Kat handled the news like a trooper, a simple "Oh no" and then a confident, "I can fix it". We began to formulate a plan, but the plan required the internet. Luckily, the Caffe Nero advertised wi-fi access. It wasn't free, but it would do in a pinch. We grabbed a seat at tightly packed table in the corner with our bags and got out her laptop. The cafe attendants weren't very friendly or much help about getting access to the web. Kat found the log-in screen and the rates, £6 for 90 minutes, and then tried to use her card. That's when we learned it was blocked. I got mine out and it worked. We were online.
Since we had limited time on the internet we decided to find a cheapest place nearby that offered free internet for one night. We figured we'd crash there with our stuff, take a shower, and then use the internet to find a better place for the rest of our stay. I assumed I had lost the deposit I had put down on the imaginary flat already, but was taking it in stride. We also knew we needed to contact Kat's credit company to get her card issue fixed and I would need to go online to complain to the FTC and PayPal about the scam and see what could be done.
I flipped through my guide book and tried to locate cheap places to stay with internet access. This is where I learned having a used guidebook from 2004 doesn't help. Many of the web-sites didn't exist anymore. The first couple we searched for didn't pan out, so Kat decided to just use her stand-by of Orbitz. Right away we found the "Lord Jim Hotel" located at Earl's Court district, just a couple stops away on the Piccadilly line. We booked it for the night, got directions, packed up, and heading back down to the tube station.
The prospect of a shower and a nap kept us going. We climbed onto the tube and headed back in the direction we had come. We got off at Earl's court and climbed to the surface. Little did we know, Earl's Court would become our favorite station. Just a couple blocks away and down a side-street we located the Lord Jim, or as we came to call it, "The internet hole". It seemed cute enough from the outside. It was in a townhouse sandwiched between virtually identical townhouses on either side stretching the full length of the street. A crowd of young travelers were gathered out in front, the first sign that this was barely more than a flop-house. Inside things look very cramped. As we waited to check-in at the lobby, kids were constantly pushing past us. I spotted a sign behind a potted plant. I brushed aside a leaf and read "This is a 2 star establishment".
When the gal at the counter finally got to us she wasn't aware of our reservation. She double-checked the printer and her email, but nothing had come through from Orbitz yet. Regardless, she was willing to give us a key and for the night. A little concerned, but too tired to care, we headed for the lift. The lift was tiny. We could barely fit the two of us with our bags in and get the door closed. I couldn't turn around with my backpack on. Kat thought the lady had said our room would be on the 3rd floor, but I stubbornly said number 26 would be on the second floor and pushed the 2 button. The ride was claustrophobic, but it wasn't much better when we got off the lift. The hallways were narrow and crowded with extra mattresses stacked standing along the walls. There wasn't enough room to walk two abreast. We searched to floor but did not find anything higher than 21.
Once again admitting my failure we returned to the tiny lift and headed up to floor 3. We found our room there. Rooms in London run on the small side, especially at hostels, B&Bs, and any other older establishments. A double is roughly the same size as a queen bed, and it is rare indeed to find a king-sized bed and suite. At B&Bs you have to make sure to get a room with a private bath, otherwise you may be using a shared one down the hall. We had booked a double with a private bath here at the Lord Jim.
When we opened the door we were very disappointed. The room was barely bigger than the bed that occupied it. The only other furniture in the room was a shelf overhanging the bed in one corner that held a cheap plastic coffee maker. Around the corner was a tall narrow door leading to what looked like a closet. The door did not open all the way, hitting the side of the bed, and led to the bathroom. It had all the necessary components: shower, sink, toilet; but it was difficult to turn around in. It was definitely not something two people could occupy at the same time. Everything appeared to be clean enough, but it was definitely lower than our expectations. They were working hard to earn those 2 stars.
