I’m in London! Notwithstanding a two-hour delay leaving JFK (about which I was none too happy but also too sleepy to fuss), my flight to Heathrow went about as well as any economy-class transatlantic flight could have. The flight had more no-shows than expected, leaving me with two seats to commandeer as my own. I once again demonstrated my ability to contort my 6′6″ frame and lie flat across two tiny airplane seats. No, I’ve never done Yoga – I have Tae Kwon Do to thank for any flexibility carried over from childhood. Whenever I wanted to sit up, my legs had at least a few inches of clearance against the seats in front of me. The dinner meal, featuring chicken, rice, spinach, a crumpet, cheese, crackers, and a choice of wine, was also surprisingly tasty. And what better way to wake up than to a cup of English Breakfast tea whose deep color and powerful aroma make it easily mistaken for coffee.
After taking an express train from Heathrow to an Underground station, then taking the subway to the hostel, I could hardly pile enough praise on London’s rail network. Its above-ground trains, subways, and buses put all other public transit systems I’ve seen in the U.S. to absolute shame. Any government purporting to be a democracy owes its citizens a public transit system that’s expansive, accessible, and affordable, and while the weak dollar makes hopping on the Tube sting slightly for Americans like me, London’s public transportation is one of the many things I love about this wonderful city. I hadn’t lived here or even visited since I was a toddler, but London is quickly becoming one of my favorite cities in the world. I’ll know more definitively after seeing more of the sights tomorrow.
I checked into the hostel in the late afternoon. An unexpected benefit of the delayed flight leaving New York was getting to carefully research where I’d be staying my first night in London. The trans-European tour didn’t begin until the day after I arrived, so I needed a place to lay my head down, get a shower, and maybe even wash clothes in the meantime. After reading some reviews and comparing locations (i.e. proximity to Tube stations and downtown London), I settled on the Palmers Lodge in the Swiss Cottage neighborhood. I chose well. The building is a massive, renovated Victorian mansion with comfy beds, friendly staff, and plenty of lounge space (I’m writing this from a leather chair in the main lounge). They even offer free wifi and breakfast, along with a coupon for a one-pound pint from the downstairs bar. The neighborhood itself, while not particularly “charming,” had plenty of everyday fare, allowing me to get a cheap haircut (where they even treated me to a spot of tea and conversation about Obama’s candidacy), some miscellaneous travel supplies like baggage locks and power converters, and a tasty bacon, brie, and avocado panini for dinner.
It was too late in the afternoon for me to do much tourist-y stuff (visiting museums, historical sites and the like), so I decided to save that for later. After dinner, though, I took the subway downtown and managed to find an amenable tree in Hyde Park to do some reading. Walking around the park, it finally started sinking in that even though today was Monday, I wasn’t going to the office today. Or the next day. Or the day after that… “Really?” I thought. “Isn’t there something I should be doing right now?” Well, besides enjoying myself, no, there isn’t anything I should be doing. My job required me to juggle all manner of dates and tasks while being ready at a Blackberry buzz’s notice to come to the office and assist with a project. But no longer – no attorneys to update, no vendors to hassle, no filing deadlines to remember. Finally realizing this at first made me slightly uneasy, but it wasn’t long before that uneasiness was replaced by a warm, fuzzy, “Hooray, by brain can at last relax!” feeling. It could be initially difficult to slow my mind down from the whizzing pace to which it’s become accustomed for Lord-knows-how-long, but I’m optimistic 
The day had been pretty exhausting, so after returning to the hostel and enjoying a brew, I hit the hay at about eleven. Today’s plan is to take a walking tour of the area with other hostel-mates and visit Westminster Abbey in the afternoon. Chaucer’s grave is, of course, a must-visit… any others folks would like me to see / photograph?
So it begins…
June 29, 2008
It’s my first post since March! And what better way to celebrate being back from the dead than to say that, after a somewhat sobering but fun-filled weekend in NYC, I’m sitting at JFK awaiting my flight to London. With that, my global galavant will officially begin.
Stay tuned!
Mo money, mo… uberfantasticness?
March 4, 2008
I decided to split the money post into two, given that most of my dollars have actually been spent in worthwhile ways as of late. February began with a healthy surplus created by savings, overtime, and bonus checks. By the time March ends, that surplus will have been wiped out. The good news? It’ll totally be worth it.
Among my dollar’s recent destinations:
– Stupid-piece-of-crap-fines-issued-under-questionable
-authority-by-someone-who-needs-better-ways-to-spend
-his/her-time-than-punishing-insignificant-behavior-that
-hurts-no-one-but-for-some-incomprehensible-reason-is
-illegal-anyway.
Wait, wait, sorry, still fuming. That one just sort of slipped out. Onward with the good stuff. In fact, let’s start with the really good stuff (and 90% of the reason why money’s on my mind):
– The ’round-the-world trip – It’s fully booked! Earlier this month, I reserved a spot on a 16 day tour of Europe and arranged all necessary air/train travel for the rest: DC to New York, New York to London, London to China, China to San Francisco, and San Francisco to DC. I’ll post my exact itinerary within the next few weeks. These bookings, as I’m sure you could have guessed, have endeared me greatly to my credit card company… to the tune of $4,400 just for starters. I’ve been saving for months, but still – that’s a heckuva hit to the wallet.
