Just another day....

Blackpool Zoo

I know that I have been the worst about updating this on this current trip of mine, partially because of laziness and partially from being busy actually doing things around the Manchester and Preston areas. So here's a little bit of a recap as to what I've been doing so far; snowboarding a few times, movies, this really cool looking mall called the Trafford Center, Blackpool Zoo, Blue Planet Aquarium, BBQ's, Goosnargh Whitsuntide Festival, and more.

Trafford Center

Goosnargh Whitsuntide Festival

Blue Planet Aquarium

I think the most eventful things that have happened so far has been in the last few days. Sam took me snowboarding again and let me go on my own this time. All in all, not a very good day for me. I fell so many times that I ended up with bruises on both knees and on my butt. One of my falls was so hard that it ended up knocking my hat off my head. If that had been the worst part of it, that would've been okay with me. But, because this is one of MY trips, there was to be something embarrassing and strange to go along with it. The lifts that they have at the Chill Factore are straight bars that have a curve at the bottom and a little disk to hold you on and pull you up while you stand on your skis or snowboard. As I was getting on the lift, I fell off right away and decided to just let the next person get on instead. To do that, I had to scoot back just a little. It turned out it was just enough to get hit in the head by the next bar. I think I was fairly close to a concussion because I ended up having a huge headache and had trouble focusing for very long along with nausea and just an overall sick feeling. After finishing up with the snowboarding stuff, Sam and I went to see Snow White and the Huntsman (great movie by the way). But the last few days have not been the best. Yesterday I woke up with an awful UTI, the worst I've ever had, so I had Sam take me to a few places so I could get the essentials (you know, sweatpants, cranberry juice, and a hot water bottle) and had a very very lazy day just drinking more fluids than one should drink in a week. So, even though I am feeling so much better today, I'm thinking at least a mostly lazy day again today. Next week I should have some more photos and some more exciting things to report.

Just a mildly long update

For those of you who actually read this, I apologize for how boring this post might be. But then again, I am grateful that it has no reason to be all that interesting. I haven’t been able to post since I began my journey because the internet is pretty slow here and I just got the password for it this morning. However, for those of you who are interested, here’s how my trip has gone so far. Sunday night I ended up calling in sick, mainly because I figured a little family time with the Kansas City folks would be absolutely wonderful and a nice relaxing start to my vacation….it was all that and more! I love spending time with the Kansas City Albrights! Nice wonderful dinner, some talking time, and a very early bedtime was exactly what I needed! Monday it was off to the airport, but not before a quick trip to Hallmark for Katrina’s meeting for work. While she was in her meeting, Paul gave me a little tour of the building, which was really cool. Once we were at the airport, it took me a grand total of ten minutes to get my stuff checked and go through security (I love Kansas City’s airport, it’s so incredibly quick and easy, and it’s got free wifi!). And yes, I remembered my passport. I must say that this current trip has been running relatively smoothly compared to my previous trips. All my flights left on time, there was no mad rushing to catch the next flight, and even the airports that I had my layovers at were very easy to navigate (Detroit Metro Airport has to be my favorite airport that I’ve been to to date. It has three terminals, two of which are in the same building, and the third is just a walk through a tunnel away.) The only mishap I’ve had at this point on this trip was the airline temporarily lost my luggage. But they found it and I was only luggage-less for a day and a half. So Sam took me to ASDA (a Wal Mart sister company) for a set of clothes so I didn’t have to wear the same clothes I had on in the airplane. All in all, not too shabby. Since I have now been here a week, I’ll give a few quick updates since my arrival. Tuesday and Wednesday we really couldn’t do anything since we were waiting for the curriers to deliver my bags. Thursday we went to Chill Factore, where Sam teaches snowboarding, for my private two-hour lesson. I guess I did pretty well. Friday we didn’t really do a whole lot except lay out in the garden and go to see Dark Shadow. For a Tim Burton/Johnny Depp/ Helena Bonham Carter movie, I was a little disappointed. The weather has been very nice, bordering on unusually warm since I’ve been here. I even sunburnt Saturday between going to the Chipping Steam Fair and the BBQ we had at Sam’s brother’s house. The Chipping Steam Fair was really cool. It reminded me a lot of the county fairs we have at home. It was mainly mechanical displays of steam-powered engines, tractors, cars, commercial vehicles, and bikes – both motorized and non-motorized. There were, of course, the usual food stands, games, and goods stands where you can find anything that you may need and a lot of stuff you definitely don’t need. Sam being who he is, insisted on doing the “Strong man” game, the one where you hit the bottom with the sledgehammer and try to get the thing to hit the bell at the top, and won me a pink blowup guitar. The BBQ at Sid’s house was fun as usual, except that my sunburn from earlier that day only got a little worse on one side of my body. I did get hit on my bad hip with a tennis ball when we took the dogs out to play, but that was nothing, and the guy who threw it felt really bad about it. Yesterday (Sunday) we went back to Chill Factore for a special event Sam’s been looking forward too. They were having Nordic Skiing lessons. So he went and did that for 6.5 hours while I sat around deeply regretting my decision to leave my snowboard at his house. He had a lot of fun doing it though, and ended up being really good at it (no surprise there). So that brings us to today (Monday). It’s about 8 am here and it seems like the sun has been up for at least 3 or 4 hours already (I swear, it seems like it’s only dark for about 5 or 6 hours a day). I think all we have planned for today is laundry and cleaning and maybe a little grocery shopping. So, for now, that’s all I got. Have a great Memorial Day and a fantastic week!

