London! - A Weekend in Pictures

I spent last weekend in London with a girlfriend from college who was here on work and we had a fantastic time cruising the town and checking out some new spots! It's been awhile since I enjoyed the comforts of a corporate charge card! Thanks Liz!

Richmond Hill Hotel, Richmond-Upon-Thames

Liz's company put her up here in this cute boutique hotel in Richmond-Upon-Thames, at the end of the Tube's District line, to be close to the film production she's working on. The hotel was charming, it served alcohol all night, and had a great hillside view over the Thames.

SoBar in Richmond-Upon-Thames

We stopped at this cute spot tucked down an alleyway in Richmond for our first drink of the evening. The nibbles and drinks were excellent, and the place got pretty busy between 5 and 6pm while we sipped our drinks. It was a little on the noisy side by the time we left, but the jazzy beats playing over the stereo were nice.

Oscar Bar at Charlotte Street Hotel, SoHo

This place was around the corner from our dinner restaurant, so we stopped here for a drink around 8pm. Every table was full and the bar was packed. Liz had an espresso-tini that was out of this world--like a spiked Starbucks frappuccino!

Fino Restaurant, SoHo

We met two of Liz's work colleagues here for a 9:30pm dinner on Saturday--they are film editors working on a new Disney/Pixar feature that's filming here in London. Amazing pork belly, tuna tartare and classic tortilla, plus some fabulous Spanish wine.

Fish Works Restaurant, Richmond

We needed something greasy when we finally rolled out of bed at noon on Sunday, but breakfast was already over, so the fish & chips at this cute seafood brasserie fit the bill.

Camden Markets

We went to hunt for some antique tidbits for Liz's mom's new restaurant in San Francisco, but mostly found lots of tacky t-shirts and cheap souvenirs. The whole trip was worth it for the small stall we discovered selling Brazilian-style Churros (large tube-shaped doughnuts dusted in cinnamon & sugar and filled with dulce de leche). Delicious!

Claridge's Hotel Bar, Mayfair

We had a couple of hours to kill before our dinner reservation, so we sat at a cozy table in this bar and ordered some frou-frou cocktails. I had a Vanillita--cranberry & lime juice mixed with fresh strawberries, Vanilla vodka and honey, served over crushed ice. C'est bon!

Cecconi's Restaurant

We were excited to get a last minute 8pm reservation for Sunday night, and got great seats by the front window. Loved the mint green accents to brighten up the black & white retro vibe. Also loved the buffalo mozzarella & cherry tomato starter and the fresh crab & avocado salad. My Venetian fritelle dessert with zabaione cream was heavenly--glad I ate light & saved room.

Glastonbury Dreaming...

The lineup for 2010's Glastonbury Music Festival has begun to be announced, and of course it made me reminisce about attending the festival last June with D and another couple who are two good friends. The 2009 festival began 2 days after I arrived in England last June, and we made the decision to go at the last minute, so our only ticket option was buying passes on ebay from ticket-holders who looked similar to us (since the tickets bear photos). I was nervous about spending the money on poached tickets, but D was convinced it would be OK, so we went for it, and it worked OK for us.

Here are my top 5 tips for Glastonbury survival if you are lucky enough to go:

1. Camping vs. Caravans. If you have got re-sale tix, like we did, plan to camp inside the festival grounds as it is too risky to go in and out to your car, camper van or mobile home past security every day. Once you get in--stay in! If you have valid tickets, I'd recommend camping once to get the "real" experience, and then try booking a caravan camping spot outside the festival grounds the next year. This will allow you to eat your own food for the whole weekend, sleep on a bed or sofa, bathe and use your own (hopefully cleaner) toilet facilities at least twice a day.

2. Get there early! If you are camping, plan to arrive at the festival grounds as soon as possible after the gates are opened on Wednesday morning. The traffic heading into the grounds is horrendous, and all of the good camping spots get taken up by Wednesday night or Thursday morning. Yes, it's a pain to take an extra 2 days off of work when there are no musical acts organized, but it's worth it--the poor sods we saw arriving on Friday in the mud wandered for hours before finding any decent patches of dirt big enough for a tent. Anyways, we found that by the time we actually set up our campsite, had a few drinks, a bite to eat, and a walk on Wednesday, it was already late evening. The bars are open, and many of the stalls and stages have some random performances on, so there are definitely things to do. If all else fails, read a good book and enjoy a long nap--once the party starts, resting gets hard to come by!

