Definitely one of our favorite views in the UK. The harbor at Tenby, Wales.
When we were both working our vacations were at most three weeks long, and were in search of new places and new experiences. Now that we’re in our fourth year of constant travel we still love new places and experiences but also love to revisit familiar places.
Arriving from Norwich to London, Liverpool Street Station. And back with our good friends Erik and Hannah in Tenby Wales. One of our happy familiar places.Coast walks from Tenby are stunning.Two handsome men and a lovely view.Headed to lunch in Laugharne which is famous for being Dylan Thomas’s home for the last four years of his life.The garage of the boat house, where Thomas wrote a lot of his most famous works.It’s set up as if he walked away for a cup of tea. He died while on tour in New York City, so in a way, he did just walk away.The boat house. It’s a small museum.I requested that the guys look “moody and poetic”. Rich is used to my requests, Erik laughed! I first visited Laugharne in 1984 or so, it’s nice to see that Dylan Thomas’s popularity is still strong.Laugharne Castle. Such an imposing site. Such a tough place to find on the map when you’re looking for “Larn”.Rich packed up and ready to leave Tenby.
After a delightful stay in Tenby we headed off to Bristol, another of our favorite UK cities. This was our third stay in Bristol. It’s always fun to chat to a local and see their sometimes puzzled delight over our love of Bristol. It’s an easy train ride from Tenby, and easy to get back to London from Bristol, thanks to the Great Western Railway which linked London and Bristol in 1841. Engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Yes, we are fans of his work and highly recommend the SS Great Britain museum ship, which he also designed.
Bristol Temple Mead station. Plenty of bikes in Bristol.A swan and a view over the Floating Harbor, a lock controlled off shoot of the tidal River Avon created in 1809.Homages to Brunel are many in Bristol!The hydraulic equipment at Underfall Yard Visitor Centre, which explores and explains the elegant engineering behind the Floating Harbor, and its importance in the development of Bristol.Artsy shot out of the historic building.It wouldn’t be a trip to Bristol without a visit to a Banksy artwork.And, like a magnet pulling us in.The Bag O’Nails pub. My favorite pub. Another must visit place for us.The cats of the Bag O’Nails pub.Pub patrons trying to seem uninterested in the cats.The cats truly uninterested in the pub patrons.Just minding my own business by the record player.Gotcha! Lured in by my wool sweater and scarf and spot near the heater. I failed to look nonchalant when this cat graced me with their presence.The Left Handed Giant pub, another favorite of ours.Sometimes it was also a bit cold inside the pubs.The ceiling of The Cornubia pub. Horse brasses and beer mats. Yes, a lot of pub visits.It was not cold inside the Cornubia. My favorite pub fire so far. Clean burning coal. Wood fires not allowed in that area, the bartender said, but clean burning coal is ok.We took the train to Bath to go for a walk in the hills.The Bath Skyline Trail.A break on a well placed bench.Snow hanging on thanks to the cold weather.
We take as many opportunities as we can to meet up with friends, so we shoved off from Bristol towards Hastings, where friends from London had recently moved.
Charing Cross Station, London. On our way to Hastings. Nice digital departure board.British seaside towns. Love them. They share similarities but are all so different.The covered promenade with the Hastings pier in the background.What does this British seaside town have that no other one does? Our friends Joe and Justina!We had a great walking tour of Hastings. A lovely town well worth visiting. Up on the East Hill.The net shops on the harbor. Where fisherfolk store their equipment and hang their nets to dry. From above the tall narrow black buildings look like toys or monopoly houses.And no day is complete without a pub stop, this time at The Clown.And after an easy train ride, back in London for a few days.The modern skyline in the glorious winter sunshine.I love the juxtaposition of the Tower of London and the Shard. It was a super cold and still morning, the reflection of the bridge in the river caught our attention.Frost on the river walk, and slightly hazy air made the view soft focus and golden.We were staying right near Spitalfields and the view of City of London with the old buildings in the foreground was captivating.Modern buildings looming over old buildings.Museum of the Home, located in a row of old almshouses. Loved the Rooms Through Time exhibit, the evolution of London dwellings from 1630 to present. Dinner date with young friends who recently moved to London.
