“Wha’ d’ya mean we lost a suitcase”??? Never good rolling up at an airport less one piece of luggage, especially when the missing bag is sitting back at the hotel parking lot, where we must have almost driven right over it. ‘Oh bother said Pooh’ as it would go in the classic “Winnie The Pooh” tales, but this is real life and we have a plane to catch… so much for the ‘world traveller’s’ we are! Thankfully the blame could not be posted on anybody’s shoulders as we couldn’t even figure which of us could have been sooo stupid!! Kinda like leaving Pumper at the Buffalo New York outlet malls when we crossed the border.. window wide open.. our entire life ripe for the picking… Another bloody close call!

A mad dash back to the hotel courtesy of an AVIS car rental employee,  thanks to some awesome Karma and a very nice person that wheeled the bag to safe keeping at the front desk.. deep breath in and out!! We were off to catch our plane to cross the pond to Olde Blighty (England). What a trip, thanks to “Pants” our Flight Attendant who kept me well stocked with a stash of chocolate brownies and Steve well stocked with shots of Bourbon… ‘Pants’ liked us, or at least our hippie groove, and the tale of our travels in Pumper. Thanks Pants, for the best flight ever!! Who needs first class!!

UK weather report: Cold, and Soggy… this is summer? A traditional Christmas pudding and double cream… Cornish pasties… and a slew of other traditional English goodies and treats are more than negating the classic UK weather. Who knew custard and the variety of English pastries could taste soo good!! .. Fortunately the strenuous cliff walks fighting Atlantic winds are keeping the weight off!! Another confession… English style Cadbury chocolate … don’t try to say it’s the same as Canadian chocolate… Simply oodles better!! Must be the lush diet of the dairy cattle or something.

We have been totally spoilt to share time with family and indulging in the pleasure of coastal cliff walks along the Cornish and Welsh coast… this takes some beating for spectacular views at every turn. Apart from the fact that it’s near impossible to understand someone speaking either the broad Welsh or Cornish dialects… something we are getting used to!!

Time to re-connect with family, some we have not seen in what seems like an age.  Serious catch up time with my sis, and a special visit with my mother and trip to my father’s grave 4 years after his passing. Going back to our place of birth and the country in which we were raised creates a fair bit of nostalgia. It is very obvious we’re far more ‘Canadian’ than ‘British’ but… love the heritage.

All this is a diversion reducing the stress of Pumpers voyage across the Atlantic. No sooner we had arrived in the UK we were informed that Pumper had been bumped to a later ship! Gawd only knows, as there she sits at the Baltimore port in the blistering heat wave in the Eastern US, keys in the ignition, with complete strangers determining her fate! It takes faith to believe she is going to show up in Southampton in one running piece. Although the process of going through customs and delivering her to the port took just about an hour in total, we couldn’t help take a deep breath with all fingers crossed as we left the port. 1 hour!! That killed us after the day and a half long session in Colombia to do the same thing. What a contrast!!

So as of July 2^nd the cargo ship is officially on her way and we found a GPS tracking website that shows the ship en route through Chesapeake Bay and out to the big Atlantic. What we don’t know on this US Independence Day: “Is Pumper on the ship?” ETA July 18^th.

With the ‘Eastern European” Lonely Planet Guide in hand, and our swanky new Euro passports!!! We sit and contemplate and study maps and can’t stop drooling over the idea of some of the Balkan countries. It is also impossible to ignore the world’s troubles and issues. Like the crisis in Greece. It does make one stop and ponder how gloriously indulgent it is to be swanning around the world like glorified tourists (guess that is what we are in a nut shell). And then there is all the strife in Egypt and Sudan and we almost think we have lost the plot to be thinking of embarking on this next leg of the trip.. but then barking mad we might be but… nothing ventured nothing gained and we are spurred on by the likes of all our follower’s that cheer us on from the side lines and look for  the next posting from some glorious outpost. We might just make Timbuktu!! We did make the “Ruffalocody” newsletter after our surprise visit to our daughters head office in Cedar Rapids Iowa last month! www.ruffalocody.com

So before Timbuktu we are eyeing:  Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Hungary, Czech Republic, Serbia, Albania, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia , Ukraine , Romania, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia and Bulgaria. But first stop across the English Channel we’ll be soaking up the epic war history sites in Northern France, Belgium and the Netherlands. With all the travel friends we met in Central and South America from Switzerland we can’t leave that off the list, as with a visit to twin brother in Germany. Blimey there are just soo many countries, and many more!!  . With that itinerary we just won’t be able to hit many others also on our must visit list. Guess there is next year.

So back to not having a clue what anybody is saying.. check out some of the best of British “Slang”:

Sleeping Policeman … Speed Bump!!!

Gov’ner … The Boss

Stroppy … Unreasonable

Potty.. Crazy!!!

Bloke .. Man

Having Kittens .. Extremely nervous

Dog’s breakfast .. A big mess

Faff .. Waste Time

Tosh … Nonsense

All mouth and no trousers … All talk and no action!!!

Elevenses .. Mid-morning snack (more Cadbury’s chocolate!!)

Colly wobbles .. Fear

Gobsmacked… Flabbergasted , Dumbfounded

Pigs ear .. A mess

Bodge Job.. A messy Job

Stonking .. Enormously large

Jam Sandwich.. Police Car.

Cor Blimey .. OMG!!

Plonker .. An Idiot!!

Porkies … Lies

On the Blink.. Not working right!!

Interesting site in a pub in Swansea was the “Chatterbox” .. Painted on a door in the ladies “Loo” (as they call it in some parts) This was a new experience in a ladies washroom, thought we had seen it all trekking around the back country in Indonesia!! Chatterbox… this is the extraordinary 2 seater version where 2 gals can “pee’ in the same room while having a good old “natter”. Darn it for not having a camera!!

Off to demolish more Christmas pudding and give Steve moral support trying to organize car insurance… just one of the many details we face in trying to sort out the logistics of Pumper’s ‘Tour De Europa’!!

Peace and Love … under an umbrella…! x

Tags: are we there yet, Europe, Living the dream, Pumper, rweethereyet, rweethereyet.com, UK, VW

Posted in The Dream Goes On
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