3. Choosing a Campsite. You should have an idea of which camping area you want to aim for and try to park your car in the parking lot closest to the desired area, since you will likely have to carry everything with you over 1 k from your car to your campsite. In choosing a campsite, there are 2 main objectives:

1) If you are over 30, like D and I, chances are that you can no longer handle going 48-72 hours without sleep, which means that you will be looking for the quietest place possible to camp. Unfortunately, there are no truly quiet places at Glastonbury, only "loud" and "really loud"; therefore, D and his friends have established a tradition of camping in the "Family Camping" area, which falls into the merely "loud" category. Now, since we do not have children, this means that we had to sneak into the family area by staggering our entry--my female friend and I went in first, claiming that our husbands had gone in ahead with the kids, while the boys came in 10 minutes later, claiming the opposite. One note--sleeping in the kiddie area does mean that you will have to keep the partying 'round your tent fairly tame, and may have to endure some loud tantrums from time to time, but at least most of the neighbors are asleep by midnight.

2) The 2nd objective in campsite selection is proximity to toilets and the milk-man route: you should be close enough to the loos that a post-midnight toilet run won't seem like torture, but far enough away so that the stink doesn't haunt you; and close enough to the milk-man route that you can hear them coming past with fresh supplies in the morning, but far enough away that your tent doesn't get trampled by folks coming to the truck in the morning,or splashed on by tottering children with full cartons of milk and yogurt.

4. Hauling your Gear. This one is pretty simple--you need a sturdy wheelbarrow (be sure to check the tire is pumped full and has no holes) and a few strong & chivalrous men to make it into the festival with a weekend worth of gear intact. Since the car park is so far away from the campgrounds, it is advisable to try and take everything with you in one trip. Luckily for me, D and his buddy were happy to fill the roles of wheelbarrow pushers, so we ladies carried as much of the less awkward gear & luggage over our shoulders as we could, and they pushed the rest. Now, experienced campers may find that they can fit all they need into massive camping backpacks, but we don't have ultra-light, ultra-portable cooking equipment, so we were relying on bringing in full-size camping burners and ice chests to help store our food and cases of beer & cider. The more food and drink you bring in, the more money you save (cuz the food at the festival is $$$), but obviously you can lighten your load if you only bring in a tent, sleeping bags, clothing & toiletries.

5. Packing Essentials: Wellington boots (for the mud, in case it rains--and it probably will--and for braving the public toilets and port-a-loos), hand sanitizer gel (loads), sunblock (when it's not cold and raining, it's HOT), toilet paper (I carried a roll in my backpack at all times), a good rain-proof poncho or a few disposable ones (handy, but less enviro-friendly), a fleece jacket for cold nights, a swimsuit or board shorts (for outdoor bathing or sunbathing on sunny days), sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat (to keep the sun off your face and your view of the stages from being blocked by glare), a good camping tent with a proper rain fly (one that provides cover to a front and back storage area will be best), summer weight sleeping bags, Thermarests or inflatable mattresses, head lamps or flashlights/torches (for your tent and the toilets in the dark), camping chairs (to sit on outside the tent, above the mud), a small basin that you can fill with water to wash yourself and your dishes (better than wasting concert time waiting in the 2-3 hour shower line), extra camera batteries and a solar-powered charger that can power your cell phone and ipod (otherwise, once the batteries die you are screwed--the line at the "cell phone charging tent" were horrible after Friday night).

Bringing Your Dog to the UK via PETS scheme

After months of planning, spending half of my bank account, and an 11 hour flight from Los Angeles, my dog, George, finally arrived in England on Saturday night! I began the process to bring George here back in April, so all in all it took nearly 9 months to get all the vaccines, paperwork, and finances in order, and it was exhausting, but worth it! He's now adjusting to peeing on the snow and getting to know his new house-mate, D's dog Mia, but being reunited has been great. I decided to share some of the finer points of the process for those of you considering moving to England or travelling here with a pet.

1. First things first: make sure that your dog is not on the list of prohibited breeds that the UK won't allow to be imported at all (currently includes Pit Bull Terriers, American Pit Bulls, American Staffordshire Terrier, Dogo Agentino, Japanese Tose or Fila Braziliero), or on the list of snub-nosed breeds that some of the airlines won't allow to be flown as cargo (all pugs, Boston terrier, Brussels Griffin, English Toy Spaniel, Japanese Spaniel, Pekingese, English and French Bulldogs or Shih Tsus). Check your dog's breed with the airlines who are qualified to fly into the UK on your chosen route (current list of non-EU routes here), as policies vary by airline. My dog, George, is a Puggle (part pug, part beagle), but only 1 of the 2 airlines that are qualified to fly dogs from LAX to London-Heathrow would accept him because he is crossed with a snub-nosed breed (pug). Virgin Atlantic accepted him, but British Airways would not, so I had only one option and no chance of price-shopping the flight.

