Getting ready for Paris

The UK guys took me out to dinner tonight. The four of us went to Yevoil for dinner at a Chinese restaurant. We went to dinner at 8pm. It appears that people eat later here than I'm used to. Dinner was good and it was fun to get to know the guys a little better outside of work.

On the way home, we took the "backroads" home. The road seemed like a single lane road and it was very hilly. Being in the frontseat, it seemed like a rollercoaster ride.

When I got back to the hotel, I started getting ready for Paris.

I stayed up until 1am looking at online maps and attempting to plot my course from the Paris Charles De Gaulle airport to my hotel in downtown Paris. Luckily my brother had sent me a map of Paris he had used when he visited Paris last year. I found my hotel on the map, which was a lifesaver. I decided to only take a backpack to Paris, since I was only going to be there for 2 days. I packed my Texas Cycle Jersery, American Flag, Canon Camera and a change of clothes and a few smaller items and my bag was full.

As I got all packed up, I called and talked to Deni for a few, as well as called my parents, as I'm moving hotels when I get back and although the new hotel has wireless internet, they don't have a wired connection in the room, which I need for my Vonage line. Vonage has been a lifesaver in keeping in touch. It's been great to call and talk for as long as I wanted to Deni and the kids. I've now set up and tested Skype, which will be my new form of communication with the family until I come home.

I set my alarm for 8:30am and went to bed.

Maps

I've heard that Police officers have to go through some sort of training that helps them understand what it feels like to be autistic, so that when they are dealing with an autistic person, they can empathy for the person. I've been sent to the UK to humble me in my driving and map reading skills so I understand how my wife feels when asked to read a map while I'm driving.

Deni swears she'll never go on the Amazing Race with me because we always seem to fight in the car when I'm driving and I ask Deni to look at the map. Quickly reading maps are challenging for Deni, something that I thought came easy to me, until now.

I remember about 10 years ago when Deni and I took a quick trip to Georgia, I was driving and asked Deni to look at the map and find which way I should turn as we were on the freeway and approaching a split in the road. She couldn't find our location on the map, I remember glancing over and seeing exactly where we were on the map, I reached over and pointed out where we were. It didn't help the situation that I could find us on the map while driving 70mph down the road and Deni couldn't.

After experiencing England's roads and maps (and being completely frustrated with them), I think I have a better understanding of how Deni feels when looking at a map and I hope to be more kind and helpful in the future when it comes to maps.

Heading to Paris

Because of my indecision of how and when to go to Paris (to see the last day of the Tour de France), the prices for the Speed Train from London to Paris skyrocketed. Plane prices went up as well, but I decided it was a chance of a lifetime. I bit the bullet and booked my flight as well as my train tickets to London and hotel in Paris.

Part of my indecision was how to actually how to get to London, as I'm about 3-4 hours away from London by train. At first, I thought I could drive in but after being here for a few days, I've decided that I better not try it.

It's going to cost me about $150 bucks (around trip) to get to London by Train, then about $250 (roundtrip) to fly from London to Paris. Luckily, my food and hotel are covered, but it's a pricey trip for the length of time. I'll leave England on Saturday afternoon and come back from Paris Monday morning. So I'll only really have 1 full day in Paris. Hopefully, I'll be able to spend the whole day soaking up the Tour de France.

I'm a little sad as I haven't been able to keep up with the Tour de France on TV (hotel doesn't have any channels covering the Tour.) You'd think being so close to France and the love of cycling here, they'd have coverage. Maybe they do and but the hotel just doesn't have the channel. However, Deni keeps me updated through chat and by phone on the Tour.

11 pounds

I'm picky or spoiled, or both. I have a great wife that is a great cook and I'm used to her cooking ONLY.

