Emily's reflections
So my reflections on our trip will be pretty different from Cary's, I think. I just read his post and while I did notice the greater involvement of the British government in people's everyday lives, my noticing was more like, "Hmm, that's interesting. Oh look, an old building!" That's one of the cool parts of traveling with another person, particularly your spouse - they point out things you might never give a second thought to. Cary was really good at doing that on our trip, and at being "in the moment," remembering that we were in Britain when all I could think about was being cold or tired or hungry.
I don't really have an overall impression of Britain this time around - it's hard to summarize a whole country, especially a country that is made up of four countries (i.e. England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland). When I came back from my first trip to England at age 18, I had a very romantic view of the country - I thought everything was absolutely perfect. This time, I still thought everything was great, but being older and part of the decision-making process this time, I came away seeing Britain a little more realistically - a great place, but not a perfect place. So to reflect, I think I will give a list of things I liked and things I didn't like.
Things I Liked:
1. The whole country is chock-full of historic sites. I love how nonchalant people are about them. Like, "Right, so there's our local ruined medieval abbey. In the middle of a public park." In the US, a medieval anything would have a museum built around and would charge an arm and a leg to see it.
2. Cream tea (tea, scones, clotted cream, and jam). Yummy!
3. Good manners. Obviously there are jerks everywhere, but I noticed how polite so many Britons are when we landed at the Orlando airport and one of the airport workers was screaming at people about how to line up for the trams. In Britain, I probably would have heard, "Right, madam, can you please move to your left? Thank you."
4. Linguistic fun! For those of you who don't know, I just finished my master's degree in linguistics, so hearing all the different accents and vocabulary words was a lot of fun for me.
5. Place names. Britain has the best place names of anywhere I've ever been. Everywhere sounds like a town in the Shire. No wonder British writers like J.R.R. Tolkien and J.K. Rowling are so gifted at naming fantastical places in their books.
6. The recording that yells, "MIND THE GAP!" when you get off the subway.
7. The BBC. Their news programs are less sensational than ours, and their sitcoms are great. Plus, no commercials. And, Graham Norton! Best talk show ever.
8. The landscape. From the air, Britain looks like a patchwork quilt of stone fenced-in fields. From the ground, it's just as pretty. Sure, there are not-pretty parts, but most everywhere we visited abounded in beautiful views.
9. Sheep.
10. Getting to know friends of friends or family. I read part of Lonely Planet's guide to Britain (the most negative series of guidebooks I've ever read), which claimed that Britons are so reserved that you will not make any friends on your trip. This is patently untrue and Lonely Planet should be informed. Maybe this attitude is why they're so lonely.
11. Walking everywhere. My legs are in awesome shape now (although my midsection suffered a little from all the scones).
12. B&Bs. Such a better experience than staying in a hotel.
13. Public transportation, especially trains.
14. Pubs - British ale and cider are really good. I'm not a big beer drinker, so this is saying a lot.
15. Jenny Lo's Tea House.
Things I Didn't Like:
1. Being one of a massive horde of tourists. This is not Britain's fault. I just didn't like it.
2. The exchange rate. Again, not Britain's fault.
3. 60-degree weather in June. Not pleasant for me, especially when combined with rain.
4. The BBC's nonstop coverage of the 60th birthday of the National Health Service. We got it - the NHS is great.
5. I saw the Church of England doing a lot of positive things to relate to people while we were there (like with the Ladds and at Holy Trinity Brompton), but in a lot of ways, what I saw of the church leadership in the news didn't seem to have much connection with people in their everyday lives. I didn't feel that people were super concerned about the goings-on of the church. As an Anglican here in the US, that was kind of a bummer.
6. I would have liked to be able to see more of Cambridge and Oxford, but so much is closed to visitors. I understand that the educational experience is ancient and hallowed at these universities, but that seems kind of snobby to me.
