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Post by flatin5th - Knight of the NC on Oct 20, 2011 18:23:16 GMT
I have a question for the UK people.What do you consider a long way to drive as in miles? I ask this because when we drove from Stratford-upon-Avon to Kingston- on -Hull I believe it was around 150 miles. We had a complication because we were on the A46 and there had been a police chase that closed the road north. Luckily we had the radio on BBC2 and were able to get off and use the little country roads add several hours to the trip. The Humber bridge is beautiful. When we got to the hotel they were surprised we had drive so far. Some of the people we met didn't even know the next town up the road. Granted I live in a large state and 400 miles is nothing but I found it interesting and maybe a little isolating. I love isolating, but I love to investigate my surroundings. DMC should be able to appreciate this since the northeast from Mass to Maine is like that. I want Miss Marple's village and being a nosey parker. You will get that everywhere you go in the little old UK! Anything past the next town is considered a proper day out! I got a new job 23 mles from home, and I was asked several times if I was going to stop over during the week as it was so far to drive every day! Personally, I love driving, combined with the fact that I hate stopping en-route, I have done a very similar distance route today in one - two and a half hour stint. Home in time for lunch! I do think I am the exception though! I did Calais and back in a day once, and I drove to the Alps for a skiing holiday too - that was 1000 miles there, and then 1000 miles back again! Maybe I am odd! |
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Post by devil-may-care on Oct 20, 2011 18:44:10 GMT
I have a question for the UK people.What do you consider a long way to drive as in miles? I ask this because when we drove from Stratford-upon-Avon to Kingston- on -Hull I believe it was around 150 miles. We had a complication because we were on the A46 and there had been a police chase that closed the road north. Luckily we had the radio on BBC2 and were able to get off and use the little country roads add several hours to the trip. The Humber bridge is beautiful. When we got to the hotel they were surprised we had drive so far. Some of the people we met didn't even know the next town up the road. Granted I live in a large state and 400 miles is nothing but I found it interesting and maybe a little isolating. I love isolating, but I love to investigate my surroundings. DMC should be able to appreciate this since the northeast from Mass to Maine is like that. I want Miss Marple's village and being a nosey parker. I can definitely relate. They've just decided to up the speed limit on the interstate from where I went to college up to the top of the state, where I grew up. There is practically no traffic running on that section of the interstate. If you break down, you're going to be down for a while. There is no help. I easily drive 100 miles when I go shopping on the occasional Friday night. Here's a map of Maine. The section from St. Francis in the northern part of the state down to Carrabassett Valley - the whole area where there really aren't any town names is almost completely uninhabited. There really aren't any towns just territories and regions, ie T2R8.  It takes me five hours to go from Rumford to Presque Isle.  |
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Post by Vivienne on Oct 20, 2011 18:59:34 GMT
I'm sorry I was speaking mostly of the coast roads. That's how my mother and I drove up in 1980. When I was talking to Europacar who happen to be in Portland they told me the ferry to Halifax is only run from Bar Harbor now. Too bad it was a lot of fun.
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Post by meimichan on Oct 20, 2011 19:11:50 GMT
I went to college in the upper peninsula of Michigan. It's seriously uninhabited up there, 600 mile drive from school to the town I grew up in. Usually a 600 mile drive through some terrifying winter weather, cause heaven forbid you get too bored doing that. |
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Post by Vivienne on Oct 20, 2011 19:17:27 GMT
We don't have enough snow in the city to be bored. It's the straight freeway roads that put you to sleep.
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Post by meimichan on Oct 20, 2011 19:23:26 GMT
We don't have enough snow in the city to be bored. It's the straight freeway roads that put you to sleep. Give the Seney Stretch in the UP a try one of these days. Make sure you get gas before setting out, there's nowhere to stop for about 100 miles. Great speeding trap though. There's nothing there, so everyone will floor it given half a chance. A frat brother of mine was pulled over doing over 90mph. Officer: "Do you know how fast you were going?" Rabbit: "I was going too fast."  (I don't remember his real name, but his nickname in the frat was Rabbit and that's what he's going to be known as for the rest of his life. ) I usually take something caffeinated to sip if I know I'm in for a long boring drive. And music, music is crucial. I once stayed awake listening to a CD I purposefully hated. The rage at the stereo kept me going for that extra 40 minutes. |
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Post by Vivienne on Oct 20, 2011 19:31:05 GMT
There's one of those speed traps on the way to Denver around Trinidad. The cops lay in wait behind the trees on the side of the road. I've never been caught because I try not to go more than 75 or 80.
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Post by Vivienne on Oct 20, 2011 19:36:49 GMT
I don't know if you are familiar with the poet Philip Larkin. I was pleased to take a picture of his statue in the train station in Kingston-on-Hull. One of my college Profs introduced me to his poems in an English class.
