England vs. USA

Every time I go to Europe, I'm amazed (usually pleasantly; sometimes not so much) about the differences between Europe and the United States.  Here are how things differ in a few areas...and a few anecdotes from the trip along the way.

COFFEE
England: You want instant coffee, right?!  Because brewed coffee is found only in select "fine dining" establishments or three (not truly widely available chains - Starbucks, Costa and Pret A Manger) chains.  Forget asking for a size.  Seriously.

United States: Instant is well...frowned up on in this establishment! LOL  You can hit a Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Tim Hortons, Honey Dew and a variety of amazing local chains no matter what direction you throw in, get any kind of drink that you want and just about any size you want.

The second day into my trip I NEEDED coffee and hit the Starbucks in Covent Garden.  After they tried to give me a hot beverage three times, and declaring that they don't have milk, I gave up and drank my coffee black.  For this "iced only" lady, it was extremely disappointing.

DRIVING:
England: Wait, I have a horn on this car? Because I'm happy to just merge and keep going! Want to walk in front of my car; no biggie. Of course I'll get you where you're going!

United States: Did you not hear the first three times I honked?!  Merge FASTER. Stay in your lane. Do NOT walk out in front of my car. Um, is this corner close enough?  I don't want to circle the block so it's a safe place for you to exit and get to your destination.

OK...maybe I'm being a little dramatic.  But for all the time I was in London, I heard a car honk its horn three times - and once was to alert others that an ambulance was coming. That just doesn't happen here. Driving is faster, tighter (as in sometimes you are mere centimeters from the car next to you on those old roads) and much more civil there.  I can honesty say that I feel they are better drivers.

SMOKING
England: "Can I bum a cigarette off you"?  Sure.

United States: You SMOKE?!  Really???  Can I help you get into a smoking cessation program?

As an asthmatic, I am very sensitive to cigarette smoke.  So seeing so many smokers on the streets, huddled around doorways and bars was a little disconcerting for me.  If I were the NHS (National Health Service), my campaign for the New Year would be about stopping smoking...  Think of all the money their government could save in medical claims if they had fewer smokers.  (I know, my mind works in weird ways.)

PETS (aka your furrier family members)
England: Dogs WELCOME!!

United States:  Wait.  That is such a violation of the health code....

It's perfectly acceptable to bring your well mannered dog (not just service dog) into bars, many eating establishments, on public transportation, etc.  This is especially true once you get out of London.  If you're following me on Instagram, you got to see just a few of the many, many animals I met in bars, pubs, restaurants, on buses, trains, in castles, cathedrals and a number of other places in my travels over the past few weeks.  My heart was happy that their country has made (recent - as in the past two to three years) huge strides in allowing dogs to be fully integrated into daily life and seen as part of societal norms.  It's another thing that you'd just not see here.  Maybe someday!!

Speaking of pets, they do not have nearly the problem with unwanted animals (dog, cats, etc) that we do here and NO KILL SHELTERS!  Shelters are extremely rare, fully government funded and I hope that never changes.

TECHNOLOGY
England: Well, it depends where you are.  In London, you can get wi-fi without an issue at your hotel and in larger shopping areas/eating establishments.  Outside of London - it's a bit like living in the late 90's to early 2000's. Wi-fi is virtually non-existant and they are TOTALLY OK with it.

United States: Let's just say that on an average day, I'm on my cell phone, tablet, both a PC and Mac desktop and a laptop....

I'm a little ashamed to say this, but I was in almost as much tech withdrawal as I was caffeine withdrawal when I got to England.  I don't "unplug" well, so while I had my cell phone and tablet with me, I didn't have internet access often and when I did - I had pictures queued up to post and a few "must see" websites/apps.  In the countryside, getting any type of internet connectivity is a minor miracle and the folks at the timeshare told me they only got wi-fi last year and after a HUGE investment!

ICE CUBES/REFRIGERATION
England: Um...ice?  You want frozen water?  Isn't regular water good enough?  And you do know that eggs and butter don't need to be refrigerated, right?

United States: "Keep refrigerated at all times".  Ice?!  Have it by the bucket full!!!

I have no problem with tap water, but I really like ice.  I enjoy beverages really cold! When we got to London, we stayed at the Crown Plaza and I was so happy to see an ice machine fairly close to my room.  Until I realized it didn't work...  Turns out they don't always keep them on.  *sigh*  But they got me ice and I was a happy little camper.  I made my own ice at the timeshare. You know six cubes at a time from the tray that came in the mini fridge!  The real problem was when I got back to London and we checked into The Strand Palace.  They have ONE ice machine for the entire hotel - a LARGE hotel of 758 rooms.  Then they add insult to injury and not only charge you money to get ice, you have 20 seconds to get your ice and the "bucket" they give you is a styrofoam quart container.  I have issues with that whole thing...

