Fjord Moose: Mrs. Thing Grows a Pair

No, I haven't had breast enlargement surgery.

I screwed up my courage and *told* Mr. Thing I was going to England. I still can't believe I did it, but I did, and he grumpily agreed! I was all prepared for a row, but he just acquiesced!

I'M GOING TO THE SHOW!!!

I still have to make my reservations, and most importantly, I have to get a ticket. Does anybody know about eBay sellers? Can you trust the ratings? Somebody's offering a pair of ROW 4 in the stalls for £75 (£32.50 each). There are no obstructed views in Row 4. That seems too good to be true--I paid £39.99 for my Row P seat last May. Someone else is offering 3 seats in Row K, but they want nearly $200! That's too much. But...I have to get a ticket. Anybody got any good ideas?

Take the row 4 one!!!!!!!11!!1!!!eleven!!

I'm in bed. It's midnight and Val tweeted me to come on the forum. I take it this is why. Go with row 4. Congrats. Goodnight.

?? I'm sorry, Loz, didn't mean to wake you up. I thought you were awake and...well, I never bought anything on Ebay, thought you might know if the sellers are reliable. Anf. Made a mistake. Sorry.

Oh the sellers are reliable. Mcbeanhead bought her ticket off there. Do it through paypal if you can - that way you can report them if things go wrong (they won't though)

Maybe you can buy only one?

Yessss, you're coming!

Now I have to work out hotels. I think I'm going to go back to London after the show, then go up to Nottingham on Saturday, and maybe stay there or just commute back and forth from London. If I buy my British Rail passes in advance, I can get them for 4 pounds each.

Is it safe to travel British Rail very late on a Friday night? Anyone want to recommend hotels in London, Oxford, or Nottingham? What's fun to do in London if I only have one day there?

How do people dress for shows like this? Like, going to church dressy? Going to work dressy? Casual but neat? Nobody dresses up for anything in my neck of the woods.

Oh god, I hope I don't make a total ass of myself. (I'm doing it now, aren't I? Oh well...)

I'm okay with making this an "in the moment" kind of adventure, but if anyone has any advice for me, PLEASE do pass it along.

How many of us are attending altogether?

I'm so excited! I can hardly sit still! I'm going to have to get a hold of myself. This sort of behavior won't do in England, I don't think.

I'm really good at that. I could probably just sit on a park bench for a few hours looking around. Maybe I'll do that on Thursday if I'm not vertiginous from the flight. Wander around some park somewhere, take pictures of ducks. Wander down streets taking pictures of architecture. Wander into old churches. Wander into Harrod's...I don't know.

I want to bring back souvenirs for Mr. and Miss Thing.

Well London has some gorgeous parks - off the top of my head, there's of course Hyde Park, there's Battersea Park, Regent's Park, Holland Park, St. James Park... I loved them all. St. James, Hyde and Battersea had a lot of ducks.

If you just want to walk around, my friend and I took a walk from Trafalgar Sq. through the Strand and Fleet Street, all the way to St. Paul's cathedral, and it was a very nice walk. Some lovely buildings there.

And I got most of my presents from markets - I think you'll like Portobello, it's full of beautiful antiques and trinkets. Camden is a bit more for the younger crowds - tourist memorabilia, T-shirts, gothic clothing... There's also a great market on Brick Ln that carries some interesting things - it's more artistic than the others, it's mostly hand-made things.

God I wanna go back.

My English friend offered me a map of London (for walking) and a map of the tube. She was so happy for me! I'll take her maps, even if I can't use them--they're probably about 5 years old.

She offered me some British money, but I turned that down. On second thought, though, it might be good to have a bit of British cash on hand. I could give her a check for the equivalent in US $. Do ATM cards work in other countries? Should I get some money changed before I leave?

I'm so ignorant!

The tube has barely changed since they built it back in the 19s, which is both incredible - how they knew to completely map out every major junction in the city, in a way that's still relevant today - and horrible, considering there's barely any ventilation and that they constantly have to renovate it. But the subway in NY is worse.

If your card is international, you should be able to draw some money there, with some sort of a commission. It's best to just exchange some money at home before you leave - estimate how much you'll need, and take your card for emergencies or if you run out (assuming it's international...). In any case, you should take some small bills with you, at least, for the ride from the airport and everything... Though you can use credit cards pretty much everywhere nowadays. Esp. in such a touristy place.

We used a travel book and it made all the difference. I think it's great, esp. if you travel alone. They usually suggest routes to take too, with sites on the way.

What book did you use, Possum?

I've booked a nice-looking B&B for Oxford for the night of the show. It's about 2 miles from the theatre, so it's an easy walk or a short bus ride if it's raining.

*Note to self: don't forget raincoat.

Zelda, I plan to spend much of Thursday keeping myself awake by wandering around London, or perhaps taking the bus. I often have a blast just doing stuff on the fly--hop on a bus if it looks like it might be going some place interesting. Some taxi driver or bus driver will know where my hotel is when I need to check in.

YAHHHOOOOOO. MrsThing is coming!:-))))

I'm really good at doing that, and being in a new place makes it much worse. Fun if you don't mind
wandering aimlessly; upsetting if you need to be somewhere at a certain time and get confused.

I'm exactly the same, Mrs. T!

We used Lonely Planet, and another one from this Rick guy, I think...

Probably plastered against the nose of a low-flying airplane!

I will be travelling back to London by train on Friday night, Mrs. Thing! As I said on Facebook, if you want a guide to show you around London I will be available! (If you want, that is!)