iTunes Playlist Tuesday! #99

It's my 99th playlist! I can't believe it! Next week is the big 100th and I'm not completely sure what I'm doing yet. I've received some excellent suggestions, so keep them coming!

This week's theme is Instrumentals. A lot of contemporary artists throw in a few instrumental tracks on albums for a little variety, so I thought I'd share some of those with you.

1. Meet Me in the Basement by Broken Social Scene - This song makes me think of the G20 riots that happened in Toronto last summer - mostly because of a video someone made using this song. When I saw them play this live they mentioned the G20 and how we can't let these things happen in our city. I also love running to this song.

2. Sonho Dourado by Daniel Lanois - This song comes from the Friday Night Lights soundtrack (the movie, not the show). Sometimes I love just listening to an electric guitar instrumental.

3. Black Mud by The Black Keys - The Black Keys are the current kings of gritty blues infused music and this song is proof.

4. New Orleans Instrumental No. 1 by R.E.M. - This is a nice little ditty between songs on R.E.M.'s Automatic for the People record. Love it.

5. Ballad of the Beaconsfield Minors by Foo Fighters - This is a blue-grass/folk instrumental by the Foo Fighters. Their diversity is amazing to me.

6. Sirens by Black Dub - Another Daniel Lanios, only this time with his new band Black Dub. He makes his guitar sound like a siren in the sexiest way possible.

7. A Day in the Life by Jeff Beck - A famous cover of an amazing Beatles song.

8. Ramparts by John Frusciante - I love John's instrumental arrangements. This one layers guitars to create a simple and sweet song.

9. So What by Miles Davis - Okay, so this isn't a new song. But Miles Davis wrote some pretty amazing pieces that have stood the test of time.

10. Fuckin' in the Bushes by Oasis - Sorry for the potty mouth in the title, but this song kicks so much ass.

See ya next week for the 100th!

Georgie and The Pussy Cats

Me as a cat on Halloween...you know, when it's okay
to dress up as a cat.

I know I've been lacking in my posts since my UK series ended - just life is still handing me unpublishable stories. But I have a little gem for you from work on Friday.

I should preface this story by telling you that an event that happened earlier on Friday had pretty much ruined my day and I was feeling pretty crappy at work. I was asked to come in for a four hour shift from 4 to 8. I actually only stayed till 7, but that's not important.

Before you read this you might want to quickly go read my post about Creepy George - it will help contextually. 

So in the years I've been working at this particular cafe I have witnessed many strange things. I've called the police on a cracked out man undressing on my patio. I've seen bad internet dates, good internet dates, and couples who can't keep their hands off of each other. I've dealt with pretentious mommy groups, self-righteous bible thumpers, and trophy wives who want non-fat, sugar-free everything. On Friday I witnessed a group of girls come in dressed like cats.

They came in, two black cats and a grey one. The grey kitty had a pillow that she stuffed under her shirt - so I guess she was a pregnant cat? The three girls had a bit of a photoshoot at one of the corner tables - which was unfortunately close to where Creepy George was sleeping sitting. George perked up like a little school boy at the sight of three young girls dressed like cats taking photos of each other. His hands were near his mouth, in a pose that seemed like he was so excited he couldn't contain his giggles.

The pregnant cat, curiously, went and hid in the glassed in space between the doors while the others continued taking photos. Not once did any of them order anything. 

George was gesturing to us, pointing at them and beaming with joy. The photographer, one of the cats, was perfectly aligned with him so he got a good view of her tail, and he didn't even pretend not to stare.

So there you have it folks - I didn't think anything shocked me at work anymore. 

Do You Read The Newspaper? (Poll Results)

Guess this wasn't a very interesting topic. Only five of you answered, so do any of you read a physical copy of the paper?

Yes - a physical copy
0 (0%)

Sometimes
1 (20%)

Never
1 (20%)

Only Online
3 (60%)

iTunes Playlist Tuesday! #98

I just woke up - it's my day off. My window was open and it was a bit chilly. I opened up my laptop and remembered it's Tuesday - so here is my mix for a chilly Spring morning.

BEFORE I SHARE THESE SONGS WITH YOU I NEED TO JUST SAY...MY 100th PLAYLIST IS IN TWO WEEKS! ANY SUGGESTIONS?