We stuffed our baggage between the wall and the foot of the bed, and in front of the hall door. Kat barely got wi-fi reception from our room, but it was enough. Now we were getting hungry, but first things first Kat and I needed a shower and to find a place to live. After we took turns using the bathroom (add poor plumbing to "Lord" Jim's list of crimes) we both laid on the bed, because there was nowhere else to sit, and started looking through the list of places to sleep in my guide book and on the internet. We threw out anything that wasn't non-smoking or didn't have internet access. Our list grew smaller. We included only those that had availability for the next night and the following 9 days. Our list grew even smaller. We paired down those that cost over £150 a night. Our list became a small handful.
Rather than take a chance on getting another tiny room we decided to take our list of possibilities and visit them before deciding. Now that we had showered and had somewhere to leave our bags we felt better about exploring the city. We were also very hungry and needed to find something to eat soon. We wrote down directions to each of the places we planned to visit and headed out again. A couple of the options were near the Lord Jim in the Earl's Court district so we started there. First order of business however was to get to a pay phone and fix Kat's card problem. We found one at the end of the street, called collect to the number on the back of the card and Kat straightened everything out after a few minutes on the phone. Feeling accomplished, we moved on.
The first option looked similar to the Lord Jim from outside and we had no way to contact the owners, their offices were located elsewhere. We decided against pursuing it further and went to find "Think Apartments". Online they looked pretty modern and swanky and claimed to have a stocked kitchenette and other amenities. We were a bit skeptical, having already been burned by a similar pitch. They turned out to actually exist and the front desk clerk was very nice and walked us up to see a sample room. We were pleasantly surprised by them.
The rooms seemed to be straight out of an Ikea catalog. Everything had a slick ultra-modern look to it. There was plenty of room, and it seemed like it would do the trick very nicely. Our only concerns were that the bed was a futon and might not be the most comfortable, there seemed to be a lack of storage space, and it was a bit on the expensive side of things. We thanked the clerk and moved on to the next stop.
Next was the Copthorne Terra Hotel. We discovered that the Earl's Court station was actually a crossing point between 3 major Tube lines; Piccadilly, Circle, and District. We could easily get anywhere we wanted to go from there. That made the Think Apartments option even more tempting. We took the District line to the Copthorne Terra Hotel. This place we even more expensive, but was a full luxury hotel. It was busy with travelers so it took them awhile to get us up to see a room, but the attendant was very nice. The room we were interested in was nice and had plenty of storage space, but did not have a kitchenette and we would have to pay extra for broadband access. We asked the attendant for a suggestion on dinner nearby, because we were both starving at this point, and he pointed us down the road to the Devonshire Arms pub.
We found the pub and sat down to have dinner. We ordered bangers and mash and a beer each and discussed our options. We only had one other place we wanted to check out before deciding, but we were already heavily leaning toward the Think Apartments. Kat was exhausted, and I had twisted my ankle on a low curb just a few meters up the street and was starting to worry that I'd messed it up for the rest of the trip. The food and drink helped rejuvenate us a bit however and we decompressed over the events of the day. I apologized again for the situation and Kat graciously said it could have happened to her as well.
After dinner we went in search of the Comfort Inn at the end of the District Line near Edgware Road. This area was the seediest we had seen yet and it had begun to rain in earnest on us. We found the place on a retail strip squeezed in between what looked like a hardware store and a pharmacy. The lobby reminded me of my days working the counter at the 66 Motel. Cheap, no frills, no questions. We asked if we could see a room and the clerk told us they were all booked up for the night. I was kind of relieved as we left.
We returned to "the internet hole" and sat on the bed together to make our arrangements. We'd decided by that point to go with the Think Apartments, and I had had enough of the hole and wanted to go ahead and book for tonight as well, even if it did mean paying two places for the same night. Kat said she would be up for that, but wanted to look for deals first. Kat began to use her powers of internet deal searching. I watched in amazement as she worked. By the end she had scored us 30% off the basic rate for the next 9 nights and 10% off the rate for the current night. All told it was going to be cheaper than what I had planned to spend on the flat that didn't exist. We made two separate bookings, the best deal through ebookers.com and the single night through Think Apartments' own website just so we could avoid the issue we had at the Lord Jim with reservations not showing up in time. We packed up our belongings, I even took the toilet paper and other bathroom supplies, left a poor review, and headed downstairs to check-out. Our reservation to the Lord Jim had come through by then so they didn't give us any grief about payment.
