Wass Up!!! - Dena in the UK

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Greentings friends and neighbors!  I'm sititng at a computer in a lovely old-fashioned hotel in Kiswick (pronounced "Kis-ick") in the Lake District in England. First real chance I've had at a computer. There was one at a hotel in Scotland but it was dial-up and patience is not a virtue of mine.

Having a smashing time over here. Many fun details to blog about when I return. Today is a travel day. We'll grab breakfast here at the hotel, drive the rental car back to Carlisle where we'll catch the express train (3 hours!) to London and then home on Friday. Today is the first day that both of us feel like we're ready to just be home. Part of that is due to minor illness. Blair has been sick this morning and is laying upstairs on the bed as I type this. I had a touch of something a few days ago and pretty much curled in a ball in the passenger seat as we drove through the Highlands of Scotland. Thankfully, my discomfort disappeared in a day. I hope it's the same for Blair.

I miss my cats. I was told England was full of cats but that has not been my experience. I've seen maybe 3 and all from a distance. I'm about ready to climb a fence and start petting sheep, just to get some animal-love time in. (And is there anything cuter than a baby black sheep? I want one!!)

Quick impressions of my time over here is that I thoroughly enjoyed all the parts of England we've seen, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE Scotland. Would return in a heartbeat. Something in the land just calls to me there. Loved it.

As I said, many more details when I return. Surprisingly on this trip, I haven't missed e-mail a bit. What I have missed is writing in this blog and keeping up with friends through comments. Looking forward to returning home and getting back on-line.

Until then, love and best wishes from the UK.

Dena

Getting Along With Your Spouse While Traveling

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Blair and I are exceptionally companionable. We have a running joke—semi-serious—that we need to work on making friends because right now we spend all our time together and neither of us will have the proper support network in place should something dire happen to the other one of us. In short, we like hanging out together.

This doesn’t change while on vacation. I’m almost at the point where I can’t travel with anyone other than Blair. We’re on the same time schedule, have the same mindset about where to go and what to see, mirror each other in our sleeping and eating habits and are altogether very well suited for spending large chunks of time together.

But everyone has his or her breaking point. Ours is usually around Day 5. After 120 hours of constant contact, the love fest begins to break down. It usually begins with a “look.”

ME: “What?”

BLAIR: “What?”

ME: “Why did you give me that look?”

BLAIR: “What look?”

ME: “That look. The ‘I’m annoyed but not going to say anything about it,’ look.”

BLAIR: “I only gave you the look because of what you said.”

ME: “I only said what I said because of what YOU said about the thing.”

BLAIR: “I only said what I said about the thing because you were giving me a look.”

ME: “What look?”

BLAIR: “Huh?”

Yes, it’s not pretty and it usually goes downhill from there. We’ll spend an afternoon sniping at each other until we realize we’re in a foreign country far from home with only each other and we remember we came on this trip in the first place to spend time together and then he apologizes and it’s fine. =)

Hope you’re all busy appreciating the people in your life!