(They wanted to keep me company)

All good things must, we'll just say pause for now

I know I haven’t posted for a few days, that was entirely due to laziness. The rest of the trip to Tignes was pretty uneventful, unless your idea of adventure is being told a certain lift was open, getting to the bottom of a very long run and finding out it was actually closed and then getting to ride a piste smasher all the way up to the top an exciting day. It was fun though. Especially since one of the guys in our group had a bunch of “Skiing? It’s a bit sh*t” stickers with him and put it on top of the piste smasher. I have come to the realization that I really need a travel buddy with me when I go anywhere. For my own safety half the time. The other half it’s mainly for amusement and to help the time pass by faster. Waiting wasn’t nearly as tedious and boring when I had 6 other people with me.
The rest of the time I spent in Manchester was shopping and relaxing. Got presents for the two and a half babies in the family, Sam bought me a nice jacket so I “wouldn’t have to wear that Columbia thing anymore” and a sweater shirt/dress from his mom.
All in all, the rest of the trip to this point has been fairly smooth. I don’t want to say entirely smooth since it’s 9:10 and my 9:30 flight to Heathrow has already been delayed by 20 minutes. Jerks won’t even put up which gate it’s going to be at. So right now I’m just kinda chillin’ in the lounge area.

I am happy (I guess) to report that the rest of my journey was uneventful. No more delays, no long, arduous waits in the terminal, no mechanical troubles, and yes, I did have my passport. But that was about two and a half days ago. Right now I am sitting at work, bored out of my mind since we have two extra people and barely enough work for the six people that are supposed to be here. However, it has given me some time to sort and upload my pictures from my trip, the few that I took. It’s also allowed me to do a little job searching, which would greatly help with the little funk I’m currently in.

Just to clarify before I actually write my post, at this time, I have no internet connection. I’m posting this later than I’m writing it.

So it’s day 2 of our trip to France. Nothing too exciting happened yesterday. I had one of my episodes yesterday in line waiting to check in for the flight. That was fun. I scared Sam half to death because it was a full blown episode, you know, cheeks went super pale, got super hot and then broke out in a cold sweat, dizzy, nausea, the whole shebang. That finally passed as soon as I tried to make myself throw up. Almost missed our flight because no one wanted to go to the gate until last call. When we got to Geneva, our bus driver was early (thankfully) and he was an Englishman, so his driving was mad and it felt a lot like being on a roller-coaster.