The walk to Think Apartments was short, but in the dark and the rain. From this direction we passed a Tesco supermarket, right next to the apartments. That made it even more convenient. We checked-in with no problems and went to our room. It was a different layout than the one we had seen, but we were just so happy to not be in the hole anymore that we didn't make a fuss. We got settled in and took stock of our new home for the next few days.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The Stupids Arrive in London
When we woke up we were over England. They fed us a big breakfast right away, the same thing we had on the flight to Houston. It was 9:35am local time on a Tuesday morning and the airport wasn't very busy at all. We got through customs and immigration with no problem at all. Our bags arrived on time and intact. We had nothing to claim so we headed out of the terminal and down toward the tube stations. We needed to get tickets, and I needed cash to we stopped by the first ATM we saw.
Our first trouble was that I couldn't get enough cash out of the ATM at the airport. My rental agreement had said we needed to bring the remainder of the balance at the time of check-in (around £480). Unfortunately the ATM had a limit of £200 max. After arguing with the inanimate object for awhile I withdrew the smaller sum and decided to hit up the next machine I saw for the remainder. I had already alerted my bank as to my travel plans so I hadn't expected to be stymied by the local bank system. Luckily I had a wad of US cash in my wallet already so I exchanged most of it at the currency counter nearby. Now I had about £400, but still not quite enough.
Underground we stopped by a ticket booth and purchased two Oyster cards, supposedly good for one week of public transit, at the rate of £33 a piece. We popped through the turn-stiles and jumped on our first Tube ride on the Piccadilly line. The address on my information was 10 Sherwood which was supposedly just off of the Piccadilly Circus. We sat down and got comfortable and watched the scenery go by. I got out my journal and started taking notes. I wrote "..both looking forward to a shower, hope it's not a scam...". The prerecorded announcer lady's voice kept repeating that this was the line to "Cockfosters". We had a chuckle.
We got off the tube at Piccadilly Circus and were disappointed to not find a lift to the ground floor. We lugged our big bags up a couple flights of stairs and then up an escalator and through the turn-stiles. I found a row of ATMs and attempted to get more money. These all also refused to give me cash. Either they were out of money or there was something wrong with my card. Kat was tired and starting to get frustrated. I was getting nervous. What if I couldn't get all the cash I needed? Why do I need to bring so much cash anyway? I started to get a really bad feeling about the whole setup.
With limited cash in hand and our big bags, we climbed up into the daylight and set about trying to find our rental. Piccadilly Circus was packed with people, mostly tourists. I thought I had a rough idea of where to go, but immediately set off in the wrong direction. I asked a few people if they knew the way to 10 Sherwood and they looked at me confused and couldn't help me. Along the way we tried more ATMs, none of them worked. Kat tried to draw using her credit card, but it required a PIN. She didn't think she had a PIN setup, but guessed and tried anyway. That turned out to be a bad idea. It got flagged as suspicious activity and her card became blocked from further transactions. I finally got a message on one ATM that said "maximum daily amount reached". I guess there's a limit to how much cash you can draw in a day. Who knew?
We stopped in an American Express currency exchange and tourist information center to ask directions. The guy didn't know where 10 Sherwood was, but he directed me to the street. We got there and I started to recognize the area from my Google Maps street view search. There was the theatre showing Grease, and there was the pub at ground floor. There appeared to be apartments above the pub, but I couldn't find a way up anywhere. I expected to meet someone around here to show us the flat, but no one was there. I stopped in a restaurant to ask about number 10 and if there were any flats upstairs. The host was nice enough, but said that this was number 6 and that there was a University upstairs, but no flats. He even tried to call the number on my rental agreement, but he said it looked malformed. We tried guessing at it anyway and it was a wrong number.
Now alarm bells were going off in my head. This was definitely feeling like a scam. Kat was outside looking even more tired and frustrated. My plans for a relaxing honeymoon were imploding. I hadn't completely given up though. I headed outside and we continued our search for 10 Sherwood. We passed by the theatre and a backpacking hostel, who said their address was 12 Sherwood. We got to the next corner in front of a Caffe Nero, a coffee chain we've since seen everywhere, and I parked Kat on the curb, left her with the bags and said I'd go find the place and come back to get her. She was tired of lugging her baggage around so agreed.
