PART I - The UK
The Waiting Room
As I sit at the gate waiting for my flight, I am looking around, hearing the crying babies and noticing all the people with bad coughs around me. Remember in COVID we were told, "If you're sick, stay home?" People have forgotten that, but I haven't forgotten how I used to always get sick after taking flights.
Now, however, I have access to a mask, which I swear by for my bus and plane travels now, and we'll see if I can stay ahead of the germs that'll be floating around the airplane, hopefully while I sleep with my mask on, according to the "reducing jetlag" app, Timeshifter, I'm trying out.
My older son told me about the Timeshifter app to help reduce jetlag, and three days ago I started shifting my time by following their suggested timeline, taking care not to consume caffeine (including chocolate), keeping exposed to daylight during specified periods, and keeping dark in certain 24-hour periods. They also recommend a particular sleep schedule, and time will tell if it actually works! I look forward to continuing my experiment. The hard part of using the app during the flight was having my devices off when I was used to the app giving me updates and suggestions through text messages.
I got confused between Montreal time and London time to know exactly when to wake up. The app said 3 am, but I wasn't sure on which device to follow. Instead I kept my watch on and just watched it for the recommended nine hours of sleep, which seemed to have me waking to some daylight or lightbulb light at 3 am. I figured I'd just get up with the breakfast service 1.5 hours before we arrived in London.
As I wait to board, I'm amazed by the number of people who have complete disregard for their space. As I type this as I wait at the gate, a neurodivergent person is loudly talking about her week with a random family with two babies. Another woman beside me is talking through a video app with family somewhere across the planet. She happens to be shouting as well. It's a long way to transmit one's voice across the world.
My grandfather used to shout through the phone from his home in Edmonton when he called us in Vancouver. I really have trouble with people talking on the phone in public spaces, especially on buses, planes, trains, waiting rooms, and at least not in a doctor's office. Somehow the signs in those places tell people how to have common courtesy, and it's a public place from where I get some reprieve from others' phone conversations.
Heading to Scotland from Heathrow - Sept 14, 2026
Once I landed, it was a 40-minute walk from the airplane to the train gates for Glasgow. My next part of the journey was to find Euston station. When I got to the station, I was uncertain as to how to find Platform 15 when all I could see were platforms 1-6. I was hungry, so I asked a ticket agent where to find a deli lunch from Marks and Spencer (M&S).
On my way there, I noticed a big trainboard announcing trains to Glasgow. I saw a train leaving in the next ten minutes, so I switched gears from eating to trying to get on the next train at 11:30 instead of my scheduled 1:30 train. I opted to buy an extra ticket from a worker at the train gate. I was successful at boarding the train to Glasgow, but oddly, my payment didn't go through, and I ended up riding the five hours for free even though the ticket for the 1:30 train wasn't usable! In my conscience I could justify the theft as my ticket had been paid for, just not the northbound train on which I sat! I hoped that I wouldn't get noticed as an imposter to find out what a Scottish jail would look like. I picked up a "meal deal" on the train for 6 pounds 50 (or $13 Cdn), a sandwich, coffee, and a bag of chips snack (my new favourite chips!
60 hours of Scotland -Sept 15/16, 2026
I enjoyed looking out the window at the UK landscape reminding me of my trips to Ireland to see my older son and his wife. After the five hours, I arrived at the train station and was met by my two friends, Heather and Sharon, near their home in Airdrie -- the adventure began!
And I was ready to roll; the Timeshifter app seemed to have incredibly worked! We visited at their cute, two-bedroom home accompanied by their sweet, wee black dog, Maisie, who greeted me with a lick of her tongue right in my face as I bent to take off my shoes on their staircase foyer. They suggested Indian food from the Tudor Hotel nearby and ordered a variety of dishes that included Haggis, which tasted much like meatloaf the way it was prepared. I was certainly unsure at first! Heather is vegan, so we also had access to some vegan Haggis later that weekend!
I got my first introduction to an orangey, sparkling, sugar-free energy drink called "Ain Bru, with a tagline, "which gets you through", which was delicious as I sipped and enjoyed the effervescence of the bubbles. I had no more than a sip as I was still on my Timeshifter app procedures of no caffeine past noon each day. I was instructed by the app to stay up until 10 pm and set an alarm for 7 am. I slept right through, and woke to a great set of stretches from my pre-recorded yoga program featuring Irish Eoin -- full circle, a truly UK experience.
