Holy Smokers!

 It's Been Waaaayyy Too Long!

And ALOT Has Happened!

For a while, I just wasn't busy.  Rather than traveling and visiting things, I was hunkered down in my cottages during some very intense Scottish winter weather. I did make little trips, but nothing too "touristy." That raining sideways thing when it is pelting down and blowing 50MPH+. Now it is time to get back on track!! I made a trip to the US (more on that later) to my sister's winter home in Rancho Mirage (right next to Palm Springs) by way of SanFrancisco & to attend an annual women's spiritual conference held in Santa Fe, NM. But first...

I stayed in the Scottish Border's region in the town Drumelzier until early February, when it was time to make my way down south and eventually to catch the plane heading to US from London (Heathrow).. So I went back to Northumberland and the Tynely Family Farm cottage to stay a couple of days & put away my storage bins before I headed to York & then drop off the car. My friend Helen had agreed to store my "extras" while in the US. Thank YOU Helen! Oh, & a word to the wise. Pay for the Tyne Tunnel online before you travel. Otherwise, you'll get a ticket that will come too late to remove the late fee and that the rental car company will pay on your behalf, thus making it more expensive. So instead of costing £1.90 it was £64.90. Yes, £64.90!!

I was due to come back firstly for the IWC (International Women's Conference) that I had scheduled to start on 2/16. But I had actually put it into my calendar a week later than the start date- which was 2/10. This meant I wasn't going to make it & my dear friend Denise not only did not have a roommate, but a reserved hotel room. I was so grateful that she was able to arrange something right away (being the seasoned traveler that she is) and attend without further complications. Reserving the room on the wrong dates carried throughout my arrangements for the conference. Portugal Airlines (TAP) also rescheduled me to leave the UK 2 days earlier than planned, which meant that I would not stay in London for those days. But rather, in San Francisco. However while in London, I did manage to take in another play - Mousetrap which was great fun & one of the longest running plays. I really love small, old theaters. And London theatre district does not disappoint!

And I also attended a Van Gogh immersive exhibition. Really great - I did learn that he was color blind. Which is why he exhaustively used the colors that he did. Especially in his sunflower series. Of which there were over 200.

I recorded a couple of videos in the immersion room. Video with effects & sound. YouTube refused to download because of copyright infringement on one of them. I don't plan on receiving any revenue, but just wanted to share my experience. It was most enjoyable. So what started out as early, ended up being late on my trip. And a HUGE disappointment about missing the conference (beyond words actually). 

I very fortunately & won a 1st class suite (yes, not seat - suite) in the lottery from Lisbon to San Francisco. so that was a very good thing (10 1/2 hour direct flight). I used CC points to pay for a little boutique hotel near the Wharf & Shopping District called Petite Auberage while in San Francisco. 

The hotel was clean, quirky, & the staff were very kind. They could however, use fresh pastries at the continental breakfast.

San Francisco was not really where I wanted to be and I had serious jet lag coming over. So I stayed close & didn't do much while there.

Prior to leaving London, I was on the Underground subway (with my luggage) on my way to the airport the train jerked really hard to start before I had an opportunity to sit down. It knocked off my feet and I hurt myself. Two kind men immediately helped me and one even insisted on giving up his seat. But as I traveled to the US, my arm kept throbbing. I finally inspected it in a mirror and found this impressive bruise.

So I landed in the US and after SanFrancisco, flew to Palm Springs/Rancho Mirage to my sister's winter home. Very comfy and so wonderful to see her (& the hubby Mike).

And some of the nearby mountains.

Janie & I went out shopping to a clothing store. She is like I am - get in & get out! But she kept me hostage that day wanting to try this or that on, looking for a new pair of shoes, etc. Not really like her at all.

Little did I know, that this little surprise was waiting for me at the house when we returned! Fantastic - they had been planning it for weeks!! The Nunley sistas are together again!!

And we had a really good time throughout the week. Went to dinner, took drives, completed two 1000 word jigsaw puzzles, shopped, got our hair done (BIG story with that I'll save for another day...), went to the theatre & enjoyed local entertainment. Oh, we also did an Escape Room. Which by the way, we escaped before the hour was up! Good time was had by all. Thank you Mike for the wonderful suggestion and to my sisters with great follow-through. I never suspected a thing!

And soon, it was time to leave. Both of us heading back to SanFrancisco. Joni on up to Seattle & then Anchorage. Me, taking a direct flight on Virgin to London. I tried really hard to get upgraded to 1st Class, but it was completely sold out. So I settled for premium seating. Which worked out well even though I still couldn't sleep. What a long day - up more than 30+ hours. 

When I arrived in London, it was pretty speedy through the border & customs. Which was a wonderful surprise & relief. I had decided while waiting for my luggage that I would not take the Underground to King's Crossing because I really didn't want to wrangle the bags. But rather taking a cab into town & have a guy do the wrangling for me seemed like a better idea. Little did I know that the Underground was on strike that day. THE WHOLE SYSTEM. Meaning, all six lines were closed. So I would've schlepped my bags down to the undergrounds station only to find out that I needed to go back upstairs and through to another terminal area to a very large cab queue. so I get in a cab with a really nice guy - Rupert. Rupert has been driving in London for well over 25 years. So he knows the town well. Needless to say, all the bus stops, train queues, foot traffic, and motor traffic were beyond super busy. It took over 2 hours to get from Heathrow to Alhambra Hotel on Argyle Road. It usually takes about 50 minutes. I have never been in a cab so long - we even had to make a stop at a convenience store to pick up water! But we had a really great chat on the way. Meanwhile in the back seat, I switched my SIM card to my UK company & my phone started acting weird. It wouldn't restart, was stuck on taking pictures, and when the keyboard finally came up, it defaulted to Italian. ITALIAN! Which I couldn't change. Finally I set it aside and let the phone work itself out. The faire would've been over £160, but Rupert only charged me £85. Said it was a pleasure to drive me since I didn't get mad at him about the whole situation. It wasn't his fault. But I was so glad that I had made the cab decision at baggage reclaim so there wasn't a queue. And I was really happy that I didn't have to drive - as it was a nightmare situation! But it makes a funny story.

So I made it up to York by train and picked up this brand new ride.

Tomorrow I fly to Birmingham from Edinburgh so I can attend the annual Cruft's Dog Show. My sister Joni and I usually watch it together on TV. This was her Christmas present to me and I am pretty excited. So I will get back on track to post Tales updates on Wednesdays again. I have big plans coming up and many experiences to share with you.

And as always, thank you so much for reading and enjoying my Tales.