1. Morning Moon by The Tragically Hip - It still feels like night.

2. So Cold by Holly McNarland - I'm so cold, need more blankets.

3. I'm Not the Sun by Arkells - If I were the sun I wouldn't feel cold.

4. Looks Just Like the Sun by Broken Social Scene - Looks just like the sun, but doesn't feel like it.

5. Reach for the Sun by The Polyphonic Spree - I'm reaching for the sun!

6. Someone Who is Cool by The Odds - I am someone who is cool this morning.

7. Windowsill by Arcade Fire - Maybe because I left my window open?

8. Heatseeker by Two Hours Traffic - I am seeking heat, yes.

9. Electric HeaT - The SeekwiLL by k-os - See above!

10. No Sleep by Sam Roberts - I eventually just got out of bed and made some tea.

Chapter 7: The Closing Credits

Air Canada!

This is the final installment of my UK adventures. For those of you who have been skipping these, this will be good news. But to the few who've made it through these vacation posts I applaud you!

Monday was a whirlwind of a day. I got up at 7 am UK time, ate something, gathered all my stuff, did some last minute packing and waited outside for my taxi that was coming at 9.

The taxi dropped me off at the bus station, where I sat and waited for my 9:45 bus to Heathrow. The bus was boring, but it got to the airport early - which was nice. I found my airline, checked my bag and went though security with no problems.

Heathow's terminal is way more impressive than Toronto's, so I spent some time in the duty free as well as a few other shops. I stopped at a little cafe called "EAT." and ordered a tea and a pan au chocolat. The radio was playing Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You" which was just one of many reminders I had that I was flying home.

On the back of a cartoon coaster

In the blue TV screen light

I drew a map of Canada

Oh Canada

And I sketched your face on it twice

I sat with the crowds of travellers, drinking my tea, watching the flights on the screen.

I walked past HMV, they were playing Arcade Fire. I felt like I truly was in transition between the UK and Canada.

It was time for me to run to my gate - the furthest possible gate by the way. When I got to gate 42 I grabbed some free magazines and relaxed until my row was called to board. I was happy I had another window seat, but was nervous about who my seat mates would end up being. I was delighted that a quiet  English lady had the aisle and no one had the middle. I could stretch my legs. It was awesome.

So I watched some movies, ate some food, and basically tolerated my long flight home. I arrived in Toronto and went through customs, collected by bag and called the airport taxi company to come get me. I arrived home at 7 pm eastern standard time, but it was actually midnight in the UK. I was so excited from my trip that I didn't feel that tired (not yet anyways).

I crashed at 9 pm.

THE END.

Goodbye England!

Chapter 6: The Bridge to Nowhere

As I said in my UK post on the Sunday - my final day of touring - I went to Bristol with my cousin's wife. My cousin is in the military and had to attend an event in a small town that afternoon. We all woke up later and relaxed in the morning while we ate breakfast - no rush.

My cousin dropped us off at the train station and we bought tickets for the next train to Bristol. From the train station in Bristol we caught a bus to the suspension bridge - which was a pretty amazing sight. Before we saw that though we were both hungry so we stopped at a little cafe called The Rainbow Cafe. We each got quiche, salad and tea. I thought I should stop my scone diet before it became a serious habit. The cafe was cute, sold rainbow pottery, books and photographs.

Suspension Bridge.

After that we walked towards the bridge. We didn't walk that far across it because my cousin's wife was scared, but we did take a few photos. We then walked up to a lookout where there was an incredible view of the bridge, the river and the city.

Me looking at the bridge from the lookout.

We walked down and started towards the main shopping area in Bristol. On the way we discovered a Banksy stencil/graffiti piece. I was pretty sure it was one of his, and Google confirmed it when I got home.

Banksy street art.

We had to quickly look at some of the shops, because we needed to get back because the puppy was at home alone. In one store I tried on some dresses. I'm not sure why, but I have an obsession with cute summer dresses. The one was a maxi dress - it was georgeous, but unfortunately it was £129...that's a lot of Canadian dollars! I ended up with one more in my price range that was also super cute.

After that we walked to the train and took a taxi home. When we opened the gate Mack was outside. We looked around and noticed my cousin's car wasn't there. How did Mack get out of the house? The back door was open, that's how. At first we both feared that someone broke in, but after further inspection we realized that he must have jumped up on the door, hit the knob and it opened. Instant freedom!