2. Start saving money now! Although Los Angeles is one of the most distant points of entry into the UK from the US, I was blown away when I was told that the cost to ship George in his new crate would be over $900 for the one-way flight alone, plus a $175 handling fee in the U.S., and a GBP 310 ($470) fee for customs clearance on the UK end. In addition, the USDA charges $111 per dog for providing the required paperwork approvals, so in the end, the up front costs were nearly $1700. Add to that the cost of all the vet visits to get him micro-chipped, vaccinated, de-wormed and blood-tested (another $300 easily), the cost of buying him a replacement bed, leash, collar, and food bowl for the UK (since his US items couldn't come with him in the crate), and the money I paid my brother to feed and look after him for 6 months while I went ahead to England (another $600 at least), and the grand-total comes to somewhere around $2,500. Ugh, it actually makes me sick to think about it (since I only paid $200 to adopt him in 2007). The things we do for love!

3. Follow the P.E.T.S. scheme as closely as possible. This program from DEFRA involves 4 major steps: a) your dog must 1st be micro-chipped with a UK-approved brand (George had a 10 digit AVID Friend Chip); b) your dog must receive a rabies vaccine after being micro-chipped--no vaccines prior to the micro-chip insertion will qualify; c) 1 month after the vaccine, the dog must have blood taken and sent to the USDA approved lab in Kansas to check that the rabies antibodies are at the right level; d) if the blood test comes back OK, the dog will be approved for travel from the date that is 6 months after his blood was drawn. This means that you should start the PETS process at least 7 months before you actually want to leave the country; otherwise, your dog will be placed into quarantine at Heathrow, which sounds awful for the pet. You do not need a "Pet Passport" if your dog is coming from the USA--all you need is the third country Veterinary Certificate, which is available here for free. Do NOT be lured into paying for this form or a pet passport by some of the online pet travel websites.

4. Buying the crate. It was pretty easy to find an IATA-approved animal crate in Los Angeles because the crates have special labels at the pet stores, but it was a little harder to guess which size we needed because we didn't have the dog with us at the time. The general requirement is that the dog should be able to stand up inside the crate without his nose or tail touching either end, or his head touching the roof. This should allow the dog to stand up and turn around comfortably during the flight. The crate needs to be ventilated on all sides, and the roof, and must have a metal gate at the front, with an adequate water dish that attaches to the front grate. We also bought a padded crate liner to fit inside and make it more comfortable since he was going to be flying for such a long time. My brother started introducing George to his crate about 2 months before the flight, and put treats inside frequently so that George would think it was a 'good' place to be, and he seemed OK with getting into it for the flight.

5. The final days before flight. The final DEFRA requirement is having the dog treated for ticks and tapeworm by his vet within the 24-48 hour period prior to his flight. Additionally, the dog's paperwork must be taken to a USDA office for certification within 10 days prior to the flight, and the office locations are limited. The USDA office in Los Angeles is located next to the airport, and is only open between 7:30am and 11:00 am Monday to Friday, so we had to carefully coordinate the flight time around these other appointments. Be sure to check that all the paperwork is completed fully and to the exact requirements of the PETS scheme; we had to have our rabies certificate reprinted at the vet's office because it didn't have George's microchip number shown on the certificate, or the time of treatment (based on a 24-hour clock).

George's flight landed only 30 minutes late on Saturday (despite the snow), but our vet failed to fill in one piece of information on his Veterinary Certificate, and so we nearly missed our chance to pick him up on Saturday evening while we waited for the vet office to open in California and correct the mistake. It was stressful, but the DEFRA agent was very patient (thanks Andrew!) and the Virgin Atlantic rep was super helpful (thanks Dean!), so they helped us make it happen at the last minute.

Warwick Castle Visit

Castles always bring me back to Disney-driven childhood fantasies of being a princess carried off by a handsome prince on a white horse, so I was thrilled when a coupon/voucher offering 2-for-1 admission to Warwick Castle arrived in the mail a few months ago. Although D grew up near here, he had never been to visit it as a child, so he was interested in it too. The castle, which claims to be England's best preserved Medieval castle, is only 25 minutes drive from where we live in southern Birmingham, so when New Years Eve day arrived bright and sunny, we decided to drive over and give it a go.