Because I'm in a little village, there aren't any type of "chain" food stores that I could get a quick dinner from. I wasn't too hungry tonight, but decided to go out and try to find a grocery store. A co-worker told me where one was, but I missed it as I drove by it at least 2 times. Since I wasn't too hungry, I thought I'd drive around and see if I could happen on to another one in a different village. I probably drove around for about an hour, but never found a grocery store. However I did find a number of old abandoned churches as well as a single lane road, that was actually a two way road (luckily, I didn't find another car going the opposite way). There were pull outs about every half mile, but nothing in between.

At the end of the night, I finally found the little grocery store I was looking for and picked the the following for a little dinner and snacks while I'm here. Here's what 11 pounds (about $18 dollars) buys you. (6 apples, 2 oranges, 4 bananas, 2 candy bars, 2 yogurts, Pringles, 5 cereal bars and a pack of gum.)



Also, here's a picture of the road outside my hotel. I now know why they have short squatty cars here in the UK, as the roads are narrow and there is no parking. I love how people park in the street, taking about 3/4 of the lane. It makes it fun for driving

Little Misunderstanding

This morning I headed down to get some breakfast. I wasn't too impressed with the English food last night (stake and fries) here at the Hotel, but the breakfast is complementary, therefore I headed down for my free "lunch" (breakfast).

As I ordered my "eggs on toast" I came to the realization that not only do I have a hard time understanding most people here in the UK, but they also have a hard time understanding me too.

I said "Do you have any orange juice?"

The young waitress, with an odd look on her face replied to me "Oysters?"

Happy Birthday from the UK

I landed at 9am UK time (2am MST) in Bristol, England. I was excited yet tired. They woke me about 7:30am UK time to offer breakfast on the plane. I had passed up the dinner they offered 6 hours earlier, so I thought it would be a good idea to eat as I wasn't sure when I'd have the chance to eat again.

When I landed it was raining. (pouring) I had to walk off the plane, through the rain into the Airport. I then got into a line to show my passport. As I got to the front of the line, the lady asked me what I was going in the UK and I couldn't think of what to say. I started mumbling about Novell buying a company in the UK and that I had traveled to come learn the product, or something like that. The lady looked at me and said, "So you came here for training?" I looked at her and said, "You said that much better than I did." I think a combination of lack of sleep and also being nervous of what was happening around me made me fumble for words.

I picked up my rental car, that happened to be 3 parking lots away (did I mention it was pouring rain?) After stalling it a few times, I was able to get out of the parking lot and on the road. It was odd driving on the left side of the road.

I headed in the direction that I thought my destination was (without a map.) About 5 miles into the drive I decided that I needed to stop. I stopped and asked where Ilminster was, the Gas Station attendant had no clue. I looked for maps in the Gas Station, but there were no good maps for the area, so I continued on. I came across another gas station and took my chances. This time I found a map (2 pounds), but I couldn't use a Credit card for anything under 5 pounds, so I ended up buying a few drinks (Sprite) for the road to get my bill over 5 pounds. Luckily, the ladies working in the gas station knew where I was going (and I was on the right route.)

I was quite confused with the road signs. I thought that things were in kilometers here in the UK, but came to find out that they were actually in miles per hour, so I guess in need to apologize to whoever was driving behind me, as I was attempting to follow the speedlimit. I guess that England is the only hold out for not using kilometers per hour and the Euro.

I had the phone number of the guys I was coming to visit, but I didn't know how to dial from my cell. That didn't stop me from trying a few times, but I was unsuccessful in getting my call to go through. I continued to drive and made a few wrong turns, but finally made it to Ilminster, Somerset England around 11am.

I got the tour of the Ilminster office, which took about 2 minutes. It's a two room office, with everyone in the same big room.

I spent a few hours at the office then headed to my hotel.




I was exhausted but didn't want to go to sleep yet as I wanted to attempt to adjust to the timezone.

Today is my baby's birthday. Happy Birthday Sydney.



I'm sad that I'm not there to celebrate with her, however I was able to call her, as I brought my vonage phone with me, so I can call home whenever I want. Having my vonage phone with me, will be my saving grace from being gone for so long.