Have any of you noticed any good (or not so great) differences between the States and Europe?

And...I'm Back!

I'm back!  Those two weeks flew by! I'm a bit jet-lagged...so I need to unpack, get a bit of rest, spend some quality time with the pups, and then I'll be sharing an obscene amount of pictures with you and telling you my favorite things about England vs. my favorite things about the USA.  :-)

Stay tuned!

Momma Went to NYC - A Note From Beckett

Hi!  Beckett here.  Momma went to NYC last weekend and because I'm feeling attention deprived, she says I can tell you about it for her.

Momma's friend is getting married today, so she and her friends (aka other puppy & little human mommies) left last Friday for a bachelorette weekend.  I freaked out when she packed.  What?!  She should know she isn't allowed to leave me!!  So momma left Friday morning and had to stop to take her inhaler before she even got to cousin Kirstren's house.  Bad asthma!

The girls stopped for breakfast and a little shopping - where some of them bought matching shoes (Note from Cole: Seriously.  Buy one, get two free from the Bass Outlet!!  How cool is that?!?!), and arrived in Manhattan in the early afternoon.  Night one was dinner at a jazz club.  They had the small restaurant side of the club all to themselves and got absolutely spoiled by the bartender and two waiters.  These lovely men bought the table of nine ladies two rounds of shots and gifted the bride with some foil art.  In the shape of...um, male genetalia.  The guys get an "A" for their craft skills! (Cole: It's amazing what you can do with an apple, tin foil, hard boiled eggs and a paper towel roll *snicker*)  The rest of the girls went out to a few bars after that, but momma had to go back to the hotel and take care of her asthma.

Saturday morning the girls all wandered down to have breakfast in the diner next to the hotel.  (Cole: BTW, fantastic location!  Across the street from the Hell's Kitchen PD, two blocks from the Hudson River, and over all a great neighborhood.)  At that point, I made Grammy text momma that I was pouting and on a hunger strike...  In the afternoon, the girls got on a Circle Line boat and made the trip around the Statue of Liberty.  Such glorious weather.  Too bad momma came home burnt!

Saturday night the girls got all dressed up and brought the bride out for a "surprise".  Momma says that they went to Lucky Cheng's, and that I'm too little a boy for her to tell me what they do there.  But she linked it up for you, just in case you've never heard of them before.  I hear the bride was quite surprised!  Again, the other girls when out to other bars afterwards, but momma's asthma is persistant and she had to cab it back to the hotel.  Like a good momma, she waited up for all the girls to come home - and read a good book while she waited.

Sunday morning most of the girls had to sleep off their good time.  That gave momma, Kirstren and Heather a chance to get up and moving early.  They had breakfast and went to the Met to see the new Picasso exhibit.  (Cole: It sounds cheesy, but the Met was the highlight of the trip for me.  Very low-key; time with other people who really enjoy art; and it felt like "bonus" time that we weren't going to have.)  Then I made Grammy call and order momma to come home.  OK, fine.  I didn't yell at her.  But it was time for the girls to come home!  Despite having a huge-ass SUV (momma's words!), the 5 girls and their luggage barely crammed themselves in for the ride home. 

And to think, Meadow, Carmella and I didn't even get presents from momma when she got home.  What NERVE!

Barks & Kisses,
Beckett

And it only took an act of Congress...

Ha, not really... but that's what it feels like in order to take vacation time! I admit that I'm a workaholic. It's so bad that when I announce that I'm taking a few days off - the first reaction of people is "what's wrong?".

Last year was an all-time low. I "gave back" a week of vacation to my company - so in addition to all the extra hours I work for free; I essentially paid them for my attendance too!

My New Year's resolution was to work less. Unfortunately - I don't think that I've made any headway on achieving that.

However, I am off today (and tomorrow!); and it feels GREAT!! I went out to lunch with my cousin Kirstren then ran a bunch of errands. Sure, it sounds kind of mundane... but Kirstren is a blast to hang with! Plus being out in daylight on a weekday is a foreign and exciting concept to me. JC needs tons of stuff, so all this afternoon's errands focused on what I can pack up and ship back to him. Hopefully, I can time it right and have the packages arrive the day after he settles back into his FOB.

That's all... Now I'm off to walk the puppers around the block. :-)