Scotland by day
We hopped into their red, rechargeable SKODA vehicle, and headed for the centre of Glasgow, where Sharon and I took the Hop-on Hop-off bus around Glasgow, enjoying the beautiful stone buildings and the Clyde River which snaked through the town crossing here and there over bridges. I had a hard time understanding the narrator as he had a thick Sco''ish accent, so luckily I had Sharon to translate his stories adding tidbits of her own to enrich my experience.
I'd love to go back to see the necropolis and explore the squares, tenements and Glaswegians (Glaswegians, more affectionately called "Ouijis") --oh! and M&S salad and bakery item with coffee for our lunch and snacks for the day.
I've started noticing that the prices of everything, while in pounds (and weather and distance in the imperial system), were double what I would have expected to pay in expensive Vancouver. Talk about sticker shock!
Sharon (pronouned Sha'an) and I proceeded over to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and museum so I could see some local artists' work, featuring the Glasgow Boys, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and Dali's Christ of St. John of the Cross -- what a treat. I shared back with Sharon that she might want to look up our Group of Seven and Emily Carr since Sharon was dubbed an honourary Canadian on their last trip to visit a bunch of us in 2023.
Heather and Maisie picked us up under a smir (a spitting of rain) from the car park, and we drove up to Luss and Loch Lomond (loch is lake in Scottish), where we strolled around visiting a hundreds-year-old cemetary bringing couple-centuries of family gravestones to the present with areas for small signs, flowers, and momentos indicating cremations beside the decaying monuments. It was very moving bringing me to tears as I smelled the single, yellow rose at its last phase of life next to the mom plaques reminding me of my mom's passing just 19 months ago.
Our dinner at the Inn on the Loch was picturesque overlooking the setting sun on the lake.
We enjoyed a vegan haggis replica with cabbage covered in beautiful pomegranate seeds on a bed of hummus and other delicious toppings. I delighted in seeing ways Scottish people enjoy their veggies with each and every order of Vegan food by Heather.
Dogs were welcomed in this restaurant, so Maisie sat at our feet and napped on her wee soft bed while we ate. Sharon and Heather shared with me some of the hardest words for Scottish people to say, for example "purple burglar alarms," as the interior syllables are impossible to omit, unlike many words pronounced by Scots.
Sept. 16, 2026
The day started earlier, so no yoga today; we had a delicious breakfast of Scottish oats with blueberries from South Africa and tea from England joined together in a beautiful way! Our car trip over to Edinburgh reminded me of roads I'd travelled on years ago in Orkney Island. Edinburgh is said with a good roll of the rrrrs.
Heather was so knowledgeable of her UK history and shared stories of Mary Queen of Scots, who had escaped from the Edinburgh castle in exile finding her way through underground tunnels to nearby Craigmillar Castle. I noticed thistle growing throughout and pictured on postcards.
Local lore, according to Heather, our local Edinburger, tells of the importance of thistle for Edinburgers. A long time ago, a truce was agreed upon at Christmastime between the warring English and Scottish. However, the English snuck in for a sneak attack at night, and one warrior accidentally sat on a thistle and cried out in pain! The noise alerted the Scottish watchkeepers, springing the others to action and likely saving the lives of the Scots. I felt so grateful to be learning my history lessons through Heather's amazing storytelling and wondered how my high school education could have been so much more engaging with stories such as these.
Sharon and I got on another hop-on hop-off bus tour for 1.5 hours, while Heather took Maisie up the hill for a walk and a wave to us on the streets below.
The narrator on the bus this time came to us through a Scottish actor recording the talk on plug-in bus headphones. This time I could understand everything that was said except for a quote that referenced something like "the lower class should know their place and not enter the Princess Street Gardens." I guess my Scottish skills were improving thanks to the fun nature and big patience of my friends!
I was struck by the gorgeous architecture, potential museum visits for "the next time" as Sharon and Heather kept telling me ;) I'd love to return with my son, Liam, a big Harry Potter fan for some Harry Potter tours and cultural references. For example, we saw the hotel in which JK Rowling wrote her last sentences of the HP series.
Sharon also showed me the street Diagon Alley, from the HP books is modelled after. The street is located right beside Victoria Square, the most photographed place in Edinburgh.
