Recently, I went traveling. I don't have the luxury of being "Retired Sue" for 3 months of the year anymore, but that won't stop me from sneaking some trips into my new full-time-worker status. First journey - London and Edinburgh.
I've been to both these cities before but not for many years. It was a real treat to go back to both of these amazing places. I went with friends and met up with more friends who are living in the UK. It was absolutely a party.
As a native Californian it's always mind-blowing to see super ancient buildings next to a Starbucks. Oh, that chapel was built in 1300? Cool. I think the oldest building in the city I grew up in is probably from the 1950's (just kidding...the Winchester Mystery House was built in 1884).
Some trip highlights:
- I fed a lot of my movie/TV watching passions while I was there. I visited the Sherlock Holmes Museum and took the Harry Potter Studio Tour. Both were great fun. If you are at all a fan of Harry Potter or filmmaking, it's worth going on the studio tour. Actual sets, concept art...it's a film geek's dream. I could have camped out for hours in the room that housed the entire Hogwarts model. It was majestic.
Hogwarts!
- We spent 4 days in Edinburgh. I have had a weird love affair with Edinburgh since the first time I went there about 25 years ago. Something about it just fascinates me. We took a day trip through some of the lowlands - Stirling Castle, Loch Lomond - and touched into a tiny bit of the highlands. While I loved every stop on this tour, the highlight was meeting some Highland Cows (or Harry Coos in the local vernacular). Hamish was the "leader". There were two others that didn't seem to have names so we dubbed them "Beyonce" and "Eric".
Hamish and I say Pffftttt.
There is no part of Edinburgh that isn't picturesque including the tourists!
- Also in Edinburgh we did a tour of a "close" which is like an alley where people lived from the 1600's on. They are very claustrophobic because the city sort of built up around them. Because we are classy, our two takeaways were "Gardy-loo" which is what you yell when you toss your chamber pot twice a day (it's from the French for "Watch your water" or something like that) and "Thunderbox" which is what one resident called his "fancy" toilet (it was just a box, honestly).
- We spent an incredibly rainy day trying to see some of the sights of London. We sloshed around the London Eye and a disappointing Big Ben (It was COMPLETELY covered in scaffolding) then on to Buckingham Palace. At this point it was so rainy that we looked like we had just come out of a pool so we ran to a pub and drank gin and tonics until it abated. We ended that day by going to the Victoria & Albert museum which was lovely.
- We did a crazy escape-room-type thing one evening. It's called Crystal Maze and it's based off an old TV game show in England. It's very goofy and you have a "maze master" who runs your team from challenge to challenge trying to win crystals that eventually equal time in the "dome" where you catch gold tokens. The most gold tokens win. We were ABYSMAL. We won 3 crystals (out of a potential 16). Our maze master was very encouraging but when we realized that everyone else had at least 8 crystals we understood that we sucked. Sadly, one of the rules was that we couldn't be visibly drunk to play. I think that would have served us well.
Worst Crystal Maze team ever!!
- I got to spend some time with an old friend of mine, Gareth, who I haven't seen in 16 years. It was like no time at all had passed and that made my heart very happy indeed.
We look JUST the same as 16 years ago. Honest.
Now let's get to some Revues.
USA to LONDON:
The Good Place - TV series, season 2, 3 episodes
If you know anything about me at all, you know I've already seen season 2 (all episodes) but it's nice to see family when you are flying overseas.
Thumbs up!
Peter Rabbit - released in 2018
I really wanted to watch this movie. I love James Corden and the supporting voice cast seems great (Sia, Daisy Ridley, Margot Robbie). Sadly, this became a Sleeper Film for me (Sleeper Films are the movies that you use for white noise to help you fall asleep on a plane). The character design is adorable and the animation looked really good...judging by the few minutes I was awake. I'd like to watch it again.
Thumbs sleepy.
Peter Rabbit - released in 2018
So I tried to watch it again immediately. Same outcome. Zzzzz.
Thumbs still sleepy.
The Greatest Showman - released in 2018
I've seen this before. I revue'd it. I loved it. I watched it while I was eating breakfast on the plane. It was the perfect thing to not pay much attention to.
Thumbs up!
LONDON TO USA:
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle - released in 2018
Apparently I like to watch films that have both the Rock and Kevin Hart on international flights (I watched Central Intelligence last year on a flight). My jury was WAY out on this one. So imagine my surprise when I was laughing out loud for much of it. It's funny, it's got heart, it's the Rock, Jack Black, Karen Gillan. It's a new take on Jumanji - they've made it a video game by some magical trickery that the game itself pulls. It sucks 4 high school students into the jungle and we see them play the game via their avatars (the Rock, Black, Hart and Gillan). Jack Black is particularly good as a popular snotty girl who is horrified to be a fat, male cartographer named "Shelly".
Thumbs up!
The Post - released in 2017
I wanted to see this in the theater and I'm not really sure why I didn't. Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, the first woman publisher of a major newspaper. Good stuff. Sadly, it was a bit too cerebral for me on a flight so I slept through most of it. Weirdly, it was the only point on the whole flight home that I did sleep. Dang it.
Thumbs probably up.
Thor: Ragnarok - released in 2017
I'll admit that I probably missed some of the subtle plot points of this movie (thankfully Marvel films don't rely on subtlety) but overall I enjoyed it very much. Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston are both really great as Thor and Loki - their chemistry together is fun to watch. And both are handsome which is a total bonus. Cate Blanchett plays the sister no one knew they had (she's also the Goddess of Death or some such thing) and she's - as always - fantastic. He costume is amazing - she has hair that turns into horns! Take that, Medusa! Jeff Goldblum makes his Marvel debut In this film as the Grandmaster - a nutty being who stages gladiator-type games on his planet. He's insane as only Jeff Goldblum can play it - totally crazy but you kind of buy into it. This film is directed by Taika Waititi which is also a bonus. He infuses wonderful humor into everything he touches. He also is the voice of Korg, a rock monster that is equally as charming as Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy (but with a better vocabulary). As I'm doing a bit of research on this, I'm discovering that there are several cameos I missed (Loki puts on a play in Asgard) so I imagine I'll be watching this one again, too.
Thumbs up!
(Overall drink pairings - if you are on a flight, drink a lot of water, people. It's important to stay hydrated!)
My takeaways:
#1 - My seat mate on the flight home was a charming young woman who was flying to SF for a work conference. We even exchanged numbers. Normally I'm not nearly that nice on a flight, I'm not sure what got into me. Maybe the UK is good for me?
#2 - Now that I'm working for a living, I need to figure out how much vacation I can squeeze out of a year. Two weeks seems so short, doesn't it?
#3 - I kind of really want to go back to Scotland.
xoxo...hastagSueslife
