Last night at 9:40 I touched down in Honolulu International Airport after an inspiring week in the Lake District of England. For those of you who have watched the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice this is indeed the very lake district that Elizabeth goes to visit with her Aunt and Uncle Gardner. I did not visit the same area that she did, because the Lake District is actually too large to cover exhaustively in 6 days and I was there for a conference/retreat. I enjoyed it very much and will post pictures as I recover from jetlag. I’m hoping this is not as difficult as it was on the way over. I really experience terrible jetlag whenever I go to Europe. This trip was no exception but it did not stop me from staying up too late or from having a really incredible experience. The next few blog entries will be devoted as a journal of sorts so I can remember the details.
The first major accomplishment is that I went alone. I must have invited half a dozen people to accompany me but all of these fell through. That was not a problem until right before the time to leave when I got a bit of cold feet. The Belgium airport attacks helped in an odd way. I had been expecting an attack around Easter and when it happened it was like the other shoe dropped. Predictably security tightened and although it made lines long, I felt that it aided me in being able to relax about the long flight–23 hours including layovers. The flight over was uneventful until I got to Heathrow, which honestly I had been dreading. I know it’s a large airport and I was afraid I would get confused and indeed, I did. I went through immigration too early and had to go back through security and nearly missed my flight. Nearly being the operative word. Then the flight was rather turbulent. I did have to fish out the dramamine from my purse and pray that I would not be sick. It would appear we were struck by lightening but the flight attendants assured us the plane was equipped for such electrifying experiences and other than being startling, it was rather awesome. I’m not at all sure anyone else would share my view … I wish I had filmed it!
So after we did eventually land, the next task was finding my hotel which should have been simple since it was attached to the airport. Signs were not so good however but after a few stops at different info desks, I was in my first British queue in years–at the hotel reception. Yes the system was down and they were filling everything out by hand. You can imagine how well this wasn’t going. This generation is lost when they can’t use a computer. After I procured my room key I went up to my room to find another family following me… yes they had assigned two of us the same room! Happily this couple took pity on me since they were from the UK and I explained I had come from Hawaii so they offered me to just take the room and they would go back down to reception. I was ever so grateful. The room was delightful. I had a steak burger without the bun and new potatoes with some kind of chutney for Easter dinner and I watched Ella Enchanted. A combination of homesickness and exhaustion washed over me as I sobbed the rest of the evening. I really haven’t had a good cry in a long time so it was a little alarming but I was able to tell myself that tomorrow would be better. I also was able to talk to Chad and the kids so that helped.
And tomorrow was better. I ate a delicious complimentary breakfast and then packed up and went down to the train station, which was attached to the airport. I bought my ticket from the friendly agent (I found no cross person in all of England) and went down to wait for my train. My only concern was that I had to change trains in Oxenholme and I didn’t want to miss it. I confused it with Oxford St. Station and thought I was in the wrong train car because apparently that is a smaller station and only certain doors open at that stop. But when I realized my error, everything was good and I made my connecting train which stopped at the end of the line, Windermere. Originally I had been going to stay at a B&B in Windermere my first night but Dr. Smith, who along with his wife Andy organized the conference, advised me to stay in Manchester and he was right. Two trains and a cab would have been too much that first day. At the station there was a really nice grocery named Booths with lots of nice organic groceries and wifi. It was hard to shop with my hands full of luggage but i managed to buy some gluten free granola bars and bread, organic peanut butter and apples. I was ready to go.
Next decision, it being Easter Monday (Christmas and Easter warrant two days in Europe) was if I should take a cab or bus. Someone had recommended a cab so I opted for this much more pricey advice and was not disappointed. My cabbie was David and he was a homeschooling believer who attends Calvary Chapel! Wow. As if I hadn’t felt God’s hand enough on the journey, that was such an encouragement. He also gave me a 10 pound discount on the fare which was great since I though the price was really a bit much. I enjoyed hearing his testimony even more than seeing the lovely surroundings and then, too soon (but not for my pocket book) I was at Rydal Hall! Wow that was a very long hill I would have had to tote my luggage up if I had taken the bus. Glad I was given that suggestion.
Tune in tomorrow for the continuing story of the Lake District Retreat…
Decidedly Different 