We took Mack for a long walk through the fields by the river and it sprinkled rain on us a bit. We walked home, fed Mack, and I started packing while my cousin's wife got some stuff for dinner ready. My cousin came home and we ate chicken caesar salad in front of the TV watching Dr. Who.

It was a pretty laid back last night in town! Tune in tomorrow for my final installment! My trip home!

Cheers!

If you look really close you can see a rainbow.

Chapter 5: Scholars & Scrums

Moving right along with my UK trip stories...

On the Saturday we all got up really early because we were going to Oxford to drop my cousin's wife off at a conference. It absolutely poured for most of our drive, but luckily stopped shortly after we arrived. We had Mack with us, so it was mostly a walking tour of Oxford - but it was quite nice to see the beautiful university buildings. I took some photos, but unfortunately my camera battery died before I got to see some of the more impressive buildings.

Building in Oxford, UK.

Punting boats on the river.

Last photo before camera died.

We left Oxford and got back to the house with enough time to quickly eat something and charge my camera battery before heading to town for the Bath Rugby match at 3 o'clock. It was the last game of the season, so everyone was all excited. His tickets were for the standing section, which was fine because everyone around us was really fun - making up cheers and such. I'd never been to a rugby game before so it was a totally new experience for me. I pretty much got the gist of it after a few plays, which was cool.

Thumbs up for rugby!

In the end Bath beat Newcastle 42-12, but failed to make the playoffs. It was still a fun experience.

We cheered for the blue team.

We walked back to the house, and shortly after my cousin went to pick up his wife from the train station. He made amazing homemade hamburgers! Whenever my mom makes her own hamburgers they would end up like small charred balls - these were so good.

After dinner we discussed what to do on my last full day - Stratford? Gloucester? Bristol? We settled on Bristol.

Tune in tomorrow for Chapter 6, which will be about my day in Bristol.

Chapter 4: Solsbury Hill x 2

By the Friday of my trip to the UK jet lag was catching up to me. In other words, I had a rough start to my day. I got up, showered, ate breakfast, checked my email, and then pretty much fell asleep on the couch. I didn't sleep for long because I knew I had to get up and go, as it would have been a terrible waste of my trip.

I'm on the canal path!

I got ready and took a long, hot and exhausting walk along the canal path (both ways). I thought about stopping by a pub called The George along the canal, but I chickened out because I still felt weird about drinking in a pub alone. I know I was in England and all, but I still couldn't do it.

Canal path towards The George.

Instead I walked to the main road, bought a bottle of water at an Esso station and walked towards The Bath Circus and The Royal Crescent. 

A section of The Bath Circus.

The Bath Circus is four housing structures that are curved so that they form a broken circle. If you walk up another road you reach The Royal Crescent - a huge housing structure built in a crescent shape. No. 1 Royal Crescent, the first unit on the right hand side, is open to the public as a museum. I paid and viewed several of the rooms, which were decorated for the time period. 

Sitting on the grass, looking at the Crescent.

Fun fact: John Cleese owns one of the units.

After that, boring old me stopped for tea again. I really couldn't get enough. This tea obsession lead to me to search for a nice cup and saucer to buy for myself, as I thought it would be a good reminder of my trip. I found a pretty light blue one.

The Bath Bun - the tea shop I went to.
The people sitting outside seemed annoyed that I look a photo.

I walked back to my cousin's place and we drove down to an Indian restaurant called Rajpoot - which had won awards for the best curry in the South West. We ordered a bunch of things for take-away and had some Cobra beers while we waited. 

Me in front of the Avon. The Abbey and The Empire in the background.

While we were driving home "Solsbury Hill" by Peter Gabriel came on the radio - while the actual Solsbury Hill, the one from the song, was in view. How many of you could say that?

Solsbury Hill.

The Indian food was amazing by the way. 

Chapter 5 tomorrow (hopefully).

Chapter 3: The Darjeeling Unlimited

To begin, I'm sorry this took so long to post. My original plan was to post an installment each day, but since Blogger went down and Chapter 2 disappeared I've been waiting. I re-posted the last blog and am now moving forward with my UK tales.

~

I started my day off with a bagel with peanut butter and took my time getting ready for my afternoon of touring Bath. My cousin's wife left to pick up a few groceries and told me it would be fine if I left Mack (my cousin's dog) in the house if I left, since she would only be gone 15 minutes. It was another beautiful day so I took Mack out into the yard with my camera and closed the door behind me. After a few minutes he was ready to go back inside, so I pulled on the knob. The door was locked. I didn't know the door locked automatically. I didn't have my key. We were locked out for 10 minutes - so it could have been worse.

