We began our four continent journey with a stop for coffee at Starbucks. Of course we were doubtful that England would have what we needed in the coffee range so we thought we should stock up. The journey to Pudong was uneventful. We saw the usual sights... child taking a dump on Nanjing Lu, a truck with about twenty heads peeking over the high sides, pajamas on bicycles and of course the driver who had to stop and hoik at every opportunity...AHHHH SHANGHAI ... smoggy one day...smoggy the next. There are times when it becomes obvious that one has been in China too long without a break. Everything seems to become too difficult to cope with. Taxi drivers, pedestrians and temperature takers with laser guns in hand. So here I am finally.... 36,000 miles in the air going VIRGIN. I love this airline and vow never to fly with anyone else. As we boarded I spied a familiar face amongst the crew. Last time I saw him was late at night in a very dark and seedy bar called Goodfellows situated in Ju Lu Lu. Any airline that hands you a glass of champagne before you take off gets my vote. It was difficult to contain ourselves as we simultaneously let out a silent cheer celebrating the beginning of our journey and farewell to China. With engines screaming we took off straining to tear ourselves from the grasp of the thick polluted air dragging us down. But , we made it and blue sky was visible outside the porthole windows. The next 15 minutes the three of us were technologically challenged trying to work the in-flight entertainment controls. Anyway to cut a long flight short, we landed an hour ahead of time in Heathrow and only had a few days to kill before taking the jump across to Dublin.
LONDON
Well, here I am. In a London basement on a beautiful rainy day checking emails. So far everything is going well, no huge upsets. Our hotel is great. It really is lucky that I took the cat out of my backpack before I left because there really was no room to swing it and I now know why it is called the 'Water Closet'. It is about the same size as the box they gave us to hang up our clothes. Luckily you can have a shower while sitting on the toilet, if that is what you want to do. Bacon, beans, eggs and toast for breakfast everyday it's almost like heaven. In fact that's where I thought I was when I lay down on my bed and discovered that bouncy mattresses do still exist. Not much happened Thursday, I relaxed into the day and set off downtown for necessary items like ...tweezers. ( well, tweezers do perform some really important functions.) We had a great time doing a couple of the “London Walks”. It was exciting to find out that our guide Emily played the mother in “The Empire of the Sun” J and I had watched it several times just recently because it was based in and around Shanghai. Emily told us some interesting stories about Steven Speilberg and John Malkovitch and her time in Shanghai without her new baby. At some point we thought that we'd give Starbucks one more chance.. so two Caramel Macciattos coming up. "Much better, London: 8 out of 10 this time." Next we headed for the place that we with curves and live in China would describe as Paradise: Marks and Spencer's Underwear department. The things they can do with Lycra now days. They have things to suck you in at the bottom and push you out at the top. They come in strapless, backless and even frontless.(hmmmmmm) You can buy snakeskin straps, invisible straps and even straps with little English flags.. if you are feeling patriotic. The 'ego boost' bra caused a few heart palpitations just looking at it let alone trying it on. Well after long consideration and deliberation, I decided that it was ridiculous to try and improve on perfection so I didn't buy anything. Thursday evening I went out for a BBQ dinner at Elaines' house out in Acton Town. It was great to eat real food in a real home again. After dinner I think we solved all of the problems in the world over a cup of coffee and then Elaine drove me back to my little hotel. I staggered up the stairs and fell into my comfy bed. Next morning as I opened my eyes to the early morning sunshine, I thought to my self: " I think I'll go to Ireland today."
Laden with slightly heavier backpacks, we set off for Heathrow.
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