English Roadtrip - July 2008

Precursor - Though going home to Toronto to see family and friends is a considerable joy and pleasure every time, this was my first 'long' vacation since coming to Hong Kong, and especially special since I actually planned this one! The original reason for going to England was to attend my cousin's convocation from Sheffield. However, since the university could not fix the date well enough in advance, it turned out that my flight plans -- which I booked in January -- would completely disallow my attendance, and this became fully a personal vacation. I was to travel with my parents, auntT (from Toronto), auntHK (from HK), and auntM (from Montreal -- mom's old friend, not really my aunt). Very thankfully, for the sake of my sanity, Alison availed herself to come along for the ride -- my car ride -- on this English roadtrip on the other side of the road. ;)

While I do enjoy travelling, I realize that I am generally too lazy to plan for anything. Therefore I would be perfectly content if I never saw some of earth's most awesome sights during my lifetime; this is because I am certain of my salvation (some personal theology for you. :p) And looking back, I realize that every single vacation has been planned by those more anal and particular than me -- which has worked out perfectly fine for me! Nonetheless, this time, at the four-weeks-left-to-go mark, my lack of planning threw me into a obsessive panic, and I planned most major details in one week, replete with estimated mileage and petrol budget analysis. I was very pleased! Google docs is also great!

So, allow me to share my journey -- we will start with... creation!

Until next time, this is Gladys Yam.