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Post by meimichan on Oct 20, 2011 20:57:51 GMT
Just removed some of the dust spots courtesy of my borked camera.  Hmm. Much better.  Ok, I'll stop posting pics of Chicago now. |
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Post by antonia on Oct 20, 2011 21:18:21 GMT
That is a superb view.
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Post by pie on Oct 21, 2011 0:17:13 GMT
Love the panorama shot, meimichan! It looks awesome. Whenever I arrived at a new destination on my recent UK trip, people would ask me where I'd come from that day. Not sure which day I drove the farthest (I should work that out, actually) but I did get a lot of surprised reactions! I'd forgotten about this photo...proof I was there! (You can't see me holding my phone in one hand whilst madly flapping with the other. ;D)  |
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Post by dit on Oct 21, 2011 8:15:15 GMT
You doubtless trod the very same paving stones that his lordship does every time he uses the train. Must have given you a warm, fuzzy feeling inside! (If you got on the train yourself, you could have been sitting on the same seat he's sat on at some point! A bit far-fetched, but perfectly possible!)
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Post by crumbs on Oct 21, 2011 12:06:06 GMT
I have a question for the UK people.What do you consider a long way to drive as in miles? I ask this because when we drove from Stratford-upon-Avon to Kingston- on -Hull I believe it was around 150 miles. We had a complication because we were on the A46 and there had been a police chase that closed the road north. Luckily we had the radio on BBC2 and were able to get off and use the little country roads add several hours to the trip. The Humber bridge is beautiful. When we got to the hotel they were surprised we had drive so far. Some of the people we met didn't even know the next town up the road. Granted I live in a large state and 400 miles is nothing but I found it interesting and maybe a little isolating. I love isolating, but I love to investigate my surroundings. DMC should be able to appreciate this since the northeast from Mass to Maine is like that. I want Miss Marple's village and being a nosey parker. I think everyone would think differently on this one. We think nothing of driving far and wide in a day and have done so frequently. My extended family live across England and Wales as does Mr Crumbs's, so long distance travel is necessary. Also, we love to go for days out and sightseeing. 150 miles in a day is perfectly reasonable and not unduly long in my opinion. If I'm honest, I don't know anyone who doesn't travel that kind of distance either for work or pleasure on a regular basis. Oh, apart from a friend with agoraphobia and even she will be driven (drugged up) 100 miles to see her Mum! We drove from just outside London to Edinburgh a couple of times this year - both times in a day! Just giving you another view - many of us are like you and love to investigate far and wide! |
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Post by pie on Oct 21, 2011 12:19:19 GMT
You doubtless trod the very same paving stones that his lordship does every time he uses the train. Must have given you a warm, fuzzy feeling inside! (If you got on the train yourself, you could have been sitting on the same seat he's sat on at some point! A bit far-fetched, but perfectly possible!) Hehe...I hadn't thought about the train seat scenario, but I certainly did think about the fact that it was a part of the world he's very familiar with, e.g. "Has he been to that pub?" "How often does he drive down this road?" etc. I also wondered if anyone else in the street or on the train associated the area with James at all. I figured not, so I decided against parading my warm fuzziness to the outside world. ;D |
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Post by Mayfayre on Oct 21, 2011 22:34:20 GMT
I used to drive for a living and would think nothing of driving from London to Manchester & back in a day (around 400 miles round trip), though someone else working for the same company was convinced he would need passport to go to West London!
I know I've done 600 miles in a day (for my Granddad's funeral) and another time London to Harwich (80 miles), 6 hours (I think) on the ferry,then Hoek of Holland non-stop to Frankfurt am Main, where I had to pull off at the services and sleep. That's about another 400 miles.
I tend not to make so many long distance journeys these days, but I still only stop if the car is about to run out of juice or my bladder is threatening to explode! TOH keeps offering to take over but it's a rare occurrence when I actually let him. Even when we're in his car.
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Post by Wyvern on Oct 21, 2011 23:58:20 GMT
I don't drive much, but I enjoy long runs far more than urban driving. Unfortunately, this generally means driving MF's car, and MF doesn't like being a passenger  |
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Post by Vivienne on Oct 22, 2011 0:06:57 GMT
I think the point I was trying to make was that your country is accessible by car in one day. I had to go to Comcast today, our cable outfit and make a payment. The security guard had a distinctly English accent. He went to lunch and I asked one of his coworkers where he was from which was Liverpool. I mentioned I would rather be over there than here and she asked me if I was from there. I don't have an accent, we are considered to be flat in speaking. She was in her early 30's max.
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Post by jacqui on Feb 12, 2012 7:01:29 GMT
Well I’m not going to say it’s nice or even great to be back because it’s not! If i had an infinite amount of money I would have flown my daughter and the cat out to Thailand and never come back.