I ran back to the theatre, which should have been 10 Sherwood and talked to the folks at the box office. When I explained the situation they were familiar with the scam. They told me that they get people in there all the time looking for flats, and although they were 10 Sherwood, there were no flats above them.
My heart sank. I looked at my documents and now things started to jump out at me as obviously fake. The spelling errors, the bad formatting, the bad grammar, the "googlemail.com" email address, as opposed to "gmail.com", the contact information that looked like a personal email address instead of a business. My mind flashed back to the poorly worded email exchanges, that they wanted to be paid with Western Union, always a red flag, and that I had insisted on PayPal, their lack of response when I emailed them questions about details and directions. I had fallen victim to a rental scam, someone who prides himself on being skeptical had been taken in by such an obvious con. I felt terrible. It would have been one thing if it were just me, I would have accepted the defeat and moved on, but now I had let down Kat as well, my new wife, and this was our honeymoon. I had had one major job during the wedding planning, plan the honeymoon, and now I had apparently screwed that up. Dejectedly, I walked back to the Nero Cafe, to tell Kat the bad news.
Our first trouble was that I couldn't get enough cash out of the ATM at the airport. My rental agreement had said we needed to bring the remainder of the balance at the time of check-in (around £480). Unfortunately the ATM had a limit of £200 max. After arguing with the inanimate object for awhile I withdrew the smaller sum and decided to hit up the next machine I saw for the remainder. I had already alerted my bank as to my travel plans so I hadn't expected to be stymied by the local bank system. Luckily I had a wad of US cash in my wallet already so I exchanged most of it at the currency counter nearby. Now I had about £400, but still not quite enough.
Underground we stopped by a ticket booth and purchased two Oyster cards, supposedly good for one week of public transit, at the rate of £33 a piece. We popped through the turn-stiles and jumped on our first Tube ride on the Piccadilly line. The address on my information was 10 Sherwood which was supposedly just off of the Piccadilly Circus. We sat down and got comfortable and watched the scenery go by. I got out my journal and started taking notes. I wrote "..both looking forward to a shower, hope it's not a scam...". The prerecorded announcer lady's voice kept repeating that this was the line to "Cockfosters". We had a chuckle.
We got off the tube at Piccadilly Circus and were disappointed to not find a lift to the ground floor. We lugged our big bags up a couple flights of stairs and then up an escalator and through the turn-stiles. I found a row of ATMs and attempted to get more money. These all also refused to give me cash. Either they were out of money or there was something wrong with my card. Kat was tired and starting to get frustrated. I was getting nervous. What if I couldn't get all the cash I needed? Why do I need to bring so much cash anyway? I started to get a really bad feeling about the whole setup.
With limited cash in hand and our big bags, we climbed up into the daylight and set about trying to find our rental. Piccadilly Circus was packed with people, mostly tourists. I thought I had a rough idea of where to go, but immediately set off in the wrong direction. I asked a few people if they knew the way to 10 Sherwood and they looked at me confused and couldn't help me. Along the way we tried more ATMs, none of them worked. Kat tried to draw using her credit card, but it required a PIN. She didn't think she had a PIN setup, but guessed and tried anyway. That turned out to be a bad idea. It got flagged as suspicious activity and her card became blocked from further transactions. I finally got a message on one ATM that said "maximum daily amount reached". I guess there's a limit to how much cash you can draw in a day. Who knew?
We stopped in an American Express currency exchange and tourist information center to ask directions. The guy didn't know where 10 Sherwood was, but he directed me to the street. We got there and I started to recognize the area from my Google Maps street view search. There was the theatre showing Grease, and there was the pub at ground floor. There appeared to be apartments above the pub, but I couldn't find a way up anywhere. I expected to meet someone around here to show us the flat, but no one was there. I stopped in a restaurant to ask about number 10 and if there were any flats upstairs. The host was nice enough, but said that this was number 6 and that there was a University upstairs, but no flats. He even tried to call the number on my rental agreement, but he said it looked malformed. We tried guessing at it anyway and it was a wrong number.