Mack and I locked out.

After Mack was finally able to go inside I gathered my stuff to head into town for the afternoon. The first place I visited was the inside of The Bath Abbey. While I'm not a religious person, I still find cathedrals and old churches beautiful. The architecture is nothing like anything we make today. The ornate ceiling, the stained glass, the stone and marble work - it's all so impressive.

Inside of The Bath Abbey

After I left The Abbey I went across the square to The Roman Baths. This is an attraction that I'd seen before when I visited with my family. I'd say it was worth seeing again. This is what I love about Europe - seeing things that are actually really old. There are no Roman Ruins in Canada, that's for damn sure. The Roman Baths was a bath house fed by a natural hot spring - common in Bath. The building once had a roof over it, but now the main pool is uncovered. This attraction is why Bath is called Bath.

View of The Baths

A quote from a letter to her sister from Jane.

After I left the Baths I walked up to find The Jane Austen Centre. It was an interesting museum - located in a small row house not far from where Jane Austen lived when she was in Bath. The tour began with a talk given by a theatrical gentleman in Austen-era dress. He told us all about Jane Austen's family and how she ended up living in Bath. We were then allowed to wander through the exhibit. I was pretty tired and hadn't eaten since breakfast, so I decided to go upstairs after to the Tea House located on the top floor. I ordered a traditional English Cream Tea with Darjeeling tea. It was loose leaf Darjeeling (a black tea from India) and the server brought a tea strainer, and extra pot of hot water, milk and sugar to the table. It was amazing tea. The scones, jam and clotted cream were also amazing. Just what I needed.

Amazing Darjeeling tea.

After leaving The Jane Austen Centre I walked down to the bus station to book my ticket for my return trip to Heathrow.

I walked back to the house, put my stuff away, and checked my email and stuff on their little netbook. I was tired, but my cousin wanted to take us to Castle Combe, a town on the edge of the Cotswolds, where we could walk with the dog. We walked through this adorable little town, then found a footpath - where Mack found another dog to play with. After we drove home and had delicious spaghetti with homemade sauce for dinner.

Thatched cottage in Castle Combe.

Even though I haven't watched this show in years, I sat down with them after and watched Survivor.

Chapter 4 coming soon!

Chapter 2: The Day I Got a Tan in England

Note: This post was not restored - but thanks to Things to Do from 101 Things to Do Before You Die I was able to just copy and paste the text and just put the photos back! Apparently it was still showing up in her reader even though it was missing from my blog! So make sure you check out her blog and tell her how awesome she is! I will type up Chapter 3 and possibly Chapter 4 for you guys today! Oh, and Kim - I did read your comment on the last post, I just couldn't respond 'cause the post disappeared and all.

~

When I woke up the next morning, having slept extremely well the night before, I was alone in the house. My cousin had left for work already and his wife had no yet returned from her trip to Ottawa. I had a bagel and some juice, showered, dressed and got Mack's stuff ready to take him for a walk.

The evening before (if you read yesterday's post) I had walked along the canal path with my cousin and the dog. But having been jet-lagged and sleep-deprived, I didn't remember how we got there. Silly me. I walked around aimlessly looking for signs of a path, but found nothing. So I turned around and walked him the opposite direction. We never made it to the path, but he still got a good walk in. When we returned to the house a taxi pulled up - my cousin's wife was back from her trip. I greeted her and we talked for a bit before I set off for the city centre.

I was told by both my cousin and his wife that the #13 bus would take me to town, or I could walk. Anyone who knows me well would know that I always choose walking over public transit. Sounds crazy, but I just prefer travelling by two feet and a heartbeat. I walked along London Road and navigated the streets without taking out the map once. I used my instincts and followed the peak of the Bath Abbey to find where I wanted to go. I walked around the square by the Abbey - a place I'd walked with my family back in 2003. It seemed familiar but different.

I went into a few shops and bought a few gifts for people - including a Royal Wedding plate for my mom. The plate was monogramed CW - those happen to be my mom's initials.

