[Todays run: 3.5 miles (watson road)]
I realize that regular travelers already know all of this stuff. Just skip today’s blog if it bothers you.
Things are different in Europe. (I suppose they are even more different in Asia!)
Last time I was in a motel room in the US it was at a Super 8. The room had two double beds, maybe queen size. There was a desk and a dresser, a chair, a TV, a closet, a sink area and a bathroom with shower. It was really kind of minimal for a motel room around these parts.
Our room in London, like the one in Berlin two years ago, was about half that size. The king sized bed filled the room with barely space to walk around it. There was a closet and a small desk. We had our suitcases on the floor, frequently transferring things on and off the bed as the day progressed. Berlin had a shower only; London had a bath/shower combination with the tub up on a bit of a pedestal so that you had to make a definite step up getting in and a big step down getting out. Both London and Berlin were nicer hotels than the Super 8. The fittings and such were nicer and things were in better repair. But they were much smaller.
We borrowed an electrical connector/adapter kit from my sister-in-law’s family. Plugs in Germany were one type. Plugs in the UK were a different type. The adapter kit did the job for us. One outlet in the bathroom of our hotel room in London actually would accommodate a regular two-prong plug. But the system was 200 volts I believe. That worked OK with our computer and phone chargers. My wife’s hair dryer definitely did not get along with the higher voltage and we ended up throwing it away.
Money was Pounds instead of dollars. The smallest paper money was a 5. Coins were 2, 1, .50, .20, .10, .05, .02, .01. And the coins are not the predictable sizes. (Our .05 is bigger than our .10. Their .02 was big, almost as big as the .50. The 1.0 and 2.0 coins were gold colored, the medium denominations were silver colored and the lower ones were copper colored.) Being a big city, it was hard for me to calibrate how much things should cost anyway. So I really can’t say if it was expensive or not. I don’t think it was terrible.
The toilets in the UK are different. Some have two flushes, either low or high flow. Some had two buttons, others had a handle but you had to work it twice to get the higher flow. I felt like I was just getting the hang of that when it was time for us to leave. There was some mild anxiety with this because I couldn’t count on getting things right the first time.
We weren’t there long enough for me to get the hang of the left-hand drivers. I wasn’t driving myself, but as a pedestrian it’s good to know which way things are going. We had one instance I distinctly remember when we had no idea when it was safe to cross the intersection. We latched on to a native and did what they did.
Our cell phone plan allowed us to continue on as we did at home for an extra fee per day. Wifi was everywhere in the hotels and such. There was wifi on the regional train. But none of that seemed to work in the Underground. We used our computers just like when we travel in the US.
Time was different from home by 5 hours and from work by 6 hours. So I would get calls from the office in the afternoon and evening. Folks at work were going home when it was 11 pm and I was in bed.
One thing was very reminiscent of home. I saw this kiosk in the fancy mall near our hotel.