As you can see, I had way more likes than dislikes on our trip. And most of my dislikes were things that couldn't be helped. Overall, I had a great time and would 100% recommend visiting the places we visited to anyone (although I would probably spend two days fewer in Llandudno if I went back). Stay tuned for my Top 10 Place Names and Street Signs lists later this weekend!
-Emily
I don't really have an overall impression of Britain this time around - it's hard to summarize a whole country, especially a country that is made up of four countries (i.e. England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland). When I came back from my first trip to England at age 18, I had a very romantic view of the country - I thought everything was absolutely perfect. This time, I still thought everything was great, but being older and part of the decision-making process this time, I came away seeing Britain a little more realistically - a great place, but not a perfect place. So to reflect, I think I will give a list of things I liked and things I didn't like.
Things I Liked:
1. The whole country is chock-full of historic sites. I love how nonchalant people are about them. Like, "Right, so there's our local ruined medieval abbey. In the middle of a public park." In the US, a medieval anything would have a museum built around and would charge an arm and a leg to see it.
2. Cream tea (tea, scones, clotted cream, and jam). Yummy!
3. Good manners. Obviously there are jerks everywhere, but I noticed how polite so many Britons are when we landed at the Orlando airport and one of the airport workers was screaming at people about how to line up for the trams. In Britain, I probably would have heard, "Right, madam, can you please move to your left? Thank you."
4. Linguistic fun! For those of you who don't know, I just finished my master's degree in linguistics, so hearing all the different accents and vocabulary words was a lot of fun for me.
5. Place names. Britain has the best place names of anywhere I've ever been. Everywhere sounds like a town in the Shire. No wonder British writers like J.R.R. Tolkien and J.K. Rowling are so gifted at naming fantastical places in their books.
6. The recording that yells, "MIND THE GAP!" when you get off the subway.
7. The BBC. Their news programs are less sensational than ours, and their sitcoms are great. Plus, no commercials. And, Graham Norton! Best talk show ever.
8. The landscape. From the air, Britain looks like a patchwork quilt of stone fenced-in fields. From the ground, it's just as pretty. Sure, there are not-pretty parts, but most everywhere we visited abounded in beautiful views.
9. Sheep.
10. Getting to know friends of friends or family. I read part of Lonely Planet's guide to Britain (the most negative series of guidebooks I've ever read), which claimed that Britons are so reserved that you will not make any friends on your trip. This is patently untrue and Lonely Planet should be informed. Maybe this attitude is why they're so lonely.
11. Walking everywhere. My legs are in awesome shape now (although my midsection suffered a little from all the scones).
12. B&Bs. Such a better experience than staying in a hotel.
13. Public transportation, especially trains.
14. Pubs - British ale and cider are really good. I'm not a big beer drinker, so this is saying a lot.
15. Jenny Lo's Tea House.
Things I Didn't Like:
1. Being one of a massive horde of tourists. This is not Britain's fault. I just didn't like it.
2. The exchange rate. Again, not Britain's fault.
3. 60-degree weather in June. Not pleasant for me, especially when combined with rain.
4. The BBC's nonstop coverage of the 60th birthday of the National Health Service. We got it - the NHS is great.
5. I saw the Church of England doing a lot of positive things to relate to people while we were there (like with the Ladds and at Holy Trinity Brompton), but in a lot of ways, what I saw of the church leadership in the news didn't seem to have much connection with people in their everyday lives. I didn't feel that people were super concerned about the goings-on of the church. As an Anglican here in the US, that was kind of a bummer.
6. I would have liked to be able to see more of Cambridge and Oxford, but so much is closed to visitors. I understand that the educational experience is ancient and hallowed at these universities, but that seems kind of snobby to me.
As you can see, I had way more likes than dislikes on our trip. And most of my dislikes were things that couldn't be helped. Overall, I had a great time and would 100% recommend visiting the places we visited to anyone (although I would probably spend two days fewer in Llandudno if I went back). Stay tuned for my Top 10 Place Names and Street Signs lists later this weekend!
-Emily
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