Now alarm bells were going off in my head. This was definitely feeling like a scam. Kat was outside looking even more tired and frustrated. My plans for a relaxing honeymoon were imploding. I hadn't completely given up though. I headed outside and we continued our search for 10 Sherwood. We passed by the theatre and a backpacking hostel, who said their address was 12 Sherwood. We got to the next corner in front of a Caffe Nero, a coffee chain we've since seen everywhere, and I parked Kat on the curb, left her with the bags and said I'd go find the place and come back to get her. She was tired of lugging her baggage around so agreed.
I ran back to the theatre, which should have been 10 Sherwood and talked to the folks at the box office. When I explained the situation they were familiar with the scam. They told me that they get people in there all the time looking for flats, and although they were 10 Sherwood, there were no flats above them.
My heart sank. I looked at my documents and now things started to jump out at me as obviously fake. The spelling errors, the bad formatting, the bad grammar, the "googlemail.com" email address, as opposed to "gmail.com", the contact information that looked like a personal email address instead of a business. My mind flashed back to the poorly worded email exchanges, that they wanted to be paid with Western Union, always a red flag, and that I had insisted on PayPal, their lack of response when I emailed them questions about details and directions. I had fallen victim to a rental scam, someone who prides himself on being skeptical had been taken in by such an obvious con. I felt terrible. It would have been one thing if it were just me, I would have accepted the defeat and moved on, but now I had let down Kat as well, my new wife, and this was our honeymoon. I had had one major job during the wedding planning, plan the honeymoon, and now I had apparently screwed that up. Dejectedly, I walked back to the Nero Cafe, to tell Kat the bad news.
Monday, August 09, 2010
Flying to London
Got up early, opened the champagne and sat and had chilled soup leftovers with it. We weren't that hungry so we left most of it there. Checked out of the Clarion Hotel and caught a shuttle to the airport. Checking in as First Class was a breeze. No long lines to wait in. We still had to stand in the huge security queues, but after that it was great. We made sure we could use the "President's Club" lounge, found a comfy seat and made the most of it. Kat fired up her lap-top and used the Wi-Fi while I had a mimosa and ate some of their breakfast stuff.
We boarded right away, and then had to watch all the poor people in coach file past us. Our first leg of the trip was in a 757, so we had big chairs, but not the full sleeping pods. I watched "Date Night", although my headphone jack on the chair didn't work that well. The food was tasty and generous, scrambled eggs and ham and sausage and some sort of potato thing, plus sticky buns and juice and a bowl of fruit. Kat made me eat her mangos. Later we both had a free drink, mine was a whiskey and ginger ale, Kat had a G&T. They also brought us a warm cookie and some milk.
We arrived early in Houston and went straight to the "President's Club". More comfy chairs and no screaming children in there. Kat fired up her laptop again and started playing WoW. I had a free beer and some snacks. Kat was looking forward to our "goo-filled pods" on the next flight.
The "goo-filled pods" were what we had started calling the reclining seats in first class on the 777 plane. On the seating chart they look like little incubators and we had brainstormed that they must put you in hibernation in your own little pod filled with nutrient-rich goo that you float in and simultaneously consume. We imagined that you hatch at the end of your journey, sort of like a caterpillar coming out of a cocoon. Kat said she'd have insect wings and I said I would have those retarded spiral wings that the little lizards in Avatar have that make you spin around out of control.
We boarded with no problems and got to see our "goo-filled pods" for the first time. The seats were huge, with a big monitor in front of each that you could play games and watch movies on. While we got situated they brought us each a glass of wine before take off. We sat and played Bookworm and Alchemy for awhile and then we started to take-off. There was a fancy menu to order from for our dinners. We both chose the beef.
We ate too much and they brought us lots of wine. When they learned we were newlyweds they promised to bring a bottle of champagne at the end of the flight to take with us. The first course of our extended meal was a corn and poblano soup, spring roll with mango cutney, and coconut shrimp. Next had large green salad with blue cheese dressing. The we had our beef with vegetables, followed by a cheese and cracker plate and then a bowl of ice cream with our choice of toppings. We opted for hot fudge and caramel.