My trivia lessons continued. Heather was proud to report that "the average British citizen, while rivals of Scotland, wake up and touch everything that was invented in Scotland, for example, television, telephone, bicycles, and printed bank notes, not to mention scientific inventions such as penicillin, the syringe, and the first cloned mammal, Dolly the ewe, if you recall the story from the 80s.
"We bargained for a week" on where to take you during your 60 hours with us, said Heather, and proceeded to take us up to St. Andrews castle and beaches, "just to get your castle count up," Sharon added with a wide grin and a wink. Sharon shared that a nearby island, Ilsa Craig, is where curling rocks are mined, and Heather mentioned some of the famous Scottish celebrities we all likely know and love: Sean Connery, Robin Coltrane (Hagrid from Harry Potter), and the band from the 80s, the Proclaimers.
An inside joke in Scotland has taken off and originating in Glasgow where people put safety cones on statues, so I had to get in on the action a little in St. Andrews! If you look carefully in the picture on the left, you'll see a lego cone on one of the little horse statues.
We strolled the continuously upgraded rockery throughout the town of St. Andrews and ended up in another beautiful restaurant, Bothy, (the word for a breakroom for railworkers, and a jokingly called washroom for English people), where I enjoyed a classic Scottish smoked haddock and potato chowder, called Cullen Skink, and the Macallan, 12-year-old sherry-oaked single malt. HEAVENLY!
I loved learning the back and forth of the rivalries between Scotland and England through my wonderful storytellers and deepening friendships.
As we drove by we saw some humongous dinosaur heads outside of Bonnybridge, but no UFOs even though this part of the UK has the most sightings among the UK and the world! Arriving "home," Sharon and I jammed on her ukeleles while Heather tapped along and sang while Maisie howled in unison, but wasn't actually quite sure!
Sept. 17, 2026
The morning started early, hopefully not undoing the successful results of "more energy and less jetlag" from the Timeshifter app as I was packing clothes and a breakfast of leftovers and porridge at 5 "and a half." My five-hour return train ride will take me back to Euston station, where I will meet Judit and family in London. Over the next four days, we'll be exploring London and Beckenham, where she lives, before I fly over to Venice to continue my 2026 European adventure.
England Sept 17-20, 2026
After Judit met me in the train station, we walked along parts of London to take some of the Fashion week installations, but first we dropped my 20-lb backpack at a hotel reception desk through the Stasher app. For about $10, we could enjoy the town without my luggage.
We then quickly stopped into the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, seeing local artist, John Constable (1776-1837) and some Degas. Our first fashion stop had some ridiculous tutus ranging from 1-4000$ Cdn in all kinds of styles and colours. Our third stop was at a Free ehibition in Piccadilly featuring Plants in a new light, the Linnean Society plant collection photographed by Lena Grandefelt.
Judit made sure I saw the spiraling staircase at Fortnum and Mason across the street and took me home for a delicious lamb-based dinner prepared by her husband, David.
The next day we rented bikes and did a London highlights cycle downtown for a few hours, taking us into the East End and experiencing some of the variety of cultures living in that part of town. We used the Santander Cycle Hire app for about $10 Cdn and travelled confidently with the downloaded Komoot app.
Judit and David also got to see some sites they hadn't before, but recommened I spend time at the British Museum next time I'm in town. David loves the grandness of the open hall at the entrance, impossible for us to see due to the large numbers of people still in town weaving through queues.
That night Judit surprised me with a stencilling workshop inspired by Khadambi Asalache who bequeathed his work to the National Trust from a home he decorated to save it from ruin at 575 Wandsworth Road.
The next day the family went off to see a university to help their son decide where to apply for next fall, and I took it easy. I signed up to swim at a local pool for $20Cdn,
picked up groceries as Pho was $26 at a restaurant nearby their home. We feasted and celebrated their son's 18th birthday by playing the Hungarian game, Egan/Nem (yes/no), with great questions that make friends get to know each other.
Transiting to Venice - Sunday the 20th to Wednesday the 23rd, 2026
Judit and David walked me to the train station where I transited to Stanstead surrounded by thousands flying throughout European cities and beyond.
I wanted to take a taxi to simplify travel, but it was over 100 euros or dollars; it didn't matter at that point, so I took some bravery (needing more of that on this trip than I ever remember before), and took the night boat over to my accommodation at COMBO Venice, apparently a hostel, but presented as a hotel with people of all ages. It was a three-minute ride from the $36 Cdn. ferry boat navigating in the dark around 10 pm. I was VERY excited to arrive in Venice! (But, at the same time, I felt quite nervous.)
