Griswold's European Vacation

Hello Friends,


I've been having a fabulous time this week.  My family FINALLY arrived last Saturday for their very first England vacation, and I was given the task of tour guiding.  I have a lot of blog posts to round up for you, but meanwhile I thought I'd do a few bullet points for those of you who are dying to hear how the "Griswold European Vacation"  went.


Highlights, Lowlights, and Random Thoughts

• Home cooking is good.  
• Rental car with my dad and Nick being the drivers.  There was screaming, nausea, nail biting, curb hitting and general stress with my dad driving on the wrong side of the road and Nick driving for the first time since 2007.
• We discovered beautiful countryside a 10 minute drive from our house that we would never have seen without a car.
• Nick has finally realized what a difference having a car would make to our lives here, and even better, he feels capable to drive one.
• Ransacking the Chatsworth farm shop and buying all the fresh British goods we could get our grubby American hands on including; cheese, sausages, and baked goods.  
• Introducing my family to scones with jam and clotted cream.  
• Tea time and fish and chips
• Fact: Americans hate walking.  They might run for exercise, or hike for relaxation, but they HATE walking for transportation.  Don't deny it.  And if you can convince them (us) to walk, their pace is a leisurely one about half of that of your average British person.  
• Electric fences for your dog are frowned upon in England.  We don't have one, which meant when my mom decided to get a picture of our house with Heidi popping her head out the front door... Heidi bolted and took herself for a walk/run/expedition around the neighborhood.  She pulled the same stunt when my dad left the front door open to take our suitcases to the waiting taxi driver.  
• I think my family was pleasantly surprised by how pretty it is here.
• The weather was so good we sounded like a broken record saying "I can't believe how good the weather is" approximately 1 million times.  It returned to it's usual grey, rainy, cold miserable self as soon as they left on Saturday.
• I worked really hard on the perfect itinerary for my family, but I'm pretty sure my mom has more faith in her friend Kevin Bevin (whose name we shorted to K-Bev) for planning London itineraries.  Luckily most of the things I planned K-Bev had recommended as well.  
• Although I tried to make everyone happy, I did not anticipate my family's major meltdown would occur in Top Shop.  Although Lizzie loved it, my mom can be quoted as saying, "This is the worst experience of my life."  (You're right if you think we lead a relatively privileged life)
• I was reminded of the fact that American toilets have A LOT more water in them than English ones.  
• Also, Americans use wayyyyyyyy too much toilet paper.  
• We saw Thriller, a Michael Jackson tribute/musical in the West End.  What can I say - I am and always will be an MJ fan.  
• Had the best Indian of my life, and another to die for meal at Bumpkin.  Making my family confused about the whole "British food sucks" myth.  However, their last night we had the worst meal I can remember in some Italian place off Charlotte Street, so I think they might believe me again on the food issue.  Though my dad did make friends with the Brazilian waiter, Carlos, who creepily told me my little sister was "fantastic" looking.
• I still don't comprehend how my dad got kicked out of his bed in the hotel and made to sleep on the floor.  
• I've never really got the American obsession with ice, but lots of it was requested.
• They ate all the sour patch kids and Swedish fish I made them bring for me, and my dad broke into the Tootsie rolls I had my mom pack for my American friend.  But I still have Reese's cups!
• We missed my other sister, Dani, and can't wait for her to visit soon!!!
• Nick and I joke that we rank our guests according to how good at being a guest they are, so my family was striving to be number one.  Competitive much?  (interest in a blog post on guest ranking criteria?)  Note: They ranked highly.
• American speaking volume is so much louder than British.  
• (This made me feel really embarrassed on the tube.)
• American Transportation preferences... walking< tube < double decker bus < taxi 
• My mom came with a bad cough and left it with me.... ugh.
• I liked taking Lizzie out on the town to meet the "blokes" even if her US seduction techniques didn't quite work.  
• Overall I loved showing my family where I have been making my home for the past year and a half.