Zo Ba!

Zo Ba means: Let's Go in Chinese... or well. something close to that.
I leave tomorrow at 6:40 from Seatac. That means I need to be at the airport around 4:00.

Yearly Meeting was great. The best part was seeing everyone. It always feel so "campy." There was a long, arduous meeting about continuing on with the FWCC. I was frustrated. Some people I respect lied about it. LIED. L-I-E-D. Or at the least gave mis-leading information. Grrrr.

enough about it! Mike is helping me by doing my last minute laundry. I always say I'd be starved, naked and living in squalor with out that man. Girls... you ready for me?

Holding out...

Okay, I happen to know Joyce, Chrissy, and Delonna are all traveling abroad this week, in the far-away land of Newberg, Oregon. What a perfect opportunity to update us on your travels while you're away! Come on guys - let's hear it!

I am taking yet another mini pre-trip trip this weekend. I've been talked into going home, down in Oregon, to see the family. As ever, I'm into tight turnarounds and traveling light. I'm only staying about 24 hours so won't need more than my backpack, which I'll take with me to work on Friday morning. Right after work (I get off at 1:00) I'll catch a bus into downtown, then go into the tunnels and catch another bus to the international district. From there it's only three blocks to the train station. Hopefully everything will be on time as I'll be stretching it to make the 1:45 train. I do like to cut things close. =)

Then it's a four or five hour ride down along the Puget Sound, across some rivers and into Portland. I will do my best to set an example and update you all while on my "trip."

I have one week and 3 days until I leave. The next six days will be spent at Yearly Meeting. Then, I'll be home for Saturday, Sunday and I leave Monday night. I still don't know what I"m going to do about Germany. Should I go to Hamburg or Frankfurt? Can I do both from the 2nd to the 8th?? I've been learning German for the past 2 days. I'm not so sure how much I'll remember but between the next week (the drive to Oregon) and the plane ride, I should be able to carry on a basic conversation.
The car is rented and I've been looking at maps.

More later!
Delonna

17 days and counting...

Ooh, I shouldn't have counted how many days! Less than three weeks! My to-dos are a little bit different.

I'm on the North American committee so my to-dos include a conference call every Wednesday afternoon, the moment I get home, for the next three weeks. I have been taking minutes and posting them online for a year or so, but yesterday I decided I wasn't doing that anymore! No one else has volunteered yet…and I'm okay with that. =) I'm the north american treasurer so my to-dos include going to the PO Box at least twice a week for the next three weeks to pick up checks that are straggling in. And then recording all the information in various places so we know who has donated how much and what participants are paid for. And sending off thank-you notes. And then doing bank deposits. And then there's the occasional transfer to the European bank account so they can cover the travel and university fees. And checking, re-checking, double-checking to make sure everything is accurate in the accounts - good thing I'm detail oriented. =)

Don't forget about my two part-time jobs! And I'm afraid I'm very occupied with other things that will happen after the Gathering. For one, I start grad school a month after my return from England. I'm thinking about purchasing the two required books so I can get a head start on reading. On the plane? Most definitely not!

And, I'm thinking about moving. This could happen as early as August 15th and as late as October 1st. It wouldn't be too difficult as I'd just be moving to the top floor of a three story house, from the basement. But I've been in my little basement (Hobbit Hole, Cave, etc) for over four years! I have a feeling the decision will be made before I go.

Trip-related goals are finding housing options for the four of us travelers; making sure I have everything I need to pack (possibly purchasing a rain jacket - I know, you'd think living in Seattle I'd have one of these!); getting some film for my camera…

I'm sure there are more things, but I just can't think of them now.

Gearing up to Go!

Since last week I've accomplished quite a bit on my "to do" list. I'm now on the third chapter of my Swahili book (only 15 more to go), I'm almost done with the history of Oregon Yearly Meeting that I've been reading (of course it only goes up to the 70's, right about the time I was born), I've got a lot of my school planning done, I'm signed up for the pre-gathering at Woodbrooke in Birmingham, and I've done some research into some of the sights I want to see while in England. So what are my top sights you might ask? One is the Old Operating Theater in London, a place rich in medicinal and operation procedure history. Another is Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. A visit to England would not be complete without seeing at least one of his plays, and there is the added bonust that it only costs five pounds to be in the area closest to the stage. I would also like to go to the free afternoon concert at St. Something's-in-the-fields (maybe it's St. Martin's). Then if there is time I guess I'd like to see all the other "must see" sights like St. Paul's Cathedral, the British Musuem, and Buckingham Palace.

