the time our departure day arrived, we’d been in a standoff for a couple of weeks. We knew it was time for a vacation.