Bath and Bristol - so close, yet so far away

Bath and Bristol, two very different cities that are not so far apart geographically.

Bath - a quitessential English city

Bristol - a modern city with just an occasional flash of charm.

I was only in Bristol for a few hours, but I was not impressed.  I was sorry we left Bath so early to get to this city.  It was modern with a river going through it and there was the occasional church or pub that had that old world charm that one looks for in a British city - at least that's what I think people look for.  It was disappointing, especially with so many lovely cities in England like Bath and York. 

Bath on the other hand was an awsome little city.  You stepped into this city and felt transported to England.  The Bath Museum wasn't so great, but the architecture was lovely.  I stopped in a tea shop and had tea with a scone, what could be more British then that?  And the shops all felt and looked local, it was a warm city that I would love to go back and visit again. 

For the rest of you, skip Bristol and spend a few days in Bath, you wont regret it.

Touring Plan Follow Up - Disneyland

In Disneyland I used my touring plans to tour the parks and I have to say it worked out pretty well.  I did have a couple waits that were longer then I expected, but I got well more then the average person gets done in a day too.

Here's how day in at Disneyland went (as well as my memory serves me):
Fast Pass for Space Mountain
Matterhorn Bobsled
Peter Pans Flight
Buzz Light Year
Space Mountain
Big Thunder
Jungle Cruise
Indiana Jones
Haunted Mansion
Pirates of the Caribbean
Ice Cream lunch at Golden Horseshoe while watching the show (had an early dinner)
Columbia Sailing Ship
Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage
Monorail
Captain EO
Autopia
Late Lunch/Early Dinner at Blue Bayou
Sleeping Beauty Walk Through
Snow White's Scary Adventure
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
Small World
Mickey's Toontown Fair, including a picture with Mickey
The Railroad
Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln
Wait for Wishes and Fantasmic
That's 22 - 25 attractions (depending on how you count) and I also did some shopping!

Day 2 - there were extra morning hours at Disneyland and I was up so I went there first, then went to DCA for the day.

Space Mountain
Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage
Alice in Wonderland
Pinochio's Daring Adventure
Breakfast in Disneyland

At DCA:
Soarin
Fast passes for Soarin and World of Color
Toy Story Midway Mania
California Screamin
Mickey's Fun Wheel
Aladdin show
Tower of Terror
Soarin
Lunch at the bar at Ariels Grotto
Walt Disney Imagineering at Blue Sky
Tough to be a Bug
Bakery Tour
Tortilla Factory tour
Left the park for shopping at Downtown Disney
Monsters Inc Ride
Waited for World of Color
Tower of Terror

The problem at DCA is that by mid day all of the headliners had long lines and I had already ridden them anyway.  I wasted a lot of time trying to ride Monsters Inc, it was closed most of the day so I went by it a couple times to see if it was open. 

Also worth mentioning is that in those 2 days I noticed a lot of rides having issues.  In addition to Monsters Inc being closed, Indiana Jones was closed the day before when I went to ride that.  Toy Story kept stopping while I was riding it, I also had a long stop when I was on Buzz Lightyear, and also Haunted Mansion stopped briefly.  Rumor around DCA was that Soarin also had issues that day.  I can honestly say that in a week at Disney World I never noticed that many attractions down. 

I got a lot done on both days.  Incase you're wondering about a couple attractions - Muppet Vision 3D and Spalsh Mountain were closed and Grizzley River Run involves water, it wasn't that warm and I was wearing jeans and sneakers - I wasn't risking getting wet.  While I was able to move around the parks pretty quickly since I was by myself I also didn't know the parks so couldn't move quite as quickly as I would have liked, but the touring plans really helped to get me started with the big attractions in the morning.  I also used the Lines application from Touring plans, which helped to keep me from trying to ride an attraction that had a long wait.  I also got myself some badges for reporting posted wait times.

Photo of the Week: London

The Changing of the Guard at St. James Palace

The cost of charging for luggage

I don't usually delve into the TSA and airline policies, since I'm not that well educated on the matter.  But, every now and then a story jumps out at me...

Before 9/11 and the TSA airlines were responsible for carry-on screening - the time before airlines charged for checking your suitcase.  Also, before everyone started trying to carry-on as much as possible.

The Washington Post had an article about how it's costing the TSA to screen these bags at check points and how the TSA wants more money from a security fee (travelers) to pay for this. 

I've finally gotten over the whole pay for your suitcase thing, though I often fly with Jetblue anyway, and now you want me to pay more money for security because I have to pay for my suitcase to go on the plane.  If I didn't distrust the TSA then I might not be so annoyed.

but an even more intersting question is...  If the airlines were still conducting the security would they be so excited about the money they make off the luggage fees, since they would be the ones forking over the extra money for the extra screening.  Well I'm sure they would find a way to make the flyer pay anyway. 

Illuminations and the evening shows

My last trip to Disney World was the first time I got to see Illuminations and I really really liked it.  Maybe it's the whole world and Earth and World thing, but I think it's my favorite evening show at Walt Disney World.  Don't get me wrong, I really do enjoy Wishes and Fantasmic, but I connected with Illuminations.

Wishes is primarily a fireworks show, it's a really good one.  But I've also had a front row seat to the Macy's 4th of July Fireworks show, it takes a lot to impress me.  I'm impressed, but I also know that at least once a year I can go see a fantastic fireworks show in my own backyard.