Other worthwhile elements of my recent spending glut include:
– Nights on the town – As much as my social life has been unusually vibrant lately, DC is a hella expensive city, and going out has wrought havoc on my finances. I’m in no way blameless, either in deciding to leave the apartment with such frequency or thumbing my nose at cheap beer in favor of microbrews and the like. Plus I like to treat folks to good times. No regrets, certainly, but living well has costs.
- The L.A. trip – A generous Northwest flight coupon kept airfare low, and stayed virtually cost-free at Durf’s dorm and got some free dining hall swipe-ins. Still, even with the coupon, the flight required me being out nearly $200 extra, and food for a long weekend costs money. Even though Durf still owes me for her share of Mom’s Christmas gift and then some, she didn’t have the cash to cover my Disneyland ticket. I love my little sister to death, but she never seems to have a dime on her. To mix money metaphors, I wish I had a nickel for every time I’ve asked for her to cover something small like a cheeseburger or CD only to hear, “Sorry, no money!” Silly Durf. When we’re both old and grey, her last words to me may very well be, “Wells, could you spot me some cash for this prune smoothie?”
- Clothes – Those who’ve regularly been around me over the last three years have witnessed a magic act called “The Incredible Slimming Wells.” Losing over 75 pounds has left me more athletic and confident than at any other point in my life, but just as I had to buy new clothes to accommodate my once-expanding girth, so do I now have to buy even more clothes now that I’ve trimmed back down. Sadly, the Mossimo / Eddie Bauer look from high school just doesn’t cut it any more, and what’s left of my old garb will remain in mothballs. I only shop sales, but continually replacing an entire wardrobe once every six months takes its toll on the pocketbook. My shirt and waist size have, thankfully, leveled off, and clothing expenses this month are worth mentioning only insofar as February saw many sale items that I needed. Still, it’ll be another couple of months worth of sporadic shopping until I can consider my wardrobe complete.
Lo money, mo problems
February 29, 2008
The last few months have been real budget-busters. Entirely my fault and not entirely unforeseen. Money has been on my mind all of this month, and while it’s not a subject I’m prone to write publicly about, I got a little surprise from Arlington County this morning that broke the camel’s back.
For starters, a rant (more positive stuff later, I promise). My apartment complex, in no small part to carving out over 50 parking spaces a few years ago to create another adjacent apartment complex, has suffered from parking problems since well before I moved in. I learned quickly that driving home past 7 p.m. on a weekday meant fruitlessly circling the lots, giving up after a half-hour, and settling for metered street parking for the night. But the meters only run for a few hours between refills, and while parkers don’t have to pony up between 9 p.m. and 8:30 a.m., the Powers That Be are ever vigilant beginning at 8:31 to ticket anyone who overslept or otherwise forgot to move his car back into the apartment lot.
You can see where this is going. I got home late last night after a late dinner at one of my favorite Arlington restaurants, which happens to be accessible only by car. As usual when I drive home late, every spot in the lot was full. So metered parking it was. No biggie, I thought, I’ll just move the car in the morning. I’ve never once forgotten.
This morning I left bright and early for work, long before the enforcement vultures could sink their claws into my defenseless car. But between mentally prioritizing my work schedule, frantically doing laundry, and packing, I just plum forgot to move the thing off the street. Realizing this upon returning home to pack, I figured, “No big deal. $25 fine. Big whoop.” And it was no surprise to find a little envelope nestled underneath the car’s left windshield wiper. This envelope, however, appeared to have more than once piece of paper…
Three, in fact.
“What the fuck?!” The top ticket came as no surprise. $25 fine for the expired meter (never mind that as a matter of public policy there were dozens of unoccupied meters nearby). The next two nearly made me shit bricks: $40 because my county windshield decal hadn’t been updated yet (still trying to find the damn thing) and another $40 for not having a front-mounted license place (my car doesn’t have a front mounting bracket because I didn’t need one in Arkansas). Obviously had I been pulled over for a moving violation, an academy-trained patrol officer or state trooper would have the authority to issue these tickets, but since when do meter maids have the power to issue anything beyond parking citations? Am I missing something here? And if the issuing officer wasn’t merely a parking enforcement agent but rather a full-on cop, doesn’t Arlington’s finest have better things to do? Can’t the force find better ways to spend our tax dollars (mine included)? Some crazy ideas like “investigating auto theft and other high-incidence crimes” spring to mind…
Dammit. That’s $80 extra I won’t be seeing again. Once upon a time, I thought I fully understood the motivations behind those paying government collections in pennies. Today, that understanding deepened. The gesture isn’t as simple as an angry middle finger to city hall. It’s both informed by, and a bold statement of, the following: “Don’t you people have better ways to spend my tax dollars than to use unimportant crap as a pretext on which to tax me again?” I recall one man who spent more money in postage for his penny payment than the pennies were actually worth. When I first heard the story of that man, my first reaction was that I would gladly buy him a drink. Today, I’d make it a double.
