Oh yes. It was amazing. I loved every minute of it. It was a great nights sleep… Sure, I slept a bit on the plane, but in and out as we all do. But today I was up and ready to go. London. Wow, I can’t believe I’m here, but I am, so time to explore.

First to forage for food. Well just around the corner was MA. Free range eggs, organic ingredients and a menu that changes daily. Sounded good to us. Now I don’t remember what the name of this dish was, but it had a small potato ball, mushrooms, fresh braised tomatoes, two medium eggs and baked beans topped off with a couple of veggie sausages. It was terrific. If I didn’t want to explore, I’d have it again tomorrow, but there’s another place that has a sign that says, “Brillient Breakfast.” It’s only open for breakfast and lunch, so I think I’m there in the morning.

We asked our waitress, “Which stop do we take, once we get on the tube (subway), to go to downtown to see all the cool sites?” She laughed and said, “You are in downtown. If you get on the tube, you will spend four pounds to the next stop that’s about a 10 minute walk.” (Lesson one, get a map before you ask really stupid questions unless you just want to entertain the locals.) But, as you know, I’m in the entertainment business, so what the hell, we started walking.

The energy here is amazing. Everything is majestic, historical and amazingly enough, pretty common place for the locals. I never thought about that part of it. People take the miricals of history, that I’ve only dreamed about seeing as just daily life. What an eye opener. I have to think on that for a while, but a very interesting discovery for me. Actually kind of life changing in a way. We passed the Eye, and train stations, streets, shops, the The River Thames, bridges, pubs and then we found the the London Duck Tours. Now we’re talking. A tour of London by an anphibious Duck boat.

So we jumped on and away we went. The palace, Big Ben, museums, gallery’s, a wonderful guide that knew everything about everything and presented it in a whacked out manor with that in the face British humor. After the land tour we pulled up to the River Thames, cruised down a ramp and splashed into the river. Off we go. Throwing us more facts and entertainment up river about a mile and then back to the ramp. It was a great tour and gave us a thumbnail view of what downtown is all about. Score!

Once off the boat/bus, we started the hike back to the flat stopping at a pub with the most incredible fish and chips with smashed peas I’ve ever had. What a great dinner. I’m not drinking alcohol at the moment, but Pat wanted to sample a local beer. She chose a lager. The bartender brought out three for her to taste. She chose one. He brought it to the table and I took a sip to make sure it was okay. Wow! Bummer of a time to be on the wagan. It was GREAT!

So a couple of doors down, was a store. Kind of like a 7-11 in the states, but more of a convince store. It had fruit, meats and general stuff for eating and drinking, but a lot of organic foods too. It seems to be the norm around here. How cool is that. The stores have real food and the restaurants serve real food too. People walk. Roads, with two lanes for bikes. People take public transportation and live very healthy lifestyles.

How cool is all of this. At first glance, London is a pretty fantastic place to me. I like it, a lot. But, it’s cool weather. I’d have to buy more long pants in shades of dark green, grays and blacks. I kind of stand out with my white cotten beach pants, a tee-shirt, boat shoes and a Schooner Warf Bar blue denim shirt. I think they know I’m a tourist. Of course I feel that way too when I visit Minnesota. I guess it’s just me.

Also, during this trip, I’m thinking about all the people, places, animals, property and lives that Hurricane Matthew is affecting. My heart, thoughts, love and wishes go out to everyone in his path. Be safe. Be blessed. Lot’s of work to do after this one. Dang!
So home we came, settled in for the night, checked email, blogged, told stories, ice Pete’s neck and now hitting the sack. Tomorrow is another day. Covent Gardens tomorrow and Davenport’s Magic Shop. Treasures to be found in people and places…

Be sure and subscribe below. I want to keep you around for a while. It’s nice to meet you here. Leave comments below if you choose. I’m here for you.

Cheers!

Capt. Paul West

http://www.CellGrasp.com

Well the day has come. Time to load Fredie’s car and have him run us from Fort Myers Beach to Orlando to catch a flight to London, England for the start of our adventure/journey. This is a milestone trip for Pat and I. Pat turned 65. I turn 65 in November. We’ve been married for 25 years and together for 29. We’ve planned this for 2 years and there’s no turning back. Here we go.

It’s my first time in Europe and Pat’s 2nd (She went when she was 19). So a lot of new stuff, places, people and adventures. I’m pretty excited. Yep, I’m half English and half Cowboy according to my Dad. My Mom was full blooded English and my Dad said his heritage was pretty much anything I could think of so I guess Cowboy was the best way he could put it. I’d take one of those DNA tests, but maybe I’ll just call myself a Cowboy.