I had a room to myself, which I'm really preferring. I chose the hostel because of it's 10/10 rating. I've never seen such a high rating. It was a fine place and very conveniently located... and safe. Breakfast included! My accommodation was a 17th-century reconstructed monastery with beautiful marble steps and a gorgeous courtyard where people convened each evening. A big expense for $400 a night, but convenient and right on one of the canal networks. I chose to splurge, as I never do, and wanted the Venetian experience this trip. No plans to go back, but was enamoured by the historical beauty like I felt in Scotland.
The front desk made a food suggestion nearby, so I grabbed some lasagne and a Campari Spritz. I didn't find the place he recommended, and next time I used my googling skills to find top-rated, yet "cheap eats" near me. Happy hour still on at 10 pm for 4 Euros. But no one around!
Started feeling under the weather, but didn't want to miss the chance to be in Venice. I signed up online to a "free" walking tour which costs 8$ Cdn to sign up online and get a spot. Four euros sounds much cheaper. I usually take these tours when I'm in a city so I can get a bit of the lay of the land and culture from the tour guide. Our guide, Sabrina, came from Lithuania about 20 years ago and has a family and speaks fluent English and Italian... at least.
I learned about how Venice was built on a system of (now petrified) wood, how they use cisterns to collect water (which now gets piped from the mainland as well), and how many people live off the island (average age in Venice is 65 years old!). It's so very pretty.
I asked about the sinking "island," which gets flood alerts texted to residents' phones during full moons and how to avoid the very polluted water. The original residents always had two doorways, one for visitors and one for their boat. Dinner was a "meal deal" again: main, drink seems popular to get a spritz) and a decaf coffee: 15 euro or $30. No tip; no tax!
The next morning I took a bundled local ferry/taxi/bus for 25 euros ($50), which took me over to Lido Island where I rented a bicycle again.
Still feeling a bit under the weather, I just biked north for 1.5 hours into the tip of the island into the Venice Sea
For lunch I got a piece of delicious "funghi" pizza and a small gelato (1.35 euros or $2.70 Cdn) from a local supermarket, which hit the spot.
I took the "bus" back to COMBO, then back on the aqua bus, (a single ride costs 9 euros, so good to get the day pass) over to Ferrovia Station, where there's a train to Mestre Station (1.50 euros/$3.00) and a short walk to the next hostel. Using the map app made travel very simple and convenient. In my experience, the connections were accurate and easy to follow, though I found it a bit stressful wondering how it would all turn out.
The day before I tried to see the Canadian pavilion at the Biennale, a special art exhibit in Venice;
however, they were closed on Monday, and my app didn't tell me that! I was quite disappointed as it's a famous, international event I would be missing this trip!
Enough to see anyway. Our walking tour guide said there are enough installations in Venice in general that you could do two a day for one whole year and maybe not even be done with all the things there are to see and do on a regular basis in town. I'm satisfied, and glad to have seen the place again after one, 24-hour day in my 20s when KK and I did a Contiki tour across Europe for a month: 10 Countries in 30 days! (but not Greece.)
Although I felt unsure about getting to my next accommodation, Anda Venice Hostel, the access was easy and check-in was smooth. Another 26-euro breakfast for some croissants, eggs, ham, cheese, cucumber and tomato slices, and some muesli and yogurt, tea and coffee got me started. I was going to take the bus, but learned that it would be infrequent and leave too early. Taxi was 30 euros, but I learned afterward that the bus stop at the ferry terminal is 2km away from the boat, so that was a very good decision.
My room had six beds for females, which can be disruptive as people come and go through the night. The hostel had 9 floors with about 100 sleepers per floor. It was a very modern hostel with a night club and possibly not-so-safe streets at night, something I'd know nothing about as I'm an early-to-bed girl.
Another good decision as the ferry required a three-hour-plus arrival time for the 12:30 afternoon departure. My plan was to just go early and hang out, but it's good that I erred on the early side, as it was needed. The view from the room was spectacular, and I got to see the gorgeous sunset over the red, Italian roofs.
Dinner was collected from a local supermarket again, being fresh strawberries ($6Cdn, some salad greens ($3), and some cheese and spinach ravioli ($6). I had some local rose wine from a supermarket a couple of days before that seems to have been lasting for four days for $3 and tasted alright on ice and looked pretty, too.