So before I go, I'll leave you with my most recent bit of Swahili:
Joyce na Aimee na Delonna na mimi tutakwenda Uingereza kwa ndege.
Tutaopa London, York na Edinburgh. Kwa heri.

Translated (probably badly) into Espanol:
Josephina, Aimee, Delonna y yo estamos irando a England por avion.
Nosotros vamos a ver London, York y Edinburgh. Adios.

Translated to English:
Joyce, Aimee, Delonna and I are going to England by airplane.
We will see London, York and Edinburgh. Good bye.

Planning Guide

I found this guide online for packing and planning. I thought it might be useful.

http://www.frommers.com/tips/packing_tips/travel_planner.pdf

To dos

Here is my update as of today (Tue. the 19th)
Here is the link for the Heritage Pass: http://www.gbheritagepass.com/?module=welcome

Here is my to-do list:
Arrange for rental car (call/visit AAA) (Visited on the 18th, someone is working on it)
Get International Dr. Lic (at AAA)
Get European phone from Emily (Left message for her to call me back)
Order luggage (dropping off check today)
Finish WGYF paperwork (I can't seem to find it online.. Aimee??)
Notify my bank I'll be out of country (so they don't cancel my cards!) (I found out we need to do this 24 hours in advance, and yes, we all should do it so they don't cancel our cards!)
Buy British Heritiage Cards (Joyce will do)

Buy German Language CDs

Aside from that:
Finalize a friend's wedding design
Buy stuff for wedding
Pick up Hannah from the airport
Pick up Nichola at the airport
Shakespeare Presentation
Shop for her dress
Meet a friend for breakfast
See Charlie and the Chocolate Factory w/students
Reading group w/ students

I think it will be fine.

Tentative Itinerary

Here are the things I noted from our conference call this afternoon. Ladies, please let me know of corrections, additions, subtractions, divisions. Anything mathematical. =)

1st Day (Quaker for "Sunday")
London
-Aimee-the-Fender arrives
-Delonna-on-Cue arrives

2nd Day (Monday)
London
-Buy 3-day Bus pass ($26.34 each)
-Chrissy-of-the-Dungeons & Joyce arrive, take luggage to homestay
-nap
-London Eye
-Covent Garden
-Globe Theatre

*3rd Day (Tuesday)
London
-Buy Heritage pass(?)
-Lichester Square
-Buy Theatre tickets
-St Paul's Cathedral
-British Museum
-Tower of London
-Friends' History
-Theatre

*4th Day (Wednesday)
London
-Buckingham Palace
-Friends' History
-pick up car

Travel to York
(Stratford on Avon?)

*5th Day (Thursday)
York
Edinburgh

*6th Day (Friday)
Edinburgh

7th Day (Saturday)
Aimee goes to Lancaster through duration of pre-Conference trip
Chrissy goes to Burmingham through duration of pre-Conference trip
Joyce & Delonna go to Glascow

Second 1st Day (Sunday)
Glascow
Lake District

Second 2nd Day (Monday)
Lake District
Manchester

Second 3rd Day (Tuesday)
Manchester: turn in car, pick up Mike
Lancaster: World Gathering Conference

----------------------------
* Heritage Pass ($50)

here!

Computer is back and I'm back in business...
So, this is our new blog, huh? Pretty nifty.
I'm really just checking in... just to prove I'm here.

I did a little practice packing myself this week. I was in Ashland for the Shakespeare Festival (wonderful). The only downside is the weather isn't equal to England's. It was in the 90's. I loved it in the evenings... but I'd rather have the 80's...or 70's.

I saw Aimee today at NPYM. Nice group there.

I have my own blog.. you can check it out to: www.xanga.com/delonna
Fun stuff there... OK, well not so much recently, but go to the posts from China... those are fun.
More later... when I actually have something substantial to impose on you other than this rambling.

Getting ready

This is Joyce checking in, one of two silent friends, or as I prefer to be known: unprogrammed. =) It is intriguing to me that spell-check does not recognize that word. Coincidence? I don't think so.

