British Reflections

Even though this blog is supposed to be about our time in Mexico, Dave & I are just wrapping up a 2 week vacation in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Ireland. It's the longest vacation we've ever taken together, and we had a great time! We also learned a lot from vacationing in a place that's NOT mexico!

How to know you're in the UK (and/or Ireland):
1. All the signs are in English, but you can't understand anything that anyone is saying. hmmm.
2. 30C/ 90F is an "extremely dangerous heat wave". no joke.
3. Trinny and Susannah (the british 'what not to wear' ladies) were exactly right about British women: they wear entirely too much black. Even in the aforementioned heat wave, they were often wearing black leggings, black stockings, black blazers, etc. even with pastel cotton sundresses. Men were also wearing black suits with long sleeved shirts, leather shoes, and wool socks. Hasn't anyone here heard of khakis??!!
4. Most of the country looks like a United Colors of Benneton ad.
White people are really really white. Bc of the extreme heat, kids were running around in swimsuits (no joke) and adults were taking off as much (black) clothing as possible. No tan lines, no strap lines, no farmers tans, no bronzing, no fake tans, nothing. Just massive, unashamed whiteness.
Black people are really really black. Perhaps bc they're surrounded by such whiteness, they just look blacker, but I think it's bc so many of them are actually immigrants from the Carribean or Africa. Very black.
Indians are actual indians. From india. And, yes, they sound kinda like the guy on the simpsons.
5. They are very "green" here. Low flow toilets & showers, recycling bins, cloth bags and tap water, hybrid buses.
6. Truth in advertising. Special K commericals in the states claim you can lose 8 pounds in 2 weeks. I don't know anyone who's done it, but that's what the ad says. Here, the exact same ad says, "see if you can lose weight with special K". much more honest, yes? And food labels have to state if anything inside is artificial, genetically modified, or otherwise possibly harmful for you. This means a lot more healthy food available everywhere.
7. Homeless people there smell not so bad. And there's very few of them. Most of the homeless we saw (except for central london after dark) looked, well, kinda like us!
8. The days were really long. As in, most days we missed both sunset & sunrise bc they happened while we were in bed! Dave had to remind me how far north the UK is - even much farther north than our home in Michigan.

How to know that you're not in Mexico (except for the English signs): the roads
- they're very clean, almost completely free of litter.
- people follow traffic laws. even when there are no police around. and the drivers are actually pleasant to one another and considerate to pedestrians.

Another amazing insight from our trip:
Trains are a much better way to travel than planes. More room, less hassle, more sensible security policies, better view, cheaper price. We need more in the US.

Check out our pics on dropshots in a few days!