Today, we woke up to a lot of wind. When we were supposed to be on our way to the mountain, we found out that the lifts were delayed because of wind. So we sat around for another hour or so. We finally were able to get some news, and the lifts were closed for the day. So being in a hotel full of anxious snowboarders, what happened? They decided to go and hike up the mountain in a place where there was a little bit of snow. And I decided to go with them, at first. As soon as we got to the mountain, I started feeling wonky again. So I went back to the hotel. Now, I’m sitting in my hotel room with no internet connection, my battery and my ipod are both running low on battery, I have no book, and I already too a nap. Oh, and as dumb as this may sound, I’m locked in my room. Funny thing, I have never seen the type of lock that’s on the inside of this door and no matter how hard I try to open it, the only thing that happens is that the knob keeps spinning or comes out.

Update: I let the people at the front desk know about it, and they said I could have some free beer tonight!

It's a beautiful day, think I'll leave the country, maybe.

Be prepared to do either a lot of reading or a lot of skimming, because this is a long one.

My third trip to England. Although I have yet to have a completely smooth trip, this time it is totally and completely my fault. Yes. I, a woman, am taking responsibility and saying that I am not perfect. I forgot my passport and ended up missing all of my original flights.

Here’s the kicker to that situation. When I was cleaning out my purse to transfer everything to another one about a month ago, I deliberately put my passport aside so I wouldn’t lose it/forget it if I ended up taking another purse. I was not thinking, very tired from working three jobs, and got everything else ready in ten minutes before leaving for work. Those might have had something to do with it, but I was still an idiot for forgetting it. Luckily I have the best family ever and my sister sped to meet my aunt and me halfway between Kansas City and Omaha. My aunt was amazing and sped to meet my sister and try to make it to the airport on time (oh yeah, I realized I didn’t have my passport 3 hours before my flight and it took me about 30 minutes to get a hold of anyone). We did make it before the plane departed, but only by five minutes and it was already away from the gate. So, they were able to get me on new flights, but only to London. I pretty much told them if they could get me across the ocean, I could figure out a way to get to Manchester.

There are several situations in life that I think people need to at least have a plan B for if things don’t go the way they are supposed to. I believe that missing a flight is one of those situations. In my case, it’s not something I would have given a thought to if it had not happened. Although it’s not the best situation, it is a lesson for me. Don’t forget your frickin passport!

When I was waiting for my first flight from Kansas City to Chicago, I looked up train and plane tickets to see what would be cheaper. Flying within England is cheaper and the actual travel time is faster. Which was good for me because I’ve never been on a train before (that’s on my list of things to do before I’m 30) and I would’ve been completely lost. So I found flights that ended up being $72. That I could handle (with a little help from my mom till payday). Since I didn’t have enough time to book before they started boarding, I waited until I got to Chicago. Once in Chicago, I tried booking on my new smartphone, but couldn’t view the full page, so I had to pay $7 to use the internet (grossly overpriced in my opinion, but what can you do? I was still able to access the internet in London, so that was good).

So now I get to wait for my flight to Manchester to start boarding. It’s delayed, of course.


Travel tips
Any one that knows me well, knows that I don’t usually have a problem doing things that make people give me funny looks. Waiting for a flight in an airport after having been on planes for the last 11 hours is absolutely no exception. Today my little travel tip has to do with a little thing I call an airport shower. I was feeling very gross after running around the London Heathrow airport carrying my snowboard bag FULL of stuff, my duffle bag with all my clothes for the trip, and my backpack that had things like and ipad, a computer and two camera’s in it, not to mention all the snowboarding magazines I brought over for my boyfriend. Needless to say, I was sweaty and stinky. So, after going through security, I found a Boots shop (kinda like Walgreens). I was able to get some dry shampoo, facial cleansing wipes, and face wash (I already had deodorant and a toothbrush and some toothpaste with me.
You can probably figure out how this airport shower went, but in case not, it’s super easy. I found the nearest bathroom and commandeered a stall for a little while. The facial cleansing wipes I used all over my body. It has cleanser in it, it’s gentle on the skin, and most importantly since I didn’t have a towel, it dried quickly. Since my duffle bag was my carryon, I changed my clothes (including my socks). As soon as I was done in the bathroom stall, I moved to the sink. Sprayed in the dry shampoo, washed my face, brushed my teeth, and popped my contacts in. I always like having a hat with me too, especially since I just cut my hair and hadn’t had the chance to straighten it at my aunt and uncle’s house. Voila, not as smelly and a little cleaner. I did get a lot of strange looks from people in the bathroom, but by that point, I really didn’t care.