While we ate our way through the flight we both played a series of games meant to teach you basic French. We learned our numbers, the months, days of the week, time of day, useful words and basic phrases. Now I know how to say "There are 99 cats in the bedroom" in French. What fun.
After eating we read a bit before going to sleep. The reclining seats slide all the way down and stretch out to for a bed. They claim to fit anyone up to 6'6". I was able to fit comfortably, although you're pretty much forced to sleep on your back. The blankets and pillows they give you are pretty nice. You even get a little travel supply kit with socks, sleeping mask, ear plugs, and other toiletries in it. We settled down with our sleeping supplies and drifted off to sleep for a few hours.
We boarded right away, and then had to watch all the poor people in coach file past us. Our first leg of the trip was in a 757, so we had big chairs, but not the full sleeping pods. I watched "Date Night", although my headphone jack on the chair didn't work that well. The food was tasty and generous, scrambled eggs and ham and sausage and some sort of potato thing, plus sticky buns and juice and a bowl of fruit. Kat made me eat her mangos. Later we both had a free drink, mine was a whiskey and ginger ale, Kat had a G&T. They also brought us a warm cookie and some milk.
We arrived early in Houston and went straight to the "President's Club". More comfy chairs and no screaming children in there. Kat fired up her laptop again and started playing WoW. I had a free beer and some snacks. Kat was looking forward to our "goo-filled pods" on the next flight.
The "goo-filled pods" were what we had started calling the reclining seats in first class on the 777 plane. On the seating chart they look like little incubators and we had brainstormed that they must put you in hibernation in your own little pod filled with nutrient-rich goo that you float in and simultaneously consume. We imagined that you hatch at the end of your journey, sort of like a caterpillar coming out of a cocoon. Kat said she'd have insect wings and I said I would have those retarded spiral wings that the little lizards in Avatar have that make you spin around out of control.
We boarded with no problems and got to see our "goo-filled pods" for the first time. The seats were huge, with a big monitor in front of each that you could play games and watch movies on. While we got situated they brought us each a glass of wine before take off. We sat and played Bookworm and Alchemy for awhile and then we started to take-off. There was a fancy menu to order from for our dinners. We both chose the beef.
We ate too much and they brought us lots of wine. When they learned we were newlyweds they promised to bring a bottle of champagne at the end of the flight to take with us. The first course of our extended meal was a corn and poblano soup, spring roll with mango cutney, and coconut shrimp. Next had large green salad with blue cheese dressing. The we had our beef with vegetables, followed by a cheese and cracker plate and then a bowl of ice cream with our choice of toppings. We opted for hot fudge and caramel.
While we ate our way through the flight we both played a series of games meant to teach you basic French. We learned our numbers, the months, days of the week, time of day, useful words and basic phrases. Now I know how to say "There are 99 cats in the bedroom" in French. What fun.
After eating we read a bit before going to sleep. The reclining seats slide all the way down and stretch out to for a bed. They claim to fit anyone up to 6'6". I was able to fit comfortably, although you're pretty much forced to sleep on your back. The blankets and pillows they give you are pretty nice. You even get a little travel supply kit with socks, sleeping mask, ear plugs, and other toiletries in it. We settled down with our sleeping supplies and drifted off to sleep for a few hours.
Sunday, August 08, 2010
Just Married!
Our wedding was fantastic. All the hard work was very much worth it. The weather was great, the location was beautiful and everyone was working very hard for us. We couldn't be happier with it.
If you weren't there, you should have been. Pictures are available at photobucket. Search for "gatayjefe" under people.
The campbell house was cute, and the room was just what we needed, a little place out of the way and private where we could decompress, take a bath, and take a nap. After that we headed out the putters and got all sweaty again playing laser tag, eating pizza, and drinking beer. We had a great time with our friends there.
