Day #26: The one with the 1:7 ratio

Today we finally had that moment when we both wanted to scream! It was just the perfect storm of frustrating events that had us both needing a London re-group. The mission for Saturday was to book some travel and get out and do something fun. What we neglected to remember was that here, time has a 1:7 ratio - if something takes 1 hour in the states, it takes 7 hours in London.

In the beginning, Jake had taken vacation on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to make our two bank holiday weekends connect for a total of 11 days off! So, we had quite a bit of time to play with, but knew we needed to be back in London by Thursday so we wouldn't miss the wedding. Yeah, yeah, we know. Most locals are getting out of dodge, but this is history people! Like the photo from yesterday, "Will and Kate 4 Eva!" We were completely open minded about where we wanted to go. Basically, we wanted cheap fares to absolutely anywhere. We started searching for travel rates at about 9:00 am and were cycled through the internet abyss until 4:00 pm. It went something like this...find a city, check Easy Jet, check Ryan Air, check trains, check buses, go back to Easy Jet...find the fare has changed. Find a new city. Check planes, trains, and automobiles....no cheap rates. Find a new city. Check flights, trains, busses, hot air balloons, hang gliders...find cheap rate...no hotels available. AHHHH! On the 105th try, we finally found a great rate to Bordeaux, France. We were so thrilled. We found a great deal on airfare, found a cute and affordable hotel, looked into a rental car - everything was falling into place. So, then we started searching the wineries. They were all closed. Each and every one of them. We don't know how on earth we missed that tiny detail - if Jake had vacation, how did it not occur to us that everyone would have vacation? With blurry vision from the computer screen, we put shoes on and went to get a beer (at this point, a requirement for sanity).

On the way, Shayne tried to make a call on her cell phone and a little message came on telling her it was time to top-up (this means, she was out of money on her prepaid sim card). How could this be? She has only had the phone for a week! We swung into the cell phone store and proceeded to wait for 45 minutes. There were about 15 people waiting and one sales rep (The one beer needed for sanity just went up to two rounds). We finally got to the front and the guy told us that she ran out so quickly because the plan on her phone was proper for international minutes, but each local call was 25 pence A MINUTE! So, she had 270 international minutes remaining, but none for local calling. We asked what the guy could do to help us. Here was his solution: purchase another cell phone, purchase another sim card for local calls, use our original phone for international calls, use the the new cell for local calls, and when we run out of international minutes, switch phones, top up on the original phone, go back to the old phone, and when we run out again, switch back to the new phone. Confused? Yeah, us too. Shayne looked at the guy and said, "Wait, what?" Jake was like, "So, you want us to buy another phone for her?" Let's be honest, Shayne can't keep up with ONE phone - the charging, the voice mails - can you imagine juggling two (with two different numbers mind you!). It was insane. At this point, three beers needed! We walked out of the store and seriously needed a minute. We were both twitching and thinking, "THIS BLASTED COUNTRY!"

The good news is that our evening and night were absolutely wonderful. We strolled through our neighborhood, found a bril. (brilliant) new pub, and had an amazing dinner. On the menu: fried camenbert and chutney (yes, we said fried camenbert), mussels for Shayne, and stuffed chicken for Jake. The restaurant was beautiful and quaint and, after venting our frustration, a few laughs about the 1:7 ratio, a couple of drinks, and a London re-group, we were reminded how lucky we feel to be here! London crisis #1...averted.

The solution to our travel dilemma: Jake is going to work those three days and tack them onto a weekend in June. We are going to do Bordeax when the wineries are up and running! The weekend after the wedding, we have plans to go to Salisbury and Bath, two small towns in western and southern England.

Lesson's learned: 1) Back holidays in Europe are 4-REAL - assume that everything will be closed, 2) If you need help in a cell phone store, ask yourself, 3) There is nothing that a good laugh, a great meal, and a re-group won't fix.