Entry tags:
Cruise control
I have no plane ticket yet, but we do have a hotel for London booked for October 19 and 20 :) Luckily, it's not a prepaid thing so if plans change we can cancel. I'm waiting to see if there will be a seat sale later in the summer since there usually seems to be before I book my flight to the UK. Then once that's done, i'll book the rental car and try to get theatre tickets for Book of Mormon. We are also planning to go to the Tower because Graham has never been and possibly take a trip out to Hampton Court on the Sunday. I'll be putting out a call to see if anyone wants to meet up for a drink or meal closer to the date. The hotel is across from Euston Station so it will be handy for arrival and for Graham to return to Manchester. I'll get a cab to Paddington and take the train to Heathrow from there.
As we're going to be road tripping in Scotland, I looked at the price of renting a GPS but holy hell, i knew it wasn't cheap but if we're renting it for the whole two weeks that the car will be booked, it's nearly twice the cost of buying one and also buying the UK maps. So guess what i'll be getting myself before i go over? It's not as if it will be a one time used thing, i'll be able to use it here, there and elsewhere in North America. They all usually have lifetime map updates and we don't need an expensive top of the line one. I think my phone may even do the same function but i would imagine i'd need to leave the data connection on and not sure if it would work while recharging in the car charger. I think it's just better to keep it as a separate gadget.
We were also wondering what we might do next year. I will be going over again in April since he is hoping to get his vacation approved for the end of August due to my niece's wedding. We thought April would be better than May as May would be almost right on top of the summer. This spreads it out a little more. Anyway, i thought about Barcelona for the weather but he's not quite as interested in it as i am though would go if my heart was set on it. It's not though I think it would be a very interesting city from what i've heard from friends that have been there. Then I thought about a river cruise. I have a good friend who has taken two, one through the Netherlands and Belgium at tulip time and one in December to see the Christmas markets in Austria and Germany and I think, Budapest as well. She really enjoyed it so i looked on the Viking River Cruise site and saw a nice little one from Paris up through Normandy. It would include a day and a half in Paris which is good and another night in Paris on the return. Viking has a 2 for 1 promotion on until the end of July and it has to be paid in full but that's fine. Maybe if we really like this kind of cruise, we can try others sometime. I don't really fancy sea cruising on the big ships the size of a small city but these ships are smaller, maybe about 50 - 75 staterooms. You spend more time ashore than on the boat in the daytimes and all your stops are close together for the most part.
The problem is that Graham has put in his vacation request but it goes to the head office for approval and I don't know how long it will take so everyone think positive thoughts that he gets the approval back before the end of the month. We're pretty much decided on booking it if he can get the time off. It's more flexible here at my work and i rarely have any trouble taking the time when i want it. His place is more tricky as they only let a certain number from each team go at a time. I only have one other person to consider and we never have a problem with time off conflicts. As long as i let my manager know in plenty of time so they can do any project planning they wanted to do, it's cool. And I've got union seniority over pretty much everyone else and that counts as well, when it comes to any conflicts at least. My 25 years here are good for that!
As we're going to be road tripping in Scotland, I looked at the price of renting a GPS but holy hell, i knew it wasn't cheap but if we're renting it for the whole two weeks that the car will be booked, it's nearly twice the cost of buying one and also buying the UK maps. So guess what i'll be getting myself before i go over? It's not as if it will be a one time used thing, i'll be able to use it here, there and elsewhere in North America. They all usually have lifetime map updates and we don't need an expensive top of the line one. I think my phone may even do the same function but i would imagine i'd need to leave the data connection on and not sure if it would work while recharging in the car charger. I think it's just better to keep it as a separate gadget.
We were also wondering what we might do next year. I will be going over again in April since he is hoping to get his vacation approved for the end of August due to my niece's wedding. We thought April would be better than May as May would be almost right on top of the summer. This spreads it out a little more. Anyway, i thought about Barcelona for the weather but he's not quite as interested in it as i am though would go if my heart was set on it. It's not though I think it would be a very interesting city from what i've heard from friends that have been there. Then I thought about a river cruise. I have a good friend who has taken two, one through the Netherlands and Belgium at tulip time and one in December to see the Christmas markets in Austria and Germany and I think, Budapest as well. She really enjoyed it so i looked on the Viking River Cruise site and saw a nice little one from Paris up through Normandy. It would include a day and a half in Paris which is good and another night in Paris on the return. Viking has a 2 for 1 promotion on until the end of July and it has to be paid in full but that's fine. Maybe if we really like this kind of cruise, we can try others sometime. I don't really fancy sea cruising on the big ships the size of a small city but these ships are smaller, maybe about 50 - 75 staterooms. You spend more time ashore than on the boat in the daytimes and all your stops are close together for the most part.
The problem is that Graham has put in his vacation request but it goes to the head office for approval and I don't know how long it will take so everyone think positive thoughts that he gets the approval back before the end of the month. We're pretty much decided on booking it if he can get the time off. It's more flexible here at my work and i rarely have any trouble taking the time when i want it. His place is more tricky as they only let a certain number from each team go at a time. I only have one other person to consider and we never have a problem with time off conflicts. As long as i let my manager know in plenty of time so they can do any project planning they wanted to do, it's cool. And I've got union seniority over pretty much everyone else and that counts as well, when it comes to any conflicts at least. My 25 years here are good for that!