Fantasmic is fantastic!  After I saw it the first time I had to drag my friend to see it on our trip - it rained and none of the characters came out.  I love the characters and the story at the show, as well as the special affects.  What I don't like?  How early you need to get there (though seating is a plus), if it rains they cancel it, and it's not shown every night - making it a pain for scheduling. 

But Illuminations.  I love the globe, the fireworks and how World Showcase is integrated into the show by lighting up each of the pavilions.

I originally wrote this before I went to Disneyland, I thought the best way to deal with my update was to just add to the post my thoughts about the Disneyland shows.  Wishes is still fireworks, the music is great the coordination with the fireworks is great, but it's still just fireworks.  I wasn't in love with fantasmic here, I hear the show itself is better, but I found it was too crowded and hard to see since the show is done pretty much in the middle of the park instead of in a dedicated area.  The experience of watching Fantasmic here took away from the actual show. 

World of Color on the other hand was really good.  I'm still sticking by my love of Illuminations, but this show was special too.  And they have much better organization for seeing the show (with the use of fast pass) that it wasn't as overwhelming as seeing Fantasmic.  Though it is a bit disturbing that I got there over an hour before and couldn't get that good of a spot.  This is one event where the dining package could be worth the cost, just to get the good seats.

Photo of the Week: London

Piccadilly Circus, London, England

New York Times Travel Show

This weekend I went to the New York Times Travel Show, it's the first time I ever went to a travel show and it was just ok.

If you want to enter contests, and collect brochures, this is the place to be!  Bring address labels so it's easier to give out your information.

If you want to learn about destinations, travel, tour companies - it's ok.  Obviously there are lots of vendors there - Greece had a giant set up with lots of tour companies there.  There were all sorts of tour companies there, there were locations.  There are seminars on travel and tons on contests.  But after about an hour or two of being open it started to get very crowded and if you wanted to talk to someone, it was hit or miss.  I can also say that I didn't meet anyone at any table who tried to suck me into anything, a few spoke to me, but no one pushed me.  Which left me wondering why are they there?

But my biggest disappointment was there there wasn't anything there for the locations I'm considering for this year.  I found one person who dealt with Ireland and it wasn't what I was looking for.  There wasn't anything in a few hours drive of my that jumped out at me for a weekend trip.  If you want the caribbean though, the place was flooded!

What I would do differently, I would only go again if I had something in mind - say an African Safari.  I would find out what vendors would be there, if I was interested in any of them and then I would get there early so I could talk to the vendors and see if I could get a discount by booking through any of them.  Also, I would budget a little more time so I could do the rock climbing wall.

My apologies if this post is a little random - I have a headache, it's late and my mind is racing a bit as I write this.

Photo of the Week: Scotland

Hairy Cows, Scotland.  Poor guy has his hair in his eyes!

Churchill's War Room

While in London I visited the Churchill War Rooms - a museum dedicated to the underground bunker that Churchill and the British government used during WWII.  This museum was recommended to me by family friends and I have to say it was a good fit.

Before and after going here I heard wonderful things about the museum and it was wall set up.  I will caution thought that I was by far the youngest person going through the museum, I think everyone else had lived through WWII. 

The set up of the museum gave an idea of what it would have been like to be down in the bunker for long periods of time (I work in an office without windows so I undertood that part of it already).  there was an authentic feel to the museum with the use of actually and period pieces.  The only thing I didn't like was that some of the maniquines made the museum feel a little cheesy. 

I would recommend this musuem to others visiting London, particularly if you are interested in history.  I'm not sure I would put it on a 1 day itinerary, but probably a 2 or 3 day + itinerary.  There was another part to the museum, about Churchill himself.  I opted to skip that part as I was getting hungry and he wasn't my primary interest in visiting.

Anaheim Fairfield Inn

On my trip to Disneyland I stayed at the Anaheim Fairfield Inn.  For those of you unaware of the layout of Disneyland it is not like Disneyworld.  The Disney property fills in a ginormous city block, within it is Disneyland Park, Disney's California Adventure, Downtown Disney and 1 hotel.  The other two Disney hotels are across the street from Downtown Disney.  All around the park are privately owned hotels.  Directly across from Downtown Disney is one of the park entrances and an area with several hotels, including the Fairfiled Inn.  I had a 5-10 minute walk to the entrance of the parks. 

The rooms at the Fairfield Inn were large, the sink is seperate from the toilet and shower, and the hotel is set back a little bit from the road, I never heard any street noise and my room did face the street.  The hotel also offered free internet, always a plus.  They did have a pool there, a restaurant inside the hotel (Pizza Hut) and a coffee shop.  Additionally, there was a restaurant called Millies right outside as well as a McDonalds - you're not going to starve here.  The biggest downside of the hotel?  They had cheap towels.  The best part - you can see the Matterhorn.  I highly recommend the hotel to anyone visiting Disneyland.

There are some other hotels in this area too, I walked past at least 3 on my way to the park.  I know they are all also moderately priced hotels and although some of them had cheesy exterior decorations, none of them screamed, "bad hotel."  After booking my hotel I found out the Best Western there is good, it is the closest to the park entrance too.  But other then considering that Best Western I would stay at the Fairfield Inn on a return trip in a heartbeat.

Photo of the Week: Newport

From Newport, RI