Runnin Runnin

Mansfield, England June 24-29, 2009

The next stop on my European tour took me far up north, to the London Luton airport. As with many instances during travel, things didn't go as smoothly as planned.

I had booked one night at a Travel Lodge "near" the hotel, and after taking the cab from the airport to the hotel, I knew I wasn't in the cheap confines of India anymore (as it was, the progression from Turkey to Greece than the UK had steadily prepared me for increasing costs of goods and services). After wincing and handing over my cab fare, I tried to enter the hotel, but with no luck. A young couple was also trying to get in, and soon another guest came out and said the hotel was closed because of water damage. Being 11 p.m., in a new country after a four hour flight, it wasn't what I wanted to hear. Eventually though, an employee came and opened the door and informed us we would be moved to a new Travel Lodge. Fair enough, and after some more waiting around, and our cabbie getting lost on the way, I finally found my way to a bed around 1 a.m.

The next day I took a taxi to the train station (which was right near the airport) and was ridiculously early. Being so early, one would think I would have enough time to figure out how to board the train.

However, I learned a valuable lesson: the train comes and the doors only open for about 30 seconds, and close, and don't open again. I was trying to be a "good passenger" and go to the carriage where my seat was labeled. Needless to say, I was too slow, and the doors closed despite my banging on them. Defeated, I stepped back and the train sped of.

How I managed to navigate around India, Nepal, and Turkey and then mess up in the UK was beyond me, and at the same time, hilarious.

After talking to a very helpful train station employee, I waited two more hours (because the next train was cancelled) and finally boarded (quickly this time) my train to Nottingham. I met a man on the train, in his late 50s, who told me both his daughters had traveled a lot like I was doing, and that really taking this kind of time out to explore is an investment in one's self. I couldn't agree with him more, though it made me think perhaps it was easier to justify the money I spent on fun in Turkey and Greece...

In Nottingham I hooked up with my friends Anne and Ed that I met in Southern India. Friday morning after a short run, we headed to Sherwood Forest to see Robin Hood's tree and, naturally, have a picnic near it.

Stylin' in Robin's hood

Seriously I was there.

Ed's mom was gracious enough to put us up for a few days, and it was really nice to be in a house again, watch TV, and have home cooked meals. The next day we headed off for a big "surprise" as Ed had told us. It turned out that a new museum was being dedicated near Mansfield and Sir David Attenborough, who is the famous host of the BBC Natural History documentaires the Life Collections, was speaking. I had only been privvy to Sir David's excellence the day before, but Ed and Anne were long time fans. After the dedication we also got to see Robin Hood's Cave (the man was all OVER this area) and I had my first ever English scones with jam and cream, and loved them.

Sir David holla-ing.

Mansfield countryside.

Later, we did a driving tour of Mansfield which culminated (for me) in the successful find of the last Twilight book. We also stopped for more tea, which Senor definitely enjoyed.

All four of us are in this pic.

The next day was the defining moment for the weekend though; our half-marathon. At the end of our Southern India tour, Ed had suggested that we go up to Mansfield and run a half marathon with him, as he wanted to get in shape before he moved to Argentina to be with his girlfriend. At the time I had been eating my way through Southern India and I was open to the idea, and once I realized it fit perfectly into my European Adventure, agreed, and we got Anne to go along with it.

We woke to a perfect morning for a race; cloudy, cool (around 55 Farenheit) and little wind. Stretched out, we made it over the start, and despite my lack of regular training, we all went for it, and I surprisingly did better than my 2006 half marathon time (though by only 5 minutes, and my 2006 half marathon was at altitude, and this one was at sea level). Regardless, we all did awesome, and had some afternoon beers to celebrate.

Me, Anne, Ed's Friend and Ed pre-race.

This guy totally beat me.

Showing off the high-five.

Ed and I in post-race glory.

After the race Anne had to head back to Northern Ireland and go do dentist-ly things and the next day I again boarded a plane, but this time to a place I had been looking forward to going to for a very long time, a land of dark beer, great accents, and men with red beards: Dublin.