When we first entered the grounds around noon it was still fairly quiet, but I was nervous that the whole experience would be boring for adults since there seemed to be prams everywhere, and a Disney-esque quality to some of the displays. Luckily, once we passed through the courtyard and entered the main castle building through the Great Hall decked out with Christmas decorations, I was pleased to see the traditional hallmarks of a Norman castle in full display--swords, armor, massive antique furniture--and not a Swashbuckling Micky Mouse in sight. Many of the rooms featured wax 'mannequins' dressed in period clothing and they were so life-like that in my photos the rooms appear to be filled with costumed performers!

We wandered through all of the rooms in the castle, then walked up the "Mound" to the original castle ramparts for a better view of the grounds. Behind the castle walls we watched as the falconry master flew several hawks and falcons over our heads and demonstrated medieval hunting techniques using birds of prey. Following the demonstration we wandered through the Peacock Park and got closer to a dozen peacocks than I have ever been in my life! After a stroll along the castle waterfront, and through the old water-wheel/electric mill, we hiked back up to the castle entrance and took the stairs up onto the castle ramparts.

Winding up about 100 stairs in the highest castle turret was a little claustrophobic, but the view was worth it--we could see all of Warwick town and the surrounding villages. All in all it was a great way to spend a couple of hours--even on a bitterly cold day.

Since it was New Years' Eve, we didn't want to stay too late, but went for a late lunch at a charming pub in Warwick village called The Zetland Arms Hotel before heading home. The room was cozy and the food turned out to be fantastic--D had a plate of faggots & peas with mashed potatoes, and I had a grilled sausage & stilton cheese panini sandwich. We were two very satisfied customers!

Bonus #1: The castle admission office was doing a promotion giving away a voucher for an extra visit in 2010 with every adult ticket purchased in 2009, so I can go back again in the spring when it's warmer.

Bonus #2: I got to ride away from the castle with my very own price charming beside me.

Good Morning 2010 - Nice to See You!

I've survived my first holiday season in England! There were a few notable differences between this year's holiday fun and what I normally experience at home in California:

1. Opening crackers (not the Saltine variety, but the strange parcels that nobody loves and everyone buys for the Christmas dinner table) and wearing paper crowns during our Christmas meal. For you Americans out there, a "cracker" is a small Christmas parcel containing a paper crown, a joke and a small, cheap trinket (like a dice or nail clippers) which is tied at both ends like a Tootsie Roll, and it opened by two people simultaneously pulling on either end of the parcel--whoever ends up with the largest section of the cracker wins the goods inside. Someone asked me why this long-standing English tradition didn't make it over to America with the Pilgrims, and I have a feeling it's got something to do with the whole "crown = king" thing, which the early Americans weren't too keen on. Just a guess....

2. Snow in the backyard instead of palm trees. On December mornings in L.A. I used to wear my Ugg boots occasionally to walk the dog because they were easy to slip on and marked the trend started by celebs a few years ago. I've had the same pair of Uggs since I was 18 years old, and until this year they still looked brand new because I rarely wore them. Now I wear them everywhere--to the movies, to the mall, to the gym, to dinner at a local restaurant--and they are practically falling apart. The snow and cold weather really added a special element to the Christmas Day atmosphere, but my feet have not actually been warm since September.

3. An extra national holiday for Boxing Day on which there is neither a boxing match, nor the boxing up of any particular items. I have yet to find an English citizen who can give me a clear explanation of why December 26th is a holiday and how it came into being. Not that I'm complaining about the additional day off, but think about it--shouldn't we just be honest with ourselves and call it Shopping Day (as a nod to the post-Christmas sales which create an even bigger consumption frenzy than Christmas itself), or Sleeping-It-Off Day (an indication of what everyone who's not hitting the sales is doing after the Christmas dinner food and alcohol binge)?

It's not the first time I have spent Christmas away from my family, but it is the first time in many years that I didn't do any travelling over the holiday period. During the past 5 years I have spent the holidays driving down Mexico's Baja Peninsula, roaming the jungles of Costa Rica, lying on the beach in Cabo San Lucas (Mexico), skiing fresh powder in Idaho, and trekking in Nepal & India. I do miss the excitement that travel brings, and the escape from all the holiday nostalgia and/or inevitable family drama, but this year there were no bags to pack, planes to catch, freeways to navigate, or airports to run through, and I have to say that on the whole this made the experience MUCH more relaxing.

Happy New Year! Here's to all that 2010 has in store!