Anyone in the UK?

[Ruth]

I'm the first international post here. Anyone else?

I'm in cheshire, England. :leftyhoo:

[stormintheattic]

I am in The Netherlands, Rotterdam to be precise! :wave

[mamapez]

Hello all! Andrew and I are flying to England next month and we would love to meet you in person. :superb

Family from all over is gathering in Manchester to celebrate a Great Uncle of mine. He is being inducted by the Queen as a member of the British Empire as acknowledgement for all his good works. :bigups: We will also be celebrating his 80th birthday.

Yipppeeee! :snowpers:

I talked to my Aunt tonight and she says we are flying from San Francisco to London on March 2nd (arriving March 3rd :yawn ) and then taking public transport (trains/buses/etc) everywhere. It will make travel with Andrew easier, as we will only need the carseat for the flight. Unfortunately, it means we won't be able to make detours to visit folks that aren't in the area. From London we will head to Manchester and hang for a few days (birthday party and induction celebration). Then we will head back to London for the rest of our stay (Sunday through Wednesday, I think). She also mentioned something that sounded like Stanton-on-Kent?

Anyway, I would love to meet you, and would love to visit some yarn shops. Maybe a Mom's Night Out UK style. ;)

[Ruth]

Stratford on avon? Shakespeare's birthplace? Or Stoke on Trent - can't imagine you'd really want to go there though lol.

pmd you already.

[Ruth]

oh, Amy what did your grandad do to get an MBE?

[mamapez]

Stoke on Trent, that's it! She was telling me over the phone, and I didn't write it down. lol So I take it that's not such a great place?

I am awaiting details from my aunt regarding my Great Uncle's good works. :) Hopefully, she knows. I would be pretty embarrassed to get there and meet him and have no clue.

I am from Sunny California, so I'm guessing I am woefully unprepared for the March weather of England (I'm sure there is a good reason why plane tickets are so cheap this time of year). Any tips for a week's stay with a toddler?

[Ruth]

Stoke is even nearer to me than Manchester and is where my best lys is :banana .

It'll be about 10 degrees C (no idea what that is in Fahrenheit) and raining so bring an umbrella and get Andy some wellies. Bring all your jumpers and waterproof clothing, if you haven't got any jumpers you've still got time to knit a couple for Andy but you'll have to buy some for you lol.

Hotels will give you a cot in the room if you need it, if not I can lend you a travel cot, are your relations near Stoke or Manchester? I could drop it off with them.

LMK anything else you need :)

This is so exciting, I'm getting my own snb yay!!!

[mamapez]

Awesome! My aunt said Stoke was a maybe, but now I have an excuse to twist her arm. lol

10 degrees C is 50 degrees F, and we have been getting those temperatures here in Modesto. I'm not sure what wellies and jumpers are though? So much for my British heritage. :)

I believe I have relations in both Stoke and Manchester, but I've sent an email to my aunt to double check. I think we are okay on the travel cot, because Andrew will most likely sleep with me.

I am so looking forward to this trip! I am very excited to meet you (and maybe your family?) and hang out and knit. :)

[mamapez]

My aunt helped me out:

Wellies are wellington boots -- those rubber galoshes that go over shoes and keep out the rain. A travel cot is a travel crib. A jumper is a woolen sweater.

My aunt's friend knows of a fabulous yarn shop in London. We do have relatives in Manchester, but I was wrong, we weren't planning on going there because of time constraints -- Sydney lives in Newcastle-under-Lyme, close to Stoke-on-Trent -- and we probably will only have Friday and Saturday there, with the party on Saturday night. So if you can come visit, it would probably be best to do on Friday or Saturday day. So we'll be even closer to you! And in the same town as the awesome yarn store!!!

We are still trying to figure out where to stay in London - any thoughts? My aunt's friend has lots of ideas for places to go, including child-friendly and educational places, so we are going to have an absolute blast (maybe a cold blast, but a blast nevertheless!)

As for more info on Sydney, when my aunts come for Andrew's birthday party they'll bring the video he made a few years ago so we can at least see and hear him talk about his work in the Jewish community. She thinks his award is for "community service", which can mean anything . . . but he'll be happy to tell us all about it, I'm sure.

[Ruth]

My grandparents live just outside London so whenever we go there we just stay with them so I'm no use there. The Tube (london underground) makes everything there really accessible and if you get a street map it's actually possible to walk between a lot of places and see other things on the way.

Have you ever been to London before? You'll have such an excellent time there, there are so many things to see. I'd personally recommend the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum for fun for Kids, although Andrew is a little young to appreciate it fully yet there is still lots to see and do there. For shopping go to Oxford Street and Covent Garden, Carnaby Street for really cool up to the minute stuff (I haven't been there since I was 17 though lol).

No idea on Yarn shops though - my great aunt would know but unfortunately she's not on email.

Let me know whether the Friday or the Saturday is best for you to meet up and I'll sort it out.

[mamapez]

I've been to England once before when I was a teenager with my mom and brother. We stayed in London for a couple of days, but mostly travelled the countryside visit relatives (other side of the family from the relatives I'm visiting this time). We saw the palace, the changing of the guard (my brother and I worked super hard to get the guard to break his stance and he finally stuck his tongue out at us - he had the last laugh, though, as my brother had the lens cap still on the camera :bang), Big Ben, Harrod's, a live performance of "Comedy of Errors", and the movie "Dick Tracy" (of all things :rolleyes:) That is about all I remember of London. Oh yeah, and our cab driver drove over sidewalks. :LOL
Thank you for the suggestions - I shall take them with me. :bigups:
As far as meeting up - I don't have a clue which day is better - maybe we should get together both days. ;) How about we go with the day that is better for you, and I'll let you know how we are settling in when we arrive? :)

[Ruth]

Cool, give me a call. You've driven me to researching yarn shops in Manchester too so I might have to meet you there as well lol.

[pmcgary]

All right now I have to figure out a way to come to England myself......HOw to stow away in Amy's suitcase???(Might be a trick to do from Kansas!)

And Amy....when you come to Lawrence there will be no comparision to England I am sure (Although since it is a collge town there will be a pub or two)

[mamapez]

Ruth,
I think we will be staying in or near Stoke, it didn't sound like we will be having too much time in Manchester like I thought.
Any requests for things from America? You know like KA? Golden Gate keychains? ;)
Also, I can bring Patti's addis back with me. :D Anyone else have any addi requests whilst I'm there (did I use whilst correctly? I am trying speak English for the trip. :LOL)?

[Ruth]

The lys in Stoke has addis but not in every size last time I was there. Yes, fill a small suitcase with ka for me but leave the golden gate keyrings behind please lol.