Glamping

We recently spent a long weekend in the UK and decided to split our time between city and country.  Our first stop was at a "Glamping" site south of Gatwick, in Surrey.  Glamping (Glamourous Camping) is huge in the UK and we've been toying around with the idea of opening our own Glampground on our land in Maryland.  But we had to experience it first hand in order to really plan out our own American version.  It was fantastic!  This place was way the hell back in the woods and made our 1-mile gravel driveway in Deep Creek look like the autobahn.  But what made it "glamping?"  No tent to set up.  Soft bed.  Clean sheets.  All the comforts of home with all the nature of camping.  We chose The Magic Bus because it had a small wood burner and the weather predication was a bit on the cold side.  Not quite the first magic bus "Further", this would have made Ken Kesey proud.  There was also a selection of Yurts, dome tents, and small cabins.

Fire ring, tapas, wine, loads of owls, and the occasional badger sighting capped off the relaxation portion of the tip.

The 62 acre site was classic British countryside.

Setting up for a Celtic forest wedding.

Inside the Magic Bus, solar LED lighting and everything!

Our wood burner, a bit funky to operate, but effective.

We're thinking of going more the cabin route.  These 12 x 12 units were perfect!  We can't find this kind of thing (yet) in the states and may end up shipping over a 1/2 dozen of these from the UK.

Then it was in to London for a weekend in the city.  As a side note, this is the first time that I've driven on the left. I was pretty nervous and even updated the will.  ("STAY LEFT!").  But, it all worked out and there was only minor damage to the rental car.

An old wharf's view of Tower Bridge.

The almost complete Shard.  Not bad from a skyline perspective, but when you walk along the base it is  100% out of character for it's location above Borough Market.   They should have made the first 3 stories more classic to fit into the neighborhood.

"I wonder what anti-climb paint is?"   A sticky, smelly mess!

Classic London park.

A night in a West-end theater...Wicked!

And no trip to London is complete without a street food extravaganza!   Borough Market produce THE best sandwich I've ever eaten!  Crispy Duck!   Then it was over to Brick Lane for more ethnic fair.

Why doesn't Beth get this?  It's meat!  It's on a stick!  What more could a person possibly want?

Commuter bliss

 

I think that it’s safe to say that I’ve had an extraordinary number of different commutes in my life.  Between moving from house-to-house (14 times) and changing jobs (13 times) and changing office locations within a job (5 times), it adds up to a huge variety of combinations of getting from home to work.  My shortest commute was from the bedroom to the office in my jammies, (I did that in three different locations for two different employers).   My longest commute was also my worst, from Haarlem to Utrecht.   Awful roads, awful drivers, awful weather, awful traffic jams…just awful.  My favorite commute is still from the house in the Boise Highlands over to Park Center on the mountain bike.  I used to love ripping through the deserted city at 6:00 AM in the crisp mountain air.  

But my current commute is a close runner-up.  Over the 18 KM route from Haarlem to Lisse there are no red lights, no traffic (except the occasional tractor), plenty of woodlands, wildlife and small villages.  28 minutes door-to-door no matter what time I leave in either direction.  Did I mention that Lisse is THE heart of the flower economy here in Holland?  In the spring, the scenery can’t be beat.  Enjoy the pics!

The speckled orange are my favorites. 

Bulb Barons.

The world famous Keukenhof...5 minute walk from the office.

An old castle always adds a touch of class to the flowers.

Lisse traffic jam.

Misty morning as the flowers were "popping". 

And finally to the destination.  We're moving out of this office in July which means that I'll have yet another commute ahead of me...back on the train to Leiden!