It’s a fabulous place and the people are so friendly. Bangkok was a hive of activity; London has nothing on this sprawling city with its real mix of extreme poverty and immense riches all within a few paces of each other. I don’t just mean the Grand Palace, beautiful and exquisite as they were but all over Bangkok there are buildings of sheer opulence while next door there is a tin hut with a family of 12+ living in the one room and along from that are the beggars with half their faces missing, such a mix of fortunes. The Grand Palace was beautiful such architecture is beyond belief until you see it for yourself. We did a river trip so we could see Bangkok from a different angle and took the sky train (what a brilliant piece of transportation) to this huge market of 10,000 stalls i have never seen a place like it! The shopping malls put Blue water and the like in to a cocked hat, vast, no, mammoth places you can’t even begin to imagine. Our Hotel was absolutely fabulous, the bedroom was huge, as was the Jacuzzi bath and the shower you could have had a party in!!! The food was gorgeous and the service second to none, as it was wherever we went in Thailand.
Phuket was beautiful; again a mixture of fortunes but these amazing people don’t seemed to be bothered by that at all, they go about their daily business regardless. The Hotel was lovely although it needed a bit of TLC in places but then it was one of the first hotels in Phuket. The service however was excellent. Most days we took a long boat to the Hotel’s private island as the beach next to the hotel was a public one and quite small. We soon got in the habit of coming back late afternoon, going to the infinity pool for a few beers and a swim before changing for dinner. Most nights we ate at the hotel, the food was lovely but very pricey. We ventured out a couple of nights in to the town and once further up the coast which was a shock, talk about streets full of cheap tack for sale and neon lights – we left there very quickly after our meal (which was lovely) and returned to the serenity of our tranquil base! We did a power boat trip round the smaller islands, stopping off for snorkelling opportunities on the way; this was a fab day – although i did get a taste of how James must have felt on that power boat run he did, I’m sure a few discs turned to dust that day!!!
And so here i am back in Blighty donning snow boots to get to Tesco’s!! Am not a happy bunny!!! Still, booking my significant birthday trip as soon as the flights are released then the countdown will begin all over again!
Pics will follow once i can stay awake long enough to upload them!
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Post by eolise on Feb 12, 2012 7:53:58 GMT
glad to hear you had a great time, Jacqui!  |
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Post by devil-may-care on Feb 12, 2012 14:43:05 GMT
That sounds like a marvelous holiday, jacqui. Even though there is snow and ice, and the jet lag must be awful, we're glad to have you back!! ;D ;D
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Post by aeromanda on Feb 12, 2012 16:18:31 GMT
Sorry to hear that you didn't want your vacation to come to an end, Jacqui, but it is good to have you back. ;D I'm glad that you had such a good time. Sounds like a lovely trip.
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Post by missburlo on Feb 12, 2012 19:57:41 GMT
Love the panorama shot, meimichan! It looks awesome. Whenever I arrived at a new destination on my recent UK trip, people would ask me where I'd come from that day. Not sure which day I drove the farthest (I should work that out, actually) but I did get a lot of surprised reactions! I'd forgotten about this photo...proof I was there! (You can't see me holding my phone in one hand whilst madly flapping with the other. ;D) I'm off to the big city of London in October and am thinking of going to Hammersmith to stay. Mainly due to some friends not living far, but also may peep a glimpse of James's house and check out his local pub for a pint or two. Never know, I may get to buy the chap a pint and let him and my other half bore me to tears over aeroplane talk. I wouldn't mind just sitting staring at the two sexiest men in my life x |
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Post by jmsquared on Feb 20, 2012 3:56:13 GMT
Posted a link in Members Photos of pics of my USA trip if anyone is interested.
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Post by From Afar on Apr 16, 2012 14:28:49 GMT
I'm off to Thailand the day after tomorrow! *excited*
The hotel is supposed to have free wifi in the room so I might be able to get on here while I am away..... But if you don't hear from me for a bit it's cos I'm either
a) on the beach
b) in a cocktail haze
c) asleep
d) all of the above
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Post by liverbird on Apr 16, 2012 18:31:57 GMT
See these eyes, Afar? They have turned green!
Have a brilliant time and a safe journey
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Post by devil-may-care on Apr 16, 2012 19:19:11 GMT
I'm guessing 'B' will be the normal reason for you not being around, Afar! ;D ;D
Have a marvelous time!! And don't forget pics! ;D ;D
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mayb
Filthy Mayhemer
I think a lot... I think
Posts: 528
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Post by mayb on Apr 16, 2012 20:40:57 GMT
Have a lovely time FA! As for me, no plans for this summer... again.  I'd love to go on a (short) trip, but unfortunately.... not a chance. |
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Post by aeromanda on Apr 16, 2012 21:38:14 GMT
I hope you have a wonderful time on your trip Afar! Be safe and enjoy! ;D
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Post by jmsquared on Apr 17, 2012 2:43:25 GMT
Have a great holiday Afar! Stay safe!
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Post by From Afar on Apr 17, 2012 4:17:21 GMT
Thanks everyone for the best wishes!  |
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I love a man who can handle a gun 
