My huge voting constituency of 8 has largely determined that I should spend my big happy-40th-birthday-you're-not-really-old-and-in-fact-are-still-totally-hot extended vacation next summer in Great Britain as opposed to flitting all over Europe in a desperate attempt to see everything. And now that I put it that way, it does seem far more sensible. When I think it through, with a clear head and not the clouded frantic mind of one who is afraid she might never get back to The Continent (I'm practicing being erudite & sophisticated), the whole original point of spending more time in London is that on our last visit, we were in & out of the town within three days. Yeah. Kinda frenzied. Awesome subway system, thank goodness, but still my shins were killing me and we had to do the Griswold family quick nod then hop back in the car thing at most of the sights.
So to avoid that silliness at the Eiffel Tower and various other places of note, I will heed your wisdom, Eight Loyal & Helpful Readers, and plan a fantastic tour of Scotland & England, and possibly Ireland. Is it weird that I get a bit weepy thinking about the history of places I'll see? Castles where would-be kings & queens were held, walls that held back ancient armies, lakes and churches and countrysides that inspired poets & playwrights - I might touch the very things those people touched hundreds of years ago. Okay, I probably won't because there would be shouting and fining and deporting and such, but I would be close enough to touch those things.
This is the most appealing trip I've found so far, except for the eye-rolling corniness of Day 4's "Sheep Thrills" excursion. Groan. If any of the other 22-26 tour members laugh out loud at that, I might throw up my bangers. (I'm getting very good at this local lingo, no?) Ooh, but then I clicked on "Why this tour is physically demanding" and noticed a number of troubling items - namely, carrying luggage three flights and sleeping without air conditioning. Hmm.
Stay tuned for my next poll posing the question of whether I should pay big money to take a tour with potentially old & wacky people who get excited about visiting sheep centers and insist on calling the United States "the colonies."