I've been doing many things to get ready for the trip, but now that I know Aimee is bringing her world-famous pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, don't let the others fool you, I will be able to devote more time to preparing. My current preparatory activities include: packing, brushing up on my Spanish, "helping" Chrissy practice Swahili (sana means "very") and a few horseback riding lessons (one must be prepared to ride on the Scottish moors). I also hope to read George Fox's journal this next week, work on translations for the World Gathering and make time each day to be with God.

I have the pleasure of helping to coordinate youth activities during the annual gathering of Friends who belong to Northwest Yearly Meeting (NWYM) in Oregon, Idaho and Washington. This gathering takes place in one week (last week on July this year)and I'll be spending most of the next week getting ready for it. I feel very blessed to be a part of this gathering, and look forward to sharing the World Gathering with NWYM, and NWYM with the World Gathering.

Invisible members & pre-trip

Happy Friday to one and all! We joked about it, but now I fear it's true. We have two invisible (perhaps make-believe?) members of this traveling group: Joyce and Delonna.
I guess Delonna has an excuse because her computer isn't working and she has no access. But Joyce! Where are you Joyce? Don't tell me we've already lost a member of our expedition!

I am going on a mini pre-trip this weekend. Since I cannot go to my own yearly meeting (not enough vacation time) I'll be going to North Pacific Yearly Meeting. Well, I have more reasons than just that. For one I've been asked to share in session about what is happening with World Gathering.
After I get home this afternoon I'll be packing furiously and then heading out to catch a series of buses down to Tacoma. I've decided this will be a practice run on not packing very much...since I hope to not pack too much for the England trip. The real reason is that I'm only taking a backpack and I have to fit in 25 WGYF prep books, 7 WGYF t-shirts, 9 WGYF DVDs, and a container with a couple dozen mini pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. That only leaves room for a shirt and hopefully my pjs! I'll report back on whether or not I make it.

I imagine the rest of the group (invisible or not) agrees that on a trip such as we're taking, no one cares too much if you wear the same clothes a lot. Although Delonna did suggest we try swapping clothes with one another in case we get bored with what we brought - so there's always that option. =)

Procrastinating

As Aimee has said there are but four weeks left before we leave for England. I guess it's finally time to start doing all of those things I meant to do a year ago in order to prepare. So here's my list to accomplish before getting on the plane: Learn Swahili, review my Spanish, read about 10 books on Quaker History including George Fox's Journal and Barclay's Apology, save some money, put together a Northwest Yearly Meeting scrapbook to show to people at the gathering, decide what to bring and how to pack it, apply for the pregathering session at Woodbrook (at least that's where I think it is), and finally figure out with my other traveling buddies just where we'll be going and what we'll be doing that week befor the conference. Also, there is the little worry of my passport arriving in time. I sen it off the first week of June and haven't got it back yet, but there's still plenty of time before the plane leaves.
Chrissy

Pronunciation

I'm sure we'll be learning how to pronounce a lot of things the 'correct' way. One we know about now is Edinburgh.

This is not pronounced Ed - in - burrow

It is pronounced Ed - in - burr - uh

Say it together with me, Edinburgh!

Does anyone know how to say Glasgow??

Horseback riding on the moors of Scotland

Chrissy, Joyce, Delonna and I had a conference call the other day to begin planning what we'll be doing on this trip. We listed out all the places we want to go, things we want to do:

In and around London we want to:
go to a theatre show
go to someplace called Stratford on Avon
go to some cathedral, we can't recall the name
go to the London eye
Buckingham palace
some art museum, like, the British Museum
Covent garden
a Friends Meeting House
The Tower

We also want to go to Scotland and ride horses on the moors, and go to the Glasgow arts festival.

And I think we also want to hang out in Manchester and in the Lake District, Grasmere, Windemere, etc.

but we only have 7 days! (I actually have less I think, but the girls don't know this yet!)

So we're still planning...

To begin with...

Welcome to the "Vicarious Travelblog." This is to record the fun and travels of myself and some friends of mine. We are going to England for three weeks in August 2005. I'm just setting up this blog now...I'm not sure when we'll next have time to share.

With less than a month before we leave, we're having a "conference call" tonight to figure out where we want to stay, what we want to do, what we want to see, where we want to go, etc, etc, etc.

The main reason we're going over is for the World Gathering of Young Friends.

But we have about a week beforehand to travel the countryside. So if anyone has any ideas on what we should see in England...