Holiday Tale

If you think about what a person brings back from a holiday, you can learn loads about them. First of all, there are the intangible things from a holiday like stories of experiences. Next? The pictures they do and don't take tell loads about someone. Then there is the "stuff" they bring back such as this little English pot and silver spoon I paid 10p for at a charity shop in Wales. Then.... Then, the laundry they bring back.  All of these things combined make up that person's "holiday tale."

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We returned last night from sixteen glorious and phenomenal days in England and Wales. We ate (and drank) WAY too much, explored, savored, ran for trains, got wet, got sunburned, got wind burned, got pampered, got shown amazing kindnesses, fulfilled dreams, met people, appreciated, absorbed new phrases, admired, drooled, felt grateful EVERY day, wished, hoped and promised to return... The time we were away whizzed by! We LOVED EVERY moment! 

The intangibles of our trip are so many... For me, it's the way the English, so very reserved, are so kind and loving. It's in the way you are treated from them having things in their home to eat and drink they know you love to the way a husband pats his wife's back. It's in the way they speak to each other and how they take time (we don't seem to in this country) to visit with each other whether that is in a pub or the supermarket. It's in the phrases they use like, 'Darlin' or 'Sweetie' or 'Bless you...' The English are a beautiful combination of indirectness, politeness, tradition and courtesy. 

The photos of our trip... Lord, the hundreds of photos! There are those we took "minding the gap" on the London Underground and those in red phone booths. There are the typical changing of the guard and Harrods and Camden Market pictures. We took a few at night with the Tower Bridge all lit up and also took several at sunset from the Walkie Talkie building on a spectacularly clear evening. A favorite place we saw was the Sunday Flower Market where the entire street is a celebration of Spring. We have photographs of lambs grazing along the cliff at Rhossili Bay in Wales and even taken from behind a waterfall in Wales. There are the pictures of Diagon Alley, Dumbledore's office and the Potions classroom from the Harry Potter Studio tour and those taken at a special folk park near the home of our friends on a Bank Holiday. We have pictures of sweeping hillsides and city scapes too. We have selfies galore and candid shots (which are always the best.)

The "stuff" we brought back was not much because the trip was not about that at all. Mostly, we brought back some foods to share with friends and give as gifts. Food is such a fantastic gift to give! It allows you to share a taste from your travel and that is pretty special don't you think, Dear Readers? The other benefit of bringing back food for someone special is that you don't add to their pile of "stuff" because they eat it and enjoy it and that's that.

The laundry? I am still digging out  of it! In fact, I am blogging while sitting on it! (Not really but that would be funny!)

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