When we were in Lyon on our way to Paris we caught an arts update on TV which mentioned the Tim Burton exhibit in London. We quickly booked tickets for our last day in the UK. So glad we did. Our two London museum visits, Museum of the Home and the Tim Burton exhibit couldn’t have been more different. Where one dealt with the practicalities of home, changing styles of furniture and social interaction, the other was the products of one man’s talent and creativity.
Recreated office, the desk blotter doodles were fantastic.I wasn’t aware what a talented artist he is.Obligatory selfie set up.Many of the movie sets and costumes had signs not to photograph them. This Nightmare before Christmas-esque mobil and wallpaper had no such sign.
I’ve been having a hard time with this blog post. We flew from London to Chicago, saw our good friends Michelle and Alan – I have no pictures! – and Rich’s birth mom. From Chicago it was off to Grand Junction Colorado to see my Mom and Sister and Niece, very few pictures. Then Seattle, then San Francisco.
Lori looking out the window on January 20th, 2025.
A lot of Americans will understand the trepidation we were feeling, trepidation that has proved correct. It feels frivolous to do anything but focus on the state of the nation. Watch the news? Keep the news at bay? Focus on family and friends? Yes, that.
Winter hiking near Fruita, Co.My Mom. Seattle with our favorite Pacific Northwesters. Northwesterns? Cecily and Christine.
41 months. That’s how long we’ve been traveling since selling our place in San Francisco. So many amazing places and wonderful people. Many hotel rooms, wonderful house and pet sits, pensions, apartments. We both realized this winter that we are ready to have a place to call our own. Spring our stuff from storage and move it into our own space. We still intend to travel a lot, but we’ll be able to go home. Cook in our own kitchen. Sleep in our own bed. Host guests! Have parties!
Sutro Tower in San Francisco and the Happy Travelers.
But first we head off to Taipei and then Indonesia. The house hunting can wait until we return to the US in the summer. Stay tuned!
After decades of living and working in wonderful San Francisco we gave it all up to travel the world. Not owning a car allowed us to save money and live hyper-locally. Now we’re living around the globe. Follow along to see where we are and what cats I manage to pet.
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2 thoughts on “UK to USA.”
Lovely images of the UK! Sorry we missed you while you were back in SF, but looking forward to your eventual return.
In the meantime, as your travel to Taiwan and beyond, here are two very worthy reads: one from a more, global, vs. strictly U.S.-centric perspective and with actual context (often missing in our mainstream media’s binary, conflict-driven coverage that forces false equivalences in the deluded pursuit of ‘balance’ when we are not dealing with apples and oranges, but rather apples and ordinances).
Thank you! We’re a bit nervous about how Americans will be welcomed in this new world of lack of empathy US towards the world. We find people are good at separating individuals from their governments, but we’ll see. Sorry we missed you, but we’ll be back this summer!
Less Car, More Life 
Lovely images of the UK! Sorry we missed you while you were back in SF, but looking forward to your eventual return.
In the meantime, as your travel to Taiwan and beyond, here are two very worthy reads: one from a more, global, vs. strictly U.S.-centric perspective and with actual context (often missing in our mainstream media’s binary, conflict-driven coverage that forces false equivalences in the deluded pursuit of ‘balance’ when we are not dealing with apples and oranges, but rather apples and ordinances).
https://www.readthedetox.com/p/trump-can-be-stopped
and
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/trump-musk-public-opinion-poll-action-1235258276?utm_source=edit-vip
Safe and fun travels!
Thank you! We’re a bit nervous about how Americans will be welcomed in this new world of lack of empathy US towards the world. We find people are good at separating individuals from their governments, but we’ll see. Sorry we missed you, but we’ll be back this summer!