Swan Tower - I'M GOING TO ENGLAND!!!!!

Apr. 10th, 2007

12:30 am - I'M GOING TO ENGLAND!!!!!

London, mostly. But also a jaunt up to Derbyshire to see Hardwick House. There's probably an Elizabethan manor closer to London, but I'm not sure I can pass up the chance to see Bess of Hardwick's actual house.

I'M GOING TO ENGLAND!!!!!

I realized a moment ago that I haven't been out of the country since 2002. Which necessitates the world's smallest violin playing for me -- oh, woe is her; she's twenty-six and she's only been to the British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, England, Ireland, Israel, and Japan -- but it's a bit sad to trade approximately once-a-year overseas trips for multiple-times-a-year domestic trips, especially when the domestic trips mostly mean the hotel the conference or convention is in.

So, yeah. May 22nd to May 29th, flying out of Chicago, so buzzermccain, if you've got Internet access again, be warned that I'll be taking you up on that crash space.

I'M GOING TO ENGLAND!!!!!

Edited to add: Okay, so, trying to type a post while on the phone with kurayami_hime doesn't work so well. I should clarify that I am going to England as research for Midnight Never Come, not that you all probably didn't guess that anyway. I'm going for a week, and will spend most of the time in Central London, Westminster, and Southwark, with the aforementioned jaunt to Bess of Hardwick's house, and things like a riverboat trip to Hampton Court Palace, which still has some Tudor-period architecture left, though not much. (On the other hand, it means I get to float down the Thames. Yay!) Anyway, I'll post more details about my exact plans when I have them more concretely formed. Right now, I'm still giddy. ^_^

I'M GOING TO ENGLAND!!!!!

Tags: london trip, memento, midnight never come, novels, research, travel, writing

(37 comments | Leave a comment)

Comments:

From:	zellandyne
Date:	April 10th, 2007 04:42 am (UTC)

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awesome!

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From:	swan_tower
Date:	April 10th, 2007 05:10 am (UTC)

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Indeed. After running a year-long game set there . . . man, I haven't been to London since I was seventeen. Not unless you count two overnight stays when on my way to and from Cas Hen, which doesn't qualify since all I saw was my lodging and the Tube between it and the train station/airport -- and even that was seven years ago. I hardly knew the city when I was there. Now that I know it better, I can't wait to go back.

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From:	danielmc
Date:	April 10th, 2007 04:45 am (UTC)

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fantastic!
(and yeah. small violin for me too. 2002. Amsterdan and Paris.)
cool and w00t! for yous!

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From:	swan_tower
Date:	April 10th, 2007 05:11 am (UTC)

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I'd love to go new places, too -- but this one counts as a business expense. ^_^

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From:	oddsboy
Date:	April 10th, 2007 05:01 am (UTC)

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Yaaaay!

Bring me back a raven. Or a beefeater. Or raven drinking beefeater's. Or a...wait, a beefeater drinking a raven? Now I'm confused.

-RC

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From:	swan_tower
Date:	April 10th, 2007 05:12 am (UTC)

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I shall bring back a drunk chimerical raven in a beefeater's costume.

. . . wow, the raven service would peck out my eyes for the very thought, let alone any attempt to make good on it.

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From:	moonandserpent
Date:	April 10th, 2007 02:49 pm (UTC)

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I'm with oddsboy on this one.

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From:	swan_tower
Date:	April 10th, 2007 02:55 pm (UTC)

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I was going to say, "you're confused, or you want a raven?" Then I looked at your comment here and saw the icon.

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From:	ninja_turbo
Date:	April 10th, 2007 05:56 am (UTC)

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Hurray! Gotta love that novel researching. I hope you get all the sweet sweet Londonicity you need for Midnight Never Come.

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From:	swan_tower
Date:	April 10th, 2007 01:17 pm (UTC)

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This is going to be the first time I've really made use of the tax-deductability of research.

It helps take a bit of sting out of the price. ^_^ Though I did manage to find a pretty cheap flight.

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From:	sapphohestia
Date:	April 10th, 2007 11:24 am (UTC)

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Woot! Congratulations. Would you like me to bring out my Eyewitness Guides to London & to Great Britain for travel planning purposes? I might also be able to dig up the B & B my mom and I stayed it. It was fairly cheap and had a decent breakfast.

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From:	swan_tower
Date:	April 10th, 2007 01:18 pm (UTC)

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I'll look them over, sure, though I have an Insight guide on hand, too. And I would take a look at the B&B depending on where it's located. I've also contacted a youth hostel already; they aren't the cheapest out there (twenty-five pounds a night), but they're also spitting distance from St. Paul's.

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From:	sapphohestia
Date:	April 10th, 2007 02:54 pm (UTC)

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According to my dad, this is the "in (er, inn?) - spot" among the English faculty at OU:

The St. Margaret's Hotel on Bedford Place in Bloomsbury is
two blocks from the British Museum, and just a hundred yards from
Russell Square (where T.S. Eliot worked at Lloyd's Bank). Russell Square
also has a "Tube" station, conveniently. It's more pricey than the hostel, but it might be worth it. Be a bit wary with finding the cheapest hostels: some are pretty nasty and a London trip shouldn't be spoiled with worries over bedbugs, loud roommates, and theft of any property you don't carry on you and any food that you leave unsecured.