Wed. Sept 23 - 24, 2026
"Superfast" Ferry Line, Italy to Greece: 36 hours.
As I write this, I've been on the ferry from Venice for about 24 hours now with six hours to go. We've done our first docking in Igoumenitsa and then off to Patras. Many people get off (truckers) in Igoumenitsa and travel north to other parts of Greece. The ship became almost a ghostyard!
I booked a room for my first time on these ferries as I had the displeasure of sitting up on their seats with the lights on and announcements blaring through the night. Getting smarter!! The wee room houses four females; there was no other option when I booked as a senior. Pays to be 60 years old now!
Comfortable little single bed, but with no curtain. A woman in the Anda hostel had used one of her sheets as a curtain, so I did the same there as well as on the ship. Brilliant way for visual privacy. Sleeping didn't come easily in the Italy hostel, and was better here on the ship, but hot. I hated thinking of all the exchanged air germs floating within our tiny room, but I've survived, and in four days I'll know how it all turned out. Only one woman snored. Another risk to shared accommodation, which I'm moving more and more away from when possible.
I worked away at my writing course from a corner of the cafeteria next to a power outlet. Two other "home office" were there as well.
Otherwise, no one around! The two colleagues said we were lucky; had this been summer, the crowdedness would have been quite different!
24-hours of wifi on one device was available for 12 euros ($24) and transiting down the centre of Adriatic Sea put me too far off land to use my Roamless eSim, so I've been without checking on all my peeps and doing lots of writing. (At first I could see the coast where my friends and I travelled by car just two years ago! Great memories!)
I'm taking a course from UBC's Creative Writing department on "How to Write a Novel, which is turning out to be very valuable and lays things out step by step, so I'm making lots of progress conceptually. Many of my ideas take time to think about before putting pen to paper or text on screen, in my case. I love the process and enjoying the journey, though no end in sight for a very long time. I'm happy to be working on this project as a ten-year plan!
Tonight I'll stay in Patras at the Galaxy Hotel where they talk about its history on their website:
Galaxy Center Hotel, in Patras at 9, Ag. Nikolaou Street is fully renovated, though “hides” a long history, since it first operated in 1970. It soon became a reference point for the city’s high society, while well-known personalities would choose it as the place to stay.
Today, four decades later, the hotel has passed from generation to generation and has been fully renovated to meet the requirements of the modern traveler.
Hilarious to me that just 50 years ago, the hotel has a long history -- representing my lifetime -- makes me laugh out loud! I will taxi there for 15 minutes and about another 25 euros or $50 Cdn. Less stress! (update! they didn't have my reservation as my email likely turned up in their junk folder even though they had offered me a room. It ended up okay with a safe room without cigarette smoke and breakfast included for 60 euros.)
Tomorrow I figure out how to make the four-hour bus, train and subway trip.
I have experience using the express buses in Greece mainland, but a friend mapped it all out for me three years ago. Now I have to navigate it myself, and it's all in Greek!
(I'm working on learning my phonics!)
I'm so grateful for translation and navigation apps. Should make things easier, but I kind of dread it all. I'll be at my AirBnB for one month starting tomorrow afternoon, and things will settle down. I'll only have to figure out my neighbourhood, super market, bike rentals, local marina and beach and make sure I feel safe. No walking tours. Tomorrow, I live like a Greek. And the language is coming back to me as I interact with the ship staff.
Overall, I find people completely unwilling to be friendly and helpful. People are either disillusioned with their job and would rather be filling their minds with beautiful and fun online images rather than dealing with people like me who have actual questions and needs. My AirBnb host, Maria, told me that I could use AI instead of asking her questions, as "it's not my job." Her reviews were the reason I chose my location in Voula, so I guess I assumed she'd be helpful and friendly. Clearly I've overstepped. Going to learn how to back off and trust my own navigation and search skills and tools. I wonder how we managed everything in the 80s with no internet and MAPS only...
Until then then. I'm going to look out the window and stare at Greece for a bit as my wifi ends for a while...
It's super exciting to see Greece again and its gorgeous sunsets on the sea...
(Update) My AirBnb host was helpful and kind - a nice way to connect with someone as I spend many hours on my own writing and "getting" to writing.
Until the next blog!
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