I walked some more and saw the Avon from above and searched for a way to get down there. I successfully found a staircase and walked along the river until I happened upon a boat tour that was leaving in ten minutes for 8 pounds. I was hot from walking (yes, it was actually really hot out that day) and thought it would be nice to sit on a boat and catch a bit of a breeze and not have to walk. I paid the 8 pounds and the boat took us under the Pulteney Bridge and down the river, past my cousin's house and to the pub he and I went to the night before. It dropped some people off there and turned around and returned.

After an hour on the water I was getting pretty hungry. I stopped at a tea shop called The Mad Hatter's Tea Party and ordered an Earl Grey and a scone. This would begin my three day addiction to Traditional English Cream Tea.

After my tea I tried following the sign posts to find The Fashion Museum. It was actually getting pretty frustrating, as I kept walking in what I thought was the right direction, only to discover that I'd gone too far, or the wrong way. Sweaty and exhausted, I found it! I walked around and looked at fashions through the decades - took a few photos of some famous dresses, but I feel like I was too tired to fully focus on anything though.

I walked back to my cousin's house, had dinner and relaxed. I looked in the mirror later and noticed that I got a bit of sun on my chest and face. Not what you expect from England, eh?

iTunes Playlist Tuesday! #97

Welcome to Allison Wonderland's Tea Party!

Since I've been back from England I've been a bit of a tea snob. So here is my tea party inspired list!

1) Storm in a Teacup by Red Hot Chili Peppers - Tea is way more exciting than you think!

2) Pennyroyal Tea by Nirvana - If you google what pennyroyal tea is I want to make it clear that I am not drinking, nor do I need to drink this tea.

3) Ball and Biscuit by The White Stripes - Let's have a ball and a biscuit!

4) The Garden by Tomi Swick - Garden party's often have tea.

5) Bittersweet Me by R.E.M. - Tea can be bittersweet.

6) Savoy Truffle by The Beatles - All the desserts listed in this song make me hungry.

7) Jump Up the Jam by The Lost Fingers - This is a cover....but jam goes well on scones with tea.

8) Short Skirt/Long Jacket by Cake - Cake also goes well with tea.

9) Strawberry Swing by Coldplay - Strawberry jam with some clotted cream on a scone is pretty much the best thing ever!

10) The Park by Feist - You could drink tea in the park.

Enjoy!

Interlude: The Case of the Missing Post

This sad clown teapot says "Please bring back the
missing post & comments!"

I do want to continue my day-by-day recount of my travels to the UK, but due to Blogger being down for what felt like forever, my Chapter 2 post was deleted and has not yet been restored. So I don't really feel like retyping it...as it is supposedly going to be restored. And I'd rather start up with Chapter 3 once I know the fate of Chapter 2.

This sucks for me too - as I was just getting into the fun part of my trip :(

But since I'm here, I may as well fill you in on my life since I've been home.

My first shift back at The Cup was an interesting one. Cracked Out Carrie Bradshaw made an appearance. Looking like her usual trainwreck self. But the real gem of the night was what I consider to be "THE WORST FIRST DATE EVER."

I think working at a coffee shop has made me fearful of online dating. Because we have eyes and ears and are usually bored. This one was bad. He was really boring. How boring, I'll give you a taste of his awesome conversation skills:

Loser guy: So, do any of your friends have cottages?

Poor girl: Um, no...

Loser guy: Oh, my friend Mike has a cottage.

Cue the crickets.

He also had a lot to say about apples and the apple capital of Ontario.

Now this horrible date could have ended with a hand shake and perhaps an email later saying that it probably wasn't going to work out, but that's not how this guy rolls. He called her out on looking bored. He also said this:

"I know you said you don't like meeting new people, but you also said you don't like negative people - well you're not being very positive about this."

My co-worker and I had to duck behind the counter to cover up the fact that we were both laughing. We should have given that girl a piece of cake on the house.

Friday was also an interesting shift, but not exactly a great one for me. I've worked at The Cup for a long time - and in all my years I have been insulted on my drink making abilities, my service and other things that come with the territory of working in food service, but I have never been insulted on a personal level before...well until Friday.

An older man came in and he was a bit strange to begin with. We worked on his order, took his money, gave him his change - all efficiently and politely. He decided he's going to tip us a quarter. But he "cleverly" observed that there are two of us working and only one tip cup, so obviously we have to split those tips up later.

Creepy old man: You get 12 cents [looking at me] and she gets 13 because she's prettier.

Me: I don't even know how to respond to that....

Creepy old man who's digging himself into a bigger hole: Well, it's 'cause she's blond, you know what they say about blonds.