Sunday morning we checked out and grabbed breakfast with the Swansons at Keystone Cafe. There we ran into Elliot and Emily as well. It was nice to see them again before they headed back to Portland. After breakfast we went down to the 'Wich House to grab our ice chests and pick up some leftover soup for lunch and our trip to Seattle. Then we went home.
Molly was there to help us move stuff into the house and clean up a bit. I had to sanitize the beer setup before storing it. After Molly left, Kat & I opened cards and gifts and took notes for our thank you list. That took longer than we had planned so we had to hurry up and pack for vacation. I was trying to get to Keizer early enough to visit with Chris and his family before they had to leave.
I double-checked my reservations and printed off everything I had. I had a moment of worry about the rental in London, because my contact hadn't gotten back to me via email about some of my questions. Also, I noticed that my paypal payment had been reversed, but it appeared that it was just to change the currency type. I printed off all my paypal information and brought it with, just in case there was some sort of dispute. I looked up the address via google maps and saw that it was supposedly across the street from a theatre. It looked like there could be apartments above the pub there. I thought "Huh, this will be interesting. Kind of a funky place in the middle of an entertainment district. Oh, well."
We packed in a rush, but only forgot a few minor things. We got to Keizer much later than we'd hoped, right around 7pm. Chris was still there however. He was nice enough to steal a bottle of champagne from the wedding so we could have it that night in our hotel. We ate a quick meal of burgers and chips before saying good-bye to the SC Bennetts and continuing on our way to Seattle.
The drive went by relatively quickly, but Kat and I were both exhausted by the end of the evening. We hadn't had much sleep in a few days. We checked into the Clarion Hotel and parked our car for the trip. It wasn't anything special, but it was fine for one night and very close to the airport. We went straight to bed and left the champagne and soups for the morning. We had to get up at 5 to make it to our flight on time. We had a long day ahead of us...
If you weren't there, you should have been. Pictures are available at photobucket. Search for "gatayjefe" under people.
The campbell house was cute, and the room was just what we needed, a little place out of the way and private where we could decompress, take a bath, and take a nap. After that we headed out the putters and got all sweaty again playing laser tag, eating pizza, and drinking beer. We had a great time with our friends there.
Sunday morning we checked out and grabbed breakfast with the Swansons at Keystone Cafe. There we ran into Elliot and Emily as well. It was nice to see them again before they headed back to Portland. After breakfast we went down to the 'Wich House to grab our ice chests and pick up some leftover soup for lunch and our trip to Seattle. Then we went home.
Molly was there to help us move stuff into the house and clean up a bit. I had to sanitize the beer setup before storing it. After Molly left, Kat & I opened cards and gifts and took notes for our thank you list. That took longer than we had planned so we had to hurry up and pack for vacation. I was trying to get to Keizer early enough to visit with Chris and his family before they had to leave.
I double-checked my reservations and printed off everything I had. I had a moment of worry about the rental in London, because my contact hadn't gotten back to me via email about some of my questions. Also, I noticed that my paypal payment had been reversed, but it appeared that it was just to change the currency type. I printed off all my paypal information and brought it with, just in case there was some sort of dispute. I looked up the address via google maps and saw that it was supposedly across the street from a theatre. It looked like there could be apartments above the pub there. I thought "Huh, this will be interesting. Kind of a funky place in the middle of an entertainment district. Oh, well."
We packed in a rush, but only forgot a few minor things. We got to Keizer much later than we'd hoped, right around 7pm. Chris was still there however. He was nice enough to steal a bottle of champagne from the wedding so we could have it that night in our hotel. We ate a quick meal of burgers and chips before saying good-bye to the SC Bennetts and continuing on our way to Seattle.
The drive went by relatively quickly, but Kat and I were both exhausted by the end of the evening. We hadn't had much sleep in a few days. We checked into the Clarion Hotel and parked our car for the trip. It wasn't anything special, but it was fine for one night and very close to the airport. We went straight to bed and left the champagne and soups for the morning. We had to get up at 5 to make it to our flight on time. We had a long day ahead of us...