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From:	swan_tower
Date:	April 10th, 2007 02:56 pm (UTC)

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This isn't a really cheap place, and it's a part of a big network of hostels, which is usually a good sign. And I can't beat the location, so I'll probably be staying there, instead.

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From:	moonartemis76
Date:	April 10th, 2007 12:05 pm (UTC)

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I'm so glad you get to go!

Take a picture of The Round for me if you see it?

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From:	swan_tower
Date:	April 10th, 2007 01:18 pm (UTC)

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Oh yeah. ^_^

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From:	ratmmjess
Date:	April 10th, 2007 12:06 pm (UTC)

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I've gone at least once a year since 2001, all for research trips for books. And every time, I get excited. ENGLAND!

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From:	swan_tower
Date:	April 10th, 2007 01:19 pm (UTC)

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Lucky dog. When I stopped doing archaeology and shifted over to American pop culture for anthro, I stopped getting to travel cool places.

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From:	ratmmjess
Date:	April 10th, 2007 02:10 pm (UTC)

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Oh, the school won't pay for my trips--I pay for them myself, usually out of my royalties.

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From:	swan_tower
Date:	April 10th, 2007 02:24 pm (UTC)

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School never paid for mine, either, though I will admit that quite a few were subsidized by my parents, as part of my education. (Not Ireland or Japan, though.) It's more that a) local trips eat up my budget and b) I mostly don't have any justification for going out of the country, other than wanting a holiday. I wouldn't be dropping a thousand dollars on this if I couldn't tell myself it's for a good reason.

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From:	ratmmjess
Date:	April 10th, 2007 02:38 pm (UTC)

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Research is always in a good cause. *g* (Plus the cost of the trip is tax-deductible, which helps).

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From:	swan_tower
Date:	April 10th, 2007 02:41 pm (UTC)

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Exactly! It's still a big hit of money, but it will mean a lesser hit come tax-time next year.

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From:	ratmmjess
Date:	April 10th, 2007 02:47 pm (UTC)

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My London trip last December meant the difference between paying the gvt and getting paid, and I'm all over that.

It's practically the only good part of the dollar being so weak right now, but at least there is a good part.

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From:	d_c_m
Date:	April 10th, 2007 12:06 pm (UTC)

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YAY!! I am total Anglophile so hooray for you!!! Enjoy!!!!

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From:	swan_tower
Date:	April 10th, 2007 01:20 pm (UTC)

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I'm a mostplacesphile, really, but England especially since setting Memento there.

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From:	d_c_m
Date:	April 10th, 2007 02:40 pm (UTC)

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I was thinking on the way to work that perhaps you are being drawn there by Invidia (name?) herself! In short, do not be surprised if you meet her!

So cool.

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From:	swan_tower
Date:	April 10th, 2007 02:42 pm (UTC)

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Uh, I don't want to meet Invidiana . . . .

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From:	d_c_m
Date:	April 10th, 2007 02:57 pm (UTC)

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Hee hee heeee.... But does she want to meet you?

Quick!! Write-up an invincible weapon card and bring it with you. If stopped by the police who will ask for an explanation of said card, well, uh yeah. Good luck with that. ;)

Though I am probably full of it, it would not surprise me if this story was pulling you back there for some reason, be it big or small. In short, I simply can't wait to hear all about it.

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From:	unforth
Date:	April 10th, 2007 12:25 pm (UTC)

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Woot! Have fun! That'll be awesome! :)

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From:	swan_tower
Date:	April 10th, 2007 01:20 pm (UTC)

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<bouncittybouncittybouncebounce>

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From:	danielmc
Date:	April 10th, 2007 03:19 pm (UTC)

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heh. i want to officially make the above a new XHTML tag.

for tiggers specifically.
:)

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From:	unforth
Date:	April 10th, 2007 05:16 pm (UTC)

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Indeed.

I'm mildly jealous, I haven't been out of the country since 2000...my violin is a little bigger than yours, though not much - London in 1999 and London & Paris in 2000...but no where else ever unless you count Canada...my mom's talking about Japan again, though, which makes me happy - it means she feels well enough to finally deliver the trip I've been promised since 2003 (two weeks to a month+ in Japan). ;)

While people are making requests, then, think of me if you make it to that National Gallery...I majorly love the National Gallery...

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From:	swan_tower
Date:	April 10th, 2007 06:06 pm (UTC)

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I don't know that I'll get there, since I'm going to be focusing intensively on Tudor-period sites, but we'll see.

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From:	sartorias
Date:	April 10th, 2007 04:13 pm (UTC)

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I am hoping you will describe lots and post pix!

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From:	swan_tower
Date:	April 10th, 2007 04:17 pm (UTC)

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Absolutely! I have a digital camera, so I'll be taking crap-tons of reference photos, some of which may also be decent photos from an aesthetic point of view. And I intend to keep a detailed journal, especially of my physical impressions of the city.

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From:	sartorias
Date:	April 10th, 2007 04:20 pm (UTC)

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*rubbing hands*

I haven't been there since '75, alas, and so I really look forward to your shared experiences.

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From:	swan_tower
Date:	April 10th, 2007 06:05 pm (UTC)

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And here I was feeling sorry for myself, not having been there since 2000 (or really 1998). <g>

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