Tag: travel

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London Calling Back

The Olympics don’t usually capture my interest.  A few years ago I worked with a gal who kept a daily countdown to the next Olympic games even though it was more than a year off.  I thought she was nuts!  For me, the network coverage of the event seemed to be reduced to strings of “up close and personal” moments like Bob Costas sitting in front of a fireplace at the winter games, getting Team USA participants and their families to share touchy-feely moments.  There seemed to be little coverage of the actual events unless an American was in medal contention.  So much for the five rings in the Olympic symbol.

This past week I’ve been keeping a more interested eye on the games – not because the coverage has improved (they’ve added Ryan Seacrest to take some of the weight off Bob’s shoulders) but because they are in London.  I watch for the same reason I’ve watched Hawaii 5-O or Dog the Bounty Hunter; to catch glimpses of a place I’ve been that has touched a place in my heart.

Two years ago Dave and I took a ten day bus trip through the United Kingdom for our thirtieth wedding anniversary.  For me, it was a dream come true.  I have long been an Anglophile, a Royal watcher and lover of the BBC.  Although I’m embarrassed to admit it now, there was a time in my early teen years when I even fantasized about marrying Prince Charles.  Fortunately that didn’t happen.  But, for whatever reason, I am smitten by all things British except for maybe Elton John and Prince Charles.

Our first two days of our trip were spent touring London; the Tower, St. Paul’s andBuckingham Palace.  As they say, timing is everything and since the Queen was on holiday we didn’t get to see the changing of the guard but did get to actually go inside the palace to tour the public rooms and then have tea on the back lawn.  Yes, I can truthfully said I’ve had tea on the back lawn of Buckingham Palace.  Ahhhh.  A true “pinch me” moment for me.  Sadly, I dropped our camera on the floor of the bus as we were leaving the Tower so I only have a handful of photos we actually took on that trip.

So, this week, as I watch bits and pieces of the Olympics, I wait for the panoramic views of London. I gobble each view of the London Eye, Parliament, Big Ben and the Thames.  London is calling me back.And I want to go back, with luggage this time, and revisit it all and perchance smile for a photo!

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Frequent Flyer

Last night, about an hour and a half past our regular bedtime, we picked Andy up at the Charlottesville Airport – CHO.  He was returning from a job interview at the University of Southern Mississippi, an opportunity to become an assistant professor – a tenured position.  He looked tired but happy to be home as he walked through the gate in his tan silk sports coat, his tie loosened.  We were happy to see him (although we all hope he will be hired and move out in the near future.)

Planes and schools seem to be a recurring theme in Andy’s life.  When he was just a couple of months old, I flew with both he and Maggie to spend the Christmas holidays in Syracuse with my folks while Dave was deployed.  They both flew for free if they sat on a lap so I flew my Mom down to fly back with us.  The flight up was uneventful but coming back we were challenged by both bad weather delays and the slipperiness of the kids’ nylon snowsuits that seemed to slide down our bodies when we tried to plop them on a hip.

Our next flight together was when we flew as a family out to Hawaii – twenty years ago this summer.   That flight was loooonnnnggggg.   While stationed on Oahu, we took at least one family vacation to a neighboring island each year.  They were short hops on prop planes that took us to tiny airports.  The smallest of these was on Moloka’i, where a tractor towed our luggage from the plane on a cart and our bags were set on a wooden table for pick-up in an open aired pole barn.  When our three years were over, we flew back to the mainland – a much longer flight than the first because we were leaving a place we loved deeply.

Andy’s next flight was to Duke for an interview for the University Scholars program.  He left was some anxiety but I’ll never forget his triumphant return; smiling from ear to ear with a Blue Devils ballcap atop his head.  “I’m going!” He declared – and he did.

The summer following his junior year at Duke, Andy grabbed at the opportunity to study in London.  Instead of departing from the Norfolk Airport, we had to take him up to Dulles.  Even though he was twenty, it was still difficult for me to drop him off at such an enourmous airport and just drive off in those early days of post 911.  He was so excited, I was the anxious one.

Since then he has taken many flights.  As part of his graduate progarm at UC San Diego, he has travelled all over the country, presenting papers and attending conferences.  So much so that as I was fussing with him as he prepared for this trip to Mississippi, he finally reminded me that he has had much more experience in air travel than I have and I should “stop mothering” him.  Point taken, I backed off, but as all mothers know, there is just no going back on the mothering bit, we can only throttle it back a bit.

So now he’s back.  He thought the trip went well and seems to be contented to just wait.  While he was away he also learned that UCSD has a teaching job for him in the fall semester so if nothing else comes up, he’ll at least be employed again.

Andy's first school photo.

Where ever he ends up, he will always be the baby in my arms on the plane , the young boy I kept entertained on long trans Pacific flights and the young man I’ve sent off into the world.  In my mind’s eye, he’ll always be my Andy, with his name pinned on his shirt, as I sent him off for his first day of kindergarten, my son.