Delirious

More please. And Ron: buzz off.

flanneruk

Continuing the "perspective" theme.

This all reads as if you were travelling on August 31. People in my village are still reeeling from the widespread, prolonged, disruption the murder caused. It's the second such incident on this line in a month.

Although it's macabre, you might find the full awful story (the murderer was pregnant and killed her two living children as well as her unborn child and herself) puts everything else into even sharper perspective.

Go and follow the links - but only when you're confident you can cope - at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1770

starspinners

Marilyn,
What an inauspicious beginning to what is surely going to turn out to be a fabulous trip .
When I read about your luggage that had AA had sent flitting off to who-knows-where... I was imagining a tall man arriving at the very posh Burj Al Arab in Dubai and discovering he had your suitcase. Your perfect new jeans would be pedal pushers on him, but at least he would have been happy in the knowledge that he'd gained an irreplaceable Japanese scarf.

I do hope someone is fetching a fresh cocktail for you right this moment and I hope you are nestled in a comfy chair with your bruised foot propped up on a stool.
I'm looking forward to your report about the local life in Totnes.
The one time I was near Totnes I didn't have an opportunity to explore the town because I needed to get on to Plymouth to meet up with a friend.

alya

OMG FlannerUK, that is such a dreadful story!

I thought Marilyn summed it up rather well:

“Now, first of all, what a horribly unpleasant way to kill yourself. And next, what a nasty act of aggression: the train engineer has to live with having killed someone for the rest of his life, your family and friends have to live with the mental image of your mutilated body, and you inconvenience thousands of innocent travelers just trying to get about their lives. I urge you, if you must do it, for goodness sake find a more considerate way of offing yourself!”

But to realize that children were involved as well, that driver must be in such a state.

Marilyn, makes the lost luggage such a minor hitch doesn't it? Have a wonderful time, post ASAP - we need humor around here

sandi_travelnut

ron - trial and tribulations are a part of travel and can easily be part of whatever kind of trip report you wish to post. Some people just have the facts with no personality. Obviously, this is the first installment and the part about her real vacation will begin.

If you don't like her writing style, stop reading and move on. I personally like to see how others move above