As we headed north to Orlando, we ran into a pretty impressive storm. It made me think of what is going to happen to Florida and the east coast as Hurricane Mathew works his way north through the Bahamas tonight. My thoughts are with friends in the islands, boats and wildlife. As Jimmy Buffett says, “There ain’t no reason to hurricane season.” Be safe everyone and pay attention. Please.

So after we got to the airport, we headed to the counter and got the tickets and they accepted our 40 pound bags for shipment to London. We headed to the gate to meet up with Pete and Iva our good friends from Illinois. In fact, our trip started out with Pat & Katie from MN, as well as Judy from AZ coming along also, but because of conditions of life, that happens, they had to cancel. So the phrase for this trip is, “And now there were four.” One suggestion from Bro. Dan was, “**** Pat,” but it was overridden, except now Pat has the title anyway.

Well the flight was good. Up the east coast, about 100 to 200 miles off the coast until about New York then we began to head northeast then east to London. It was an 8 hour flight from Orlando and only about 45 minutes of turbulence a couple of times through the night. We left Orlando at 10:30 p.m. and arrived in London at about 11:30 a.m. London time.

After customs, we went to be picked up by our driver to take us to the flat we rented, but he’d left. So we called the company and they sent him back to us. Our 45 minute drive was over to hours because the driver took us through a ton of neighborhoods. He didn’t know how to get to where we needed to go. After two gps’s and a phone call or two to dispatch, WE found the pace for him and all was fine.

A great place, a good dinner and an amazing nights sleep… We were here! Now to explore and meet the locals and experience the sites and the culture.

Capt. Paul West

Paul@CellGrasp.com

http://www.CellGrasp.com

So there was a time in my life where I was part of an entertainment duo. What? You’ve never heard of the Partly Brothers? That’s unbelievable. Partly Music. Partly Magic, but all FUN. So since you may not have been enlightened, I want to take you on a little journey because I’ll be using the Partly Calendar, with all it’s simple but important itracasies.

Brother Dan created this little way of keeping time on the road so that we could smile, laugh and discuss time. We tweaked it so that it is usable, for the most part, to anyone that wants to use it. I’m not sure if it’s ever been in print before, but here we go.

When you start your trip, you jump in the car, that is considered Day 0. That’s because it’s a travel day. Simple huh? Then if you continue your journey it’s, you guessed it, Day 0 again. So basically travel days are Day 0’s.
If you travel and have a Day 0 and you stay at that destination overnight and also the next day, that’s a Day 1. So if you stay a another day, that’s Day 2 and so on. So, for example if you travel the first day, you have a Day 0 and if you stay a week, you’ll get up to maybe Day 7. Then hit the road again for lets say three days, you will have Day 0, Day 0 and Day 0. Then gig for two day’s you then have Day 1 and Day 2 and so on. Simplicity at is finest. http://www.CellGrasp.com

Now Bro. Dan likes to keep it simple. This is a very good idea. When I started cruising with my wife Pat and even when sailing on Panacea for several days at a time, it got me thinking… When that happens, strange things happen
So here’s what I came up with. If we get on a ship and leave port, as you’ve guessed, that’s a Day 0. And let’s say, it takes 3 days to sail to where we are going. That means that we are still in the same room we started in, also in the same environment, especially if we are on a cruise ship.
My thought is that we would have of course, the first day out is a travel day, so that would be, Day 0. The second day of travel is a continuation of travel days, but we are in the same comfy environment, with clothes in the closet and toothbrush on the sink, so that would be a Day 1. So in reality, we are looking at a Day 0.1. Right? Then it makes sense that the next two days would be a Day 0.2 and Day 0.3.
Bro. Dan wholeheartedly disagrees in this continued warped way of thinking. He thinks that they should all be day 0’s to keep the integrity of the basic system intact.
So as this blog continues for the next month, I’ll be checking it out for viability and accuracy. There will be some land based travel and then 23 days of cruise travel. I’ll report as we go as to how this works, or not and embellish the findings. Maybe embellish is not the right word to use, but that’s what I’ll be doing anyway.
It’s a great life. Now time to relax and enjoy our milestone adventure. Total decidance, relaxation, and rejuvenation.
See you on the sea…

Capt. Paul West

Paul@CellGrasp.com
http://www.CellGrasp.com
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