Airline Critique
I’ve decided that I’m going to start critiquing the airlines I fly with just to try to help people out with making their own travel arrangements.

Continental - I’ve flown with them most often, just out of convenience. They’re ok. The staff isn’t the friendliest or the most helpful. The in flight entertainment is good though. You get to pick what you watch/listen to and when it starts. The meals are adequate.

United Airlines - First time flying with them. They are very helpful. The staff is polite and willing to help. The in flight entertainment’s not the best, you have 9 channels to choose from and they play the same thing repeatedly. You don’t get to choose when you start watching the movie/listening to music. The meals are ok, but small.

If anyone has critiques of other airlines, please feel free to share!

EXTREME!!!!!!!

Today we woke up to 6 inches of snow on the ground, the road to Denver apparently closed, and really really heavy eyelids.......until we found out we could still make it to Loveland Ski Area! It was fantastic! I swear, I have the best luck when it comes to lessons and great instructors (including Sam). Either that or I am completely stupid when it comes to great ski days. Both times I've had lessons, it was super cold and windy, but I was able to get a two hour private lesson for $21! And my instructor was really super cool and patient and helped me overcome a little bit of my mind block about going fast down the hills. He also took some fabulous photos and a video of me! Thanks Garrett!

I know I'm still not completely over my mental block because I wiped out quite a bit, but I made them count. There were a few times that I fell so hard that I was rolling down the mountain with my board in the air attached to my feet spinning like a helicopter! Don't worry mom, the snow was so soft I don't think I even got a bruise! In fact, there was so much powder that I face planted a few times because my board kept getting stuck on the snow.

I think that the worse part of the day was when the hook on my pants popped off without me realizing it (I really need to get back to the gym) and when I fell a few times and got snow down my pants. Oh man was it cold! My pants actually stayed wet and cold for the rest of the day. It was over all a really good day though.

There was one thing that I regret about today, but it was slightly out of my control. I only went down the blue hill one time without my instructor there. My reasoning? I couldn't breathe well and was very dizzy and lightheaded and really didn't think that I was going to make it, but I did, just once.
So now we're back in the hotel just hanging out, and I'm about to fall asleep, so good night everyone!

This didn't work last night, but we're back here again!

So last night I tried to write on here and give you a little taste of our trip out to Colorado, but for some reason it just wouldn't load.

Here's the synopsis of why we are in Colorado. Nikki and I have been trying to get out to do some winter sports stuff for the last two months, but could never get anything done. Since we have been getting fed up with life, we decided that we would take a road trip, get some snowboarding in and pretty much just taking in some different scenery. We found out that we were over by one the night that she wanted off and the night that i wanted off, picked up some different shifts, and somehow got the trip planned in a little over a week.

We both worked Sunday night, so we just figured we would leave right away and get some sleep when we got here. I was able to drive for about the first tank of gas, but then I let Nikki's bf drive for a while so I could try to sleep. There were a few things that were fairly memorable (i.e. the hand-painted credit card sign at the first gas station we went to


and the old air-o-plane in the junk lot across the street from same said gas station


and all the trailers that we saw in fields of good ol' western Nebraska)


But we did make it to Colorado fine, so we decided to stop in Denver to go to a really good looking sandwich place called Backcountry Provisions. But it was close. boo. So we found a great little quaint Italian place called Mangiamo Pronto. I highly reccomend it to everyone, it even has vegan and other vegetarian options. I had something with lots and lots of meat in it.

It was delicious.

We then drove the rest of the way to Georgetown where our hotel is (pictures later, it's a very pretty place), and I found out that in heavy snow going down a mountain, I am the driver I hate and make fun of. Yes, I was driving 35 mph on the interstate. After that it was hot tub and bed. What a night!