Cue the crickets.


Anyways, hope those stories amuse you and cross your fingers that my last UK post gets restored soon so I can continue sharing my journey with you!

Cheers!

All the Places You've Been (Poll Results)

North America

8 (100%)

South America

0 (0%)

Central America

1 (12%)

The Caribbean

2 (25%)

Europe

5 (62%)

Asia

2 (25%)

Australia/New Zealand

0 (0%)

Africa

2 (25%)

The Arctic

0 (0%)

Antartica

0 (0%)

Never left my home town

0 (0%)

To those who answered (or even those who didn't) - Where have you been? I'd love to know the fantastic places you've all visited and why.

Chapter 1: Departures & Arrivals

Terminal 1 - Cellphone photo by me.

This will be the first of several posts about my travels to Bath, England. This post will cover my flight over there and my arrival in Bath. I took a red eye flight on Monday, May 2, and arrived in London at around 8 am UK time, so this post will span two days technically - though for me they sort of blurred together.

The airport taxi picked me up at 4:45 pm to take me to Pearson International Airport in Toronto, Ontario. He dropped me at my terminal in front of the Air Canada check-in. This would be my first solo flight ever. I fumbled with the check-in kiosk and finally successfully printed my boarding pass. I was delighted to see that I was given a window seat.

I crossed my fingers and checked my bag - hoping it wouldn't be overweight. It wasn't. I followed the signs and went to security. Here I started to panic as well, thinking, "what if I accidently packed something here that I'm not allowed!" But it was a breeze and I made it through there quickly and without having my bag opened.

At the check-in desk, the woman had circled my gate number. So me, being a complete amature, took this as the gospel truth and sat at gate 172. After a while (I was super early) it became apparent that the people at my gate were preparing to board. I checked my watch and was confused - my flight was scheduled to take off at 8:40 pm, and board at 8:15 - so why was this plane boarding at 7? I got up and checked the screen to see that my flight was now boarding at gate 149. Again, being the nervous traveller that I am, I called my mom to ask if a sudden gate change was normal. She assured me it was.

Staring contest...he won. Art in the airport. Cellphone photo by me.

Sitting at gate 149, on the opposite end of the terminal, I chatted briefly with a lady from Minneapolis, who was connecting in Toronto to London. That's the thing about flying - not everyone is from the place you're taking off from. People are flying home, flying there, catching connecting flights, for business, for pleasure - so many reasons for travel.

I boarded my flight, and settled into my window seat. While we were waiting at the gate a steward announced that some people had tickets, but no seats and that he would call them up and find them seats. Unfortunately for everyone on that flight, there weren't enough seats for those affected. One person did not board our flight - but that one person had a piece of checked luggage already on board. We sat on the tarmac for nearly an hour waiting for airport personal to retrieve the bag.

To make matters worse, the unfortunate soul who got the middle seat in my row was...how do I say this without sounding like a complete ass....yeah, he was a bit bigger. Not obese, but big enough that he was practically sitting on the edge of my seat too. I will at this time remind you that I was on a red eye flight - a flight that I NEEDED to sleep on. This guy's leg touching me the whole flight made that nearly impossible. Anyways, the flight was okay. I got the chicken, I watched Going the Distance with Drew Barrymore and Justin Long. I tried desperately to sleep.

When my flight landed at Heathrow I handed in my customs form, picked up my bag and followed the signs to the Central Bus Station. The bus station was not what I expected. It was rammed with smelly travellers all waiting for buses to outlying towns and cities. I bought my ticket and waited with the masses. I bought a newspaper hoping to find out Canadian election results, but instead the paper was full of news of Osama Bin Laden's death.

The bus to Bath was uneventful. It took around two hours to get there and I half-slept for most of the journey. When I arrived at Bath Spa bus station I wandered around looking for a taxi. I should mention that in addition to being a nervous traveller, I'm also a stubborn tourist. I like finding things for myself and I hate looking like a dorky tourist - so I was reluctant to ask someone about taxis. But I swallowed my pride and asked a man in a yellow vest where I could find a taxi. He told me to walk up the street to the train station. Success!

My driver was a friendly man who told me about his recent trip to Rome. He dropped me at the gate at my cousin's house and I was greeted by my cousin's dog Mack. My cousin put out some hummus and tzatziki and baguette for a snack - which was much appreciated. I was really tired, but still agreed to go for a walk with Mack along the canal path. Luckily there are a few pubs along the canal and we stopped for a pint. The weather was gorgeous and flowers were blooming.

