Calgary to England to Eastbourne

We are on our way to England and France.  First stop London then on to Eastbourne.  After a re-directed flight to Gatwick (no room for us at Heathrow, apparently 8 hours notice was not enough to ensure us a gate), then a nice 2 hour wait sitting on the tarmack in  Gatwick (luckily I had done the Air Canada meditation routine so I was able to have a nice relaxing lay down), a fill of precious jet fuel, we were again off to Heathrow, 15 minutes in the air, really:….we couldn’t get off?  It was an all inclusive, the longest flight and shortest flight, on the same plane, within 12 hours.

After finally arriving at Heathrow, the first order of business, we thought, was is to find out how we get to Eastbourne, train, bus, taxi, rental car?  However, there was a little voice telling us something completely different, a sandwich was in order, and was in order right now.  So not only are we looking for train and bus connections we also needed to find a sandwich.   This voice is the voice of my mother-in-law Gisele.  Talk about pressure!  We had a general idea as to how to get there, bus/taxi to the train station then the train, but, the internet and travel sites never really tell you anything, “clearly“.  You can plan all you want, but until you get there, and ask someone, you never know that there is always a better way.

Sandwiches and drinks in hand we got on the next bus to…Gatwick airport….seriously, we were just there!  A jump onto a packed train of commuters, and we were on our way to Eastbourne.  We passed cozy towns/villages/or whatever quaint name the English have coined, but was exactly what I expected to see.  We were on board with a lively Scot and Irishman.  I just wanted to get off and follow them all home.

Once in Eastbourne, we checked into our quaint little seaside hotel, and quickly were out and off to find somewhere for some pub food.  We were directed to the best place in town to eat.  An authentic pub that was 100 yards away. Now, we are tired from traveling for what seemed like a bazillion hours, which makes you feel a little on the drunk side before you even start, so off we go into the night with a map and instructions.

Of course we get out the door, and discover nobody has really understood (listened) to what she said, but we figured we could find it.  Not so much the case.  We wandered around and at one point decided to split up to go look.  Rick and I come back around the corner to discuss our findings to discover what we thought was to be our first casualty.  The wheelchair on its side, Gisele standing beside it, Brian on his knees and another couple leaning over it.  The tire had come off, and luckily the guy who stopped to help used to be an avid bike rider and fixed the tire right up, and gave us directions to the pub.

We shared a Steak and Kidney pie, (Steak YAY!, Kidney NAY!) with chips and peas.  Yummy, best pastry ever, chewy, crunchy, lots of sauce, and a few pints, it was a little bit of English heaven.

Day 2

Woke up ready to go, and with an Full English breakfast in us, who first thought of beans and fried tomatoes in the morning was genious.

First stop, the Dotto train.  We look for a train….not the case….it’s actually a vehicle disguised as a train.  These are the rides that are for the very young and old.  And we saw that it was filled today with the old.  We stopped for tea at the end of the ride, and Rick and I were very much the youngest people there.  Our enthusiastic Irish conductor later tells us that Eastbourne is nicknamed  “God’s Waiting Room”.  Not a suprising revelation!

We board a double decker bus tour to take us up to Beachyhead which has cliffs that have gorgeous walking trails, lovely views, and freaking high cliffs and edges that I’m pretty sure I would have jumped off just because I couldn’t stand it!

Also, we got a juicy tidbit from one of the conductors on our “train” that Beachyhead is known as the suicide capital of England. So many people jump off the cliff’s that taxi drivers are not allowed to take single people up there after dark.  A priest roams there at night, (which I find very creepy in itself, and may drive me to jump out of fear!)  and there is an emergency suicide help phone up there as well.  Which makes me more than ever want to call Ghost Hunters and ask them to get there EVP’s and ghost sensing equipment out there.  Can you imagine the spirits!  Yes Jenelle, I know you can!

Next day we are on the train to London, which is so exciting to get to a busy centre where there are people who are not as old as the hills around them!  We found our hotel which was in a great location, walked around a bit, but we were very tired and were just looking to relax a bit.  Nothing to much to tell today, just getting our bearings about where we are.  We had a snack at the hotel for dinner, but tonight we crashed early.