"HONEY, I'M HOME!" -- from Edinburgh, London, and NYC...***

*** Totally jet lagged, though, because our Continental flight scheduled for departure at 6:05 PM Eastern Time didn't leave Newark, NJ until 10:15 PM Eastern. We got home at 4 AM Pacific Time in Portland -- yikes. I still have the gritty feeling from not really sleeping -- just a wink here and there, and three hours sleep at dawn until I had to get up and get to the post office.

We were lucky. Thunderstorms in the NY - NJ area delayed Portland-bound passengers until the NEXT DAY (Friday's) evening flight (it's the only direct flight available). People slept in the airport Thursday night because the same flight was canceled. FYI, the airline DOES NOT compensate you with meals, hotels, etc. It was a weather related problem.

We have a pile of mail from three weeks back.

Nothing in the refrigerator except potatoes.

Piles of dirty laundry.

Many photos to download.

Thanks to all who helped me prepare for this trip.

WE HAD A BLAST... back later...

In peace,

Radio_Lady

I am very glad you had such a fun time and that you are home safe.

The site is www.bookcrossing.com

I used it in the UK because I saw an article about sharing books with others.

Left a book at the train station.

I'll have to check to see if anyone picked it up. Read about it here:

What makes BookCrossing
the World's Biggest Book Club?

bookcrossing
n. the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise.

(added to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary in August 2004)

You've come to a friendly place, and we welcome you to our book-lovers' community. Our members love books enough to let them go — into the wild — to be found by others. Sharing your used books has never been more exciting, more serendipitous, than with BookCrossing. Our goal, simply, is to make the whole world a library. BookCrossing is a free online book club of infinite proportion, the first and only of its kind. Inside, you'll find millions of book reviews and hundreds of thousands of passionate readers just like you.

Let's get right down to it. You know the feeling you get after reading a book that speaks to you, that touches your life, a feeling that you want to share it with someone else? BookCrossing.com gives you a simple way to share books with the world, and follow their paths forever!

The "3 Rs" of BookCrossing...
Read a good book (you already know how to do that)
Register it here (along with your journal comments), get a unique BCID (BookCrossing ID number), and label the book
Release it for someone else to read (give it to a friend, leave it on a park bench, donate it to charity, "forget" it in a coffee shop, etc.), and get notified by email each time someone comes here and records a journal entry for that book. And if you make Release Notes on the book, others can Go Hunting for it and try to find it!
Sounds easy, right? Well it is. It's also a fascinating exercise in fate, karma, or whatever you want to call the chain of events that can occur between two or more lives and one piece of literature. Oh, and we should mention, it's absolutely free and absolutely private, too.

(more at site)

I love handing books on... It's the best way for us to make room on the bookshelf for the new stuff :-) There are also some interesting stories on the site from folks who have gotten "in trouble" for leaving books. I recall one gentleman who was forbidden from leaving books in the Mall of America, for instance.

I'm thinking of joining, and did leave one copy in the UK. Do you have to be a member to track the number?

I fear that you weren't blessed with the best we can offer you in terms of weather.

sometimes overcast, with some sun splashes! It didn't stop us from doing anything we wanted to do! The moderate temperatures suited me; but my husband enjoyed New York City where it was MUCH warmer! (I hate the heat, so we live in a place that's a compromise -- the northwestern state of Oregon.)

Everyone was very pleasant in Scotland and I'd be thrilled to go back again some day. This was our second trip and we enjoyed it immensely.

However, I must tell you that the Scottish Parliament building is a horror! I understand that others feel the same way and that it cost a great deal of money to put up this monstrosity... what say you?

indeed I haven't been to Edinburgh since I lived in Scotland at university...but I haven't really heard a single good word about it. It managed to reach 10 times the original budget - which is quite some overspend. I've got no problems with high-budgets for quality landmark buildings - but when one compares the Holyrood Parliament with the Senedd in Cardiff I know which comes off better.

I have to confess that I'm far from keen on certain elements of the Palace of Westminster too - I can see that they needed to keep to Gothic revival, given Westminster Abbey and Westminster Hall, but the Victorians really did over-egg the pudding when it came to that style.

Yes, Gothic is a pretty ornate style.

Personally, I prefer modern design. But I had my fill while staying at The Trafalgar, at Trafalgar Square, London -- a Hilton affiliated property.

The room was very bare, with white walls and simple clean lines -- the bed was on slats, not a box spring. Everything was beautiful to look at, but there were no adequate surfaces to put items on or in. There was only one drawer in the whole room. There was no small table to eat on -- lamps hung from the ceiling. The drawers in each end table were about 2 inches deep.

The bathroom was elegant, with a floor to ceiling "see-though" glass shower. However, the seal at the bottom of the glass somehow was inadequate. It allowed water to flow out and onto the tiled floor. There was water damage everywhere, and even at the edge of the bathroom where it met the rug.

My husband had a long conversation with the manager of this hotel, who is trying to get input about upgrades.

I don't know how the Japanese do it, with tatami mats to sleep on and sliding rice paper doors. I've never been to Japan, but I've been told their design is small but functional as well.

In peace,

Radio_Lady

Glad you're home safely, and glad you had a good trip!

I look forward to your pictures, but in due time!

:woohoo:

I'm cooking potatoes and something for dinner.

Wish you could join us someday!

In peace,

Radio_Lady

PS. I visited the Museum of Television and Radio just 1 1/2 blocks from the Hilton where we stayed.

They still have information on She Made It (and photos of the Honorees from 2005) -- women who have made their mark in broadcasting.

See it at:

http://www.shemadeit.org/

"She Made It: Women Creating Television and Radio is MT&R's three-year initiative to build a unique collection of television and radio programming that celebrates the achievements and preserves the legacy of great women writers, directors, producers, journalists, sportscasters, and executives.

She Made It recognizes the early female trailblazers, the current level of power and prominence women have in the industry, and the exciting potential for new generations of women entering the business in the twenty-first century.

Over the course of three years, She Made It will present a dynamic calendar of activities in New York and Los Angeles, including special panel discussions for the public and a university satellite audience, screening and listening series, and this website."

:hi:

You're so kind!

you didn't do it right.

Good to have you back, RL.

Redstone

I thought of you last night while watching a PBS television show. It was recorded at Lake Las Vegas, hence "red stone" --



By the way, are you related to Sumner Redstone, the media magnate?

His Wikipedia listing is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumner_Redstone

In peace,

Radio_Lady

Sorry to hear about your troubles on the way home, but glad that you had a great time! :hi:

dg

Piles of stuff to do and husband is pleading with me to "get off the DU!" I really must.

In peace,

Radio_Lady

My stepdad's flight out of Newark was completely cancelled at around 2am. My mother made me tag along on a drive to LaGuardia at 5:30am. This was then followed by her getting lost in Harlem at 7am. Fun times...not.

I spoke with a flight attendant who has worked with Continental since 1983. That's 23 years. She's hanging on until the 25th year. What a life!

Free open self-serve bar. Combine that with some sleeping pills and I just wake up when I get there.

Now we're retired and we don't get free booze at the airlines anymore. But we did have great food and drink plus extra services at the Hilton Club on West 54th Street and Sixth Avenue last week when we were in New York City. We're timeshare owners in the Hilton Grand Vacation Club.

{{sound of cork popping...}}

Have a great week, haruka3_2000!

In peace,

Radio_Lady in Oregon