On my way

We left Spanish Fork at 7:30am MST and arrived at the SLC Airport about 8:20am. My flight left at 9:50am. After giving Deni, Ryan and Syd a kiss goodbye, I attempted to check in at the self check-in booths, but it couldn't find my flight confirmation. I talked to a airport worker and was told to get back in line to try again. After the 2nd time didn't work, I was asked to get in line to talk to a person. I luckily got in line right after some Korean Touring group of about 10 people. The line was already long, but getting in line after Korean group, made it even better (and longer).

As I got to the front of the line and got checked in, I was read the riot act by the Delta employee, as I hadn't checked in at least 2 hours before an international flight. International flight? My flight was to Newark, NJ, so I could then have a 5 hour layover. However because I was connecting to an international flight in Newark, the one from SLC was considered a "International flight".

I was getting nervous as I left the counter and got even more nervous as I saw the Security Check line. It was now 9:20am and I was concerned I was going to miss my flight. I made it through the Security checkpoint and made it to my flight about 10 minutes before the plane took off. Whew.

I arrived in Newark without problems. Then the long 5 hour layover.

I left Newark around 9pm headed to Bristol. The flight was just under 7 hours, however with the time change, I was scheduled to land at 9am Tuesday the 21st. I watched the movie "17 again" and then attempted to get a little sleep (which didn't go to well.)

Ryan's first race

Ryan ran his first race today. It was part of the Provo Freedom Festival. His race was a youth 1 mile run. It was an early start, 7am, which means we left our house at 6:30am and woke Ryan about 5:45am. He had a hard time going to sleep last night as he was excited about the race. Here Ryan is at the start line getting ready.



When the gun went off to start the race, Ryan was in "business mode". Focused on the run ahead.


Although it appeared that the 5k and 10k routes were marked appropriately, the kids route wasn't marked so well. Bummer for Ryan, as he followed a group of kids thinking it was the right route. He eventually got back on course and was able to finish. Deni paced him a little bit to help him get back on track.



Sydney and I were waiting for him to take pictures and Sydney decided she wanted to run in with Ryan. (seen to his right).







He finished. Ryan's time was about 11 minutes 30 seconds. Not bad for his first race.

2 mistakes

After work, I took off on a bike ride. I made 2 mistakes as I left for my ride.

1. I didn't tell Deni where I was going.
2. I didn't take my cell phone.

It looked like it might rain (which is why I didn't take my phone) but it never did, which is why I ended up taking a longer bike ride than normal. It was overcast, cool and a great day to be out on a bike.

I headed our of Spanish Fork and then south through Salem and turned at a sign that said "Elk Ridge". The road was uphill for as long as I could see. I started riding, looking for a specific turn, but never saw it. I ended up riding 2 miles up this hill until I hit the Elk Ridge City limits. Off course a bit, I attempted to correct, however I ended up hitting a dead end. I backtracked and finally found someone on a golf cart and asked them how to get to the Woodland Hills road. At this point I was about 12 -13 miles into my ride and knew it was going to take me a while to get home.

I found the Woodland Hills road and started down it. It's a great hill. I hit 48.1 mph going downhill. Probably the fastest I've ever been on my bike, ever. It felt great to zoom down the hill, as I struggled up the other side.

My total ride was just over 21 miles and took 1hr 15 minutes. I had a feeling I was going to be "in trouble" when I got home. When I came in, I could tell that Deni was quite concerned. I felt bad and wished I had my cell phone so I could have called.

Deni was afraid I had wrecked and was laying on the side of the road somewhere. I did have my road ID on, although it wasn't registered yet. Deni has since registered my road ID, so if I am ever found on the side of the road, the first responders will at least know my name and some basic info about me. I've learned that I'll always take me cell phone with me and just put it in a zip lock baggy if I think it's going to rain.

Lunchtime ride

I finally found a co-worker that I can ride my bike with. Today we today a lunchtime ride. (about 15 miles) We left Novell and headed towards Utah lake, then circled back to Novell. It was fun to ride with someone for a change.

We are going to try and ride at least once a week together.