Planes, Trains and Orthotics: A Middle-Age Woman's Guide to Travel

Judy and I are blessed with two wonderful and caring husbands. With that said, something happens when they get together…and it’s not always a good thing. Take for example, our time in York.  York is quite a magical place, figuratively (Lots of ghost tours, including “Mad Alice,” the one we attended thanks to professional traveler, Rick Steves) and literally. It’s a Medieval city influenced by its various conquerors, including the Romans, Vikings, Saxons, and the Normans—with hidden and not-so-hidden walls that each group built to prove they were there.  The York Minster or Cathedral however, is the centerpiece of this lovely town, built in the 13th Century on top of Roman ruins which took more than 200 years to build and reflects three different kinds of architecture. Besides the professional tour we went on,  the Minster has an incredible self-guided tour located under the Minster to show the vast history of the city of York and of the cathedral itself.  It was grea...

 In our last day in the Yorkshire town of Harrogate, we decided to take advantage of what the town was famous for, and go to the Turkish Baths.  Apparently, in the 1800’s, sulfur was detected in the town’s drinking water and as such a combination was known to be excellent for healing and for medicinal purposes, the town became well-known by the British aristocracy to heal whatever ailed them. In sum and in short, it was a vacation destination for the wealthy. We learned that the experience consisted of moving between moist and dry saunas and then cold plunges in a pool, which was sold as being extremely relaxing.   There is so much to unpack in preparing for and actually taking advantage of this experience.   First, I don’t really like the idea of  “plunging” into cold water.  We have a pool in our backyard and I usually don’t get passed my knees because I think the water is too cold. And then there is the appropriate dress, or lack thereof.  Fortunate...

 If anyone has the notion that the Yorkshire Dales is a lovely, quaint but not very exciting corner of England, boy would you be dead wrong! In the last two days, we have had three remarkably different experiences, all within a 50 mile radius.  Our first, was at a sheep fair. As my entire repertoire of sheep knowledge includes that their milk makes good cheese and their wool, lovely sweaters, attending a day-long fair, consisting of sheep judging, sheep races, and sheep dog demonstrations, may not  have been my first choice of things to do on vacation.   But, this was a very different type of holiday and if we wanted to embrace the Yorkshire people, this seemed like a logical place to get to know them. The fair was filled with people, young and old and we were able to speak to a few of the Yorkshire natives. Unfortunately, these conversations required, what I like to call, “the lean-in.” I thought we were safe because we never required closed-captioned for “All Creat...

 It has to be said at very the beginning of this blog that the four of us are seasoned travelers. But yesterday, you would have never known it because we were really, really off our “A” game.   We decided that we would take the train from London to England’s second largest city, York and then pick up our rent-a-car and head to the lovely, North Yorkshire town of Harrogate.  We bought our tickets once we got to the train station and we’re told that we could sit in any seat we want.  Great news for four middle-aged travelers, ie, the faster we find a seat, the better for all involved. We have taken trains many times in Europe and so at least for me, I’m blaming my initial “Beverly Hillbillies-“ like actions on my LL Bean knapsack. One of its selling points is that it has so many zipper pockets for storing a multitude of traveling essentials.  I got on the train dragging my oh too heavy suitcase, my new over-the-chest robbery-resistant-proof purse (assuming that th...