Friday, July 23, 2010
Carl Sagan given new life through YouTube tributes
I've been enjoying a series of YouTube videos dedicated to Carl Sagan's memory. His poetic yet rational world view appeals deeply to me. I read "Demon Haunted World" while I was rediscovering my love of science and I still feel like it has a wide appeal and his writing style is easily accessible to less analytical minds. I'd love to get some of his works on audio-book.
Here are a few of my favorite videos featuring Carl Sagan:
Cheers
Here are a few of my favorite videos featuring Carl Sagan:
Cheers
Friday, July 02, 2010
Empathetic Egotists? What's that?
I consume a staggering amount of internet media. I subscribe to dozens of Podcasts. I read a dozens of blogs. I spend several hours a day scouring the web for the weird, funny, and interesting. All of this has done little to fulfill that deep-seated need to create something. In an attempt to fill that creative void I've turned yet again to blogging, but now I'm no longer alone. I've joined forces with some close friends and we've created "Empathetic Egotists", a place for us to share with you all what we think you should know about.
I'm excited, and I encourage you to check it out and leave some comments about what you'd like to see there.
Cheers.
What's Jeff been up to for the last 3 months?
Wow, our trip to Cancun seems like forever ago. Kat and I have pretty much been doing nothing but wedding planning since we've been back. Kat found some sub jobs until Summer set in and now she's working on the wedding full-time. It's getting close now, just a few weeks away and then we'll be heading to London for two weeks. I'm really excited for that. Hopefully I can find time to blog about our experiences while we are there.
Cancun was good and relaxing. We spent the bulk of our time just how we wanted to, reading by the pool or the ocean with a drink in hand. We got out of our resort long enough to tour the ruins of Tulum, snorkel a bit at a lagoon, and hit La Isla mall for a nice meal out. Pictures of those trips are up on my flickr.
Probably the best story coming out of the trip was getting ambushed by timeshare sellers right out of the plane. I took some convincing, but finally agreed to take a morning and sit through one of their sales presentations in exchange for transportation to and from the airport, a free buffet breakfast, and $100 US compensation. Kat and I fended off their hard sell techniques long enough to claim our reward and get out of there. Bonus.
Cancun was good and relaxing. We spent the bulk of our time just how we wanted to, reading by the pool or the ocean with a drink in hand. We got out of our resort long enough to tour the ruins of Tulum, snorkel a bit at a lagoon, and hit La Isla mall for a nice meal out. Pictures of those trips are up on my flickr.
Probably the best story coming out of the trip was getting ambushed by timeshare sellers right out of the plane. I took some convincing, but finally agreed to take a morning and sit through one of their sales presentations in exchange for transportation to and from the airport, a free buffet breakfast, and $100 US compensation. Kat and I fended off their hard sell techniques long enough to claim our reward and get out of there. Bonus.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Return to Cancun, 2010
Kat & I are heading back to Cancun for a week's vacation soon. We don't know exactly what we'll be doing this time, but we're looking forward to just relaxing and taking a break. It's only been about a year and a half since we were there last. The weather will be nice this time of year.
I've added a gadget to the blog that tracks my shared items on google reader. These are things I've been reading on the net lately.
I've added a gadget to the blog that tracks my shared items on google reader. These are things I've been reading on the net lately.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Penny Arcade Reality TV
So, PAX 2009 is long over, but the guys over at Penny Arcade just released a couple of cool videos with footage from the event. I thought I'd share the link with anyone out there who was curious about it. I don't think I'm in any of the shots but I was there for the big panel discussion where Jerry walked in to announce his new baby. Good times, good times.
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Halloween Party 2009, Success
Halloween 2009 was a great success. Kat, Mom, & Dad all chipped in during the last hours on Saturday to help finish all the party prep and decorations. Kat and I went as Starbuck and Anders from the new BSG series. Mike, Jen, Dave, and Eric all brought their Rock Band stuff which made for great entertainment for everyone. "Flock of Potatoes" & "The Whoopsies" battled it out in the finals for prizes. "The Whoopsies" won. with their inspiring rendition of "The Greatest Song in the World, Tribute". I've uploaded pictures at my flickr site so be sure to check out everyone's costumes and my final decorations.
Cheers
Cheers
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