We had steaks for dinner - which was an awesome surprise and I pretty much passed out after that.

More on my adventures around Bath tomorrow!

iTunes Playlist Tuesday! #96

I got in from the UK yesterday evening - which felt like midnight UK time, so I haven't exactly been thinking about playlist ideas. So I took a song that related to my trip, "Solsbury Hill" by Peter Gabriel and let the iTunes Genius function make the rest of the list.

1) Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel - I listened to this song on the radio while looking at the actual Solsbury Hill in Bath.

2) Romeo and Juliet by The Dire Straits

3) Down on the Corner by Creedence Clearwater Revival

4) All Apologies by Nirvana

5) Dazed and Confused by Led Zeppelin

6) Yellow Ledbetter by Pearl Jam

7) Vasoline by Stone Temple Pilots

8) Hey Joe by The Jimi Hendrix Experience

9) Longview by Green Day

10) Bellbottom Blues by Derek and The Dominoes

Sorry for this lame list - I promise a better list next week! Plus, I will start my holiday blogs soon too. I think I'll break them down by days.

iTunes Playlist Tuesday! #95

You're probably wondering why I'm blogging when I should be on vacation - but I'm actually not. I'm writing this message to you from the past. In other words, this playlist is scheduled. But there's something else different about this list...I didn't write it. I've been so busy planning and preparing for my trip this week that I didn't have time to think of 10 songs! I asked my good blog friend lalalalauren to do it for me. So please go to her blog and tell her how awesome she is.


- Allison

***

1) "On A Plain" by Nirvana - I'm starting this playlist off with a horrible pun. Right now, Allison is flying to England. That's right - she's on a plane. Not exactly what our friend Kurt Cobain is singing about, but it's still worth mentioning.

2) "Road To Nowhere" by Talking Heads - If this doesn't make for a good traveling song, I don't know what does.

3) "London Calling" by The Clash - Since Allison is going to England, it seemed only right to include this song.

4) "England, Scotland, and Wales" by Luke Haines - I couldn't make a playlist for a girl on her way to England without including this king of Britpop!

5) "This Time Tomorrow" by The Kinks - Whenever I hear this song, I always think of that Wes Anderson movie where Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson, and Adrian Brody jump on a train and travel the world. Even without that mental image, this song makes me want to travel the world.

6) "England" by The National - Self-explanatory.

7) "Born in the U.K." by Badly Drawn Boy - Allison was not born in the U.K...but she will be IN the U.K.! As I side note, I saw Badly Drawn Boy live in concert a few years ago and his extreme onstage drunkenness almost ruined his music for me. I really love his music though, so I've managed to forgive him for swearing at the audience and delivering an awful, impromptu cover of "Don't Stop Believing."

8) "Scenic World" by Beirut - Isn't traveling all about discovering "a scenic world where all the sunsets are breathtaking"?

9) "English Motorway System" by Black Box Recorder - The English motorway system is beautiful and strange. It's been there forever. It's never gonna change.

10) "Home" by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - There comes a point in everyone's travels in which the trip must end. At that point, it's time to go home.

***

I'll be back next week! Thanks Lauren! This playlist is so awesome.

Also, check out Lauren here: TASG

Leaving Rainy Canada for Sunny England

In roughly six hours my airport taxi will be picking me up and taking me to my terminal - where I will be boarding a transatlantic flight to London, England. From there I will be getting on a bus to Bath - where I will be staying for a week at my cousin's house. Right now I am feeling nervous - before I was excited and nervous - but right now, I am just nervous. I'm uncomfortable with the idea of flying and travelling alone. But at the same time I feel like this is what I have to do. I have to face this fear and just have an adventure. 

This will be my last blog for a week, aside from tomorrow's playlist (which will be scheduled to post). But don't worry, when I return I will have plenty of stories to tell. I've been planning this trip for two months now, and I feel like this week will fly by. I have to make the most of it. I'm so excited!

I really need to get away - I feel like I've earned it. I work hard for very little respect. A change in scenery will be refreshing. Also, it's been raining so much here I'm actually looking forward to going to England for the weather. Apparently it's been quite nice there lately.

So bye for now - I'll be back in a week.

Cheers,

Allison