omg.

[labellementeuse]

So! I'm leaving in two and a half weeks, which is terrifying, but tonight, as I was walking home from work with my big ski jacket on, freezing to death, soaked through in the two minute walk from where I work to where I live - I had a thought. This thought was: So, London? It's in the northern hemisphere. You know the really amazing thing about the northern hemisphere in June/July? It's summer. Summer! I get to spend four days in Bordeaux - in summer! two weeks in london - in summer! A bunch of random days travelling around the country - in summer! OK, it's very late spring/early summer, BUT STILL.

So, I just went back to look at my tell-me-shit-to-do post and I noted that there are a bunch of you who I didn't reply to yet. People who I was going to meet up with - I think this is trialia and gianp - what/when is good for you?

My plan currently is two weeks in London at the beginning of my trip - from the 14th to the 28th. This is my sightseeing/showgoing time. Then I'm bussing to Bristol (I might do this a day or two earlier and bus to Bristol slowly via places) and flying to Bordeaux until the 2nd, then I have a random day and a half in Bristol (lol, inorite) and then conference from the 3rd to the 5th, and then I am basically at a loose end until I fly out again on the 10th. So, basically: for five days I can roadtrip (on, um, buses and trains) around England. I'll probably try to make Stonehenge and Cardiff and Hay in this time. Um. So: given this mad trip state, where should I try to get to? What's to do in Bristol in the random day I'm stuck there?

Also, and this is super important: What should I read on the plane??? Overall that's like, 60 hours of flying. I am going to need a LOT of quality reading material. It has to meet some standards: no books with cliffhangers. Nothing very dense or very light. Nothing depressing. Fiction preferred.

Tips?

Comments

[jeeps]

no cliffhangers? there go all of my suggestions. ;;

[labellementeuse]

Well, I guess one or two would be acceptable ;) But, can you imagine that moment when you get to the end of the book and you're all ARGH MUST KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT... but you're stuck on a plane for the next 24 hours. That is like my personal version of hell.

[jeeps]

THAT'S WHY YOU SHOULD BUY ALL THE BOOKS IN THE SERIES, YES? by which i'm referring to robin hobb's liveship traders. really, i'm just trying to get people to read this trilogy, because it's the first fantasy series aside from harpot that i've enjoyed in a long time. the premise is unique, the plotting is quite clever in a way i'm jealous of, and the characters are just. in that category of characters that seem more real than fictional.

i was trying to think of anything else i could recommend, but i just don't read as much as i used to. :(

[labellementeuse]

THAT IS A SOLUTION TO THE DILEMMA. And, hm. I tried Hobb when I was a teenager and flat out HATED it, but a lot of people I really love have been trying to get me into her lately. So, hmm, MAYBE. I will go and find the first book and give it a test run.

[jeeps]

excellent~

do you remember which book you read? the liveship trilogy actually comes between two other trilogies in the same universe — but it also works very well as a standalone arc and, imo, is better written than the other two trilogies. she's better known for the first one, though. when i was catching up that trilogy at work i'd have several guests comment on it and how much they liked it, and i'd ask if they'd read liveship and be very "why why whyyy" when they inevitably said no.

[meigui]

Have you read Steven Brust's Dragaera books?

[trialia]

Well. I'm in Manchester, don't have a whole lot of energy for distance travel, and I think you might actually like my city anyway. So I guess it's up to you whether you come up here or not. If you do, you can crash here :)

Otherwise, it's only really June 27th-28th that's out for me, as I have a church trip all day on the 27th and will need to recover. Oh, and I'm probably doing something on solstice weekend (21st). Other than that, throw at me whatever date you wish!

ETA: Also, cell number in case you need it: 07920 289350 (from within GB - 044 instead of just 0 at the start if outside).

[amarynth.livejournal.com]

I didn't know you were going to Bordeaux... I guess now I'm even more jealous!

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Yeah, to see my "sister" - french exchange student who lived with us for a year about six years ago. I can't wait to see her - plus, you know, France!

[amarynth.livejournal.com]

Tres bien! It's to my eternal shame that the closest I've ever been to France is Noumea.

[jessikast]

Read e-books! Not necessarily on a screen, but if they're printed out, then you can throw them away when you're done - A4 pages are an easier shape to pack than books, and more disposable!

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Hmm, that's true - but doesn't the printing become sort of prohibitively expensive?

[jessikast]

I was printing mine at work, which um, yeah. But with duplex/2-up (so it reduces the pages to print two on each side of A4) and double-siding, I could print a whole book on not as much paper as you'd think.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Really? Hm.

(I uh totally have access to work printers too but uh... I don't know, is that immoral?)

[morbane.livejournal.com]

Something even more important? Bring hayfever medication. I was in England last June and there are large parts of the trip I don't even remember because all I could think about was my throat, my nose, and my eyes. You will thank me.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tip! Yeah, that hadn't even occurred to me, but it does now.

[trialia]

You don't need to bring it. We do have over-the-counter hayfever meds here. *g*

[amarynth.livejournal.com]

That's funny, I had the exact opposite experience - my hayfever has never been better than when I was in the UK.

[roselet.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my asthma was fine when I was in the UK. When I came back to NZ, however... ouch.

[amarynth.livejournal.com]

I guess it depends on what sort of pollen it is you're allergic to.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

IMO asthma is bad in NZ because we fail to heat our houses properly (this is a personal hobbyhorse of mine.) Our rate of asthma is second in the world only to... OK, the UK. But still.

[wienerwald.livejournal.com]

In my case, I came back from the UK to NZ summer, got really really bad asthma and had to be put on flixotide. (Which has made everything mostly better.) So mine was triggered by pollen-y stuff rather than cold.

That said, NZ houses are ridiculous in their lack of heating, and both dust and mould are the main culprits of asthma, I think. So you're correct there.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Yeah - my asthma is exercise-induced and cold-induced more than it is allergy-induced (except CATS) - pollen just makes me unable to breathe through my nose. But, yeah, maybe there's an issue with the contrast as well as with the climate or something>

I just make this massive assertion/assumption constantly without much proof as to whether it's true or not - but it seems likely to me.

[blythely.livejournal.com]

I KNOW OMG if only my parents would have listened to reason.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Heh. My parents try but our house is all massive single-glazed french doors and windows from 1880 (not the actual glass, admittedly, but the frames) so it's always freezing anyway.

[clockworkflight.livejournal.com]

I can't believe I can't recommend anything in Bristol! I thought I knew the city pretty well, my dad was born there, but now all I have is some vague impressions of random buildings.

Apologies if this is something you already know, but if you're staying in hostels they tend to have book swaps - I always bring things I can part with so I don't need to carry enough for the journey there and back.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Ah well, never mind. I'll google!

I didn't know that! I probably won't be staying in hostels much. But I can always donate some books to Bookcrossings or something.

[blythely.livejournal.com]

Bristol:

You must go to the Suspension Bridge and admire the engineering of Mr Brunel (and the view). If it's a nice day then take walk around Clifton Village - extremely pretty Georgian villas, go to the Avon Gorge Hotel or whatever its called to sit on the patio over the gorge. The SS Great Britain is brilliant; I have been twice and would still go again. Also definites: The Red House (Elizabethan) or The Georgian House, especially the latter, which was owned by a plantation owner and is thus very illustrative as to what made Bristol rich (sugar slavery basically). The museum is okay, the cathedral is nice but neither are must-sees. The new waterfront-cafes are fun especially the Mud-Dock Cafe (http://www.mud-dock.com/cafe/index.html), has coffee that a Kiwi would rate as passable. Excellent Oxfam bookstore at the top of Park St, some good cafes w/ tasty paninis just there also. Further up on Park Row opposite the Sainsburys is a fabulous silver / jewellery shop with classy/interesting/affordable jewellery.

Bristol is a fun town. Did I respond to your other post with London suggestions at all? Link me and I will audit what you have been told so far ;)

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

This is super! Thank you so much.

My other London post was here (http://labellementeuse.livejournal.com/289476.html). Suggestions so far have made me think that I'll be spending about a week in and out of various museums and galleries in London, but other than that no idea (well, I'd like to get to some shows.) Any other tips are vastly appreciated!

[skadi.livejournal.com]

Oooo ... I'm so jealous. I went to London last summer, and it was the best trip ever. I had so much fun. It's beautiful there! (Also, in July in Chicago, it is humid and awful. In July in London, it's totally comfortable. So June should be good for you, too!)

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

It is the most hideously horrible weather here at the moment so just the idea of going somewhere where it's WARM is like... bliss. :D What was the best thing you did while you were there?

[skadi.livejournal.com]

What was the best thing you did while you were there?

Hmmm ... that's tough. We took a guided tour to Stonehenge, Windsor, and Bath, and that was pretty amazing. I loved Stonehenge so much. It was just beautiful. I got to see a real live Waterhouse at the Tate, so that was super exciting. And the National Gallery was pretty amazing. Ooo! There was the British Library, where I got to see an ancient copy of Beowulf, some early Shakespeare prints, a Gutenberg Bible, the Magna Carta, some Oscar Wilde, some Lewis Carroll, and a lot more.

Ha! This is hard! Maybe I liked the National Gallery best? But it's hard to say. I loved it all so much. We also took a boat ride down the Thames and that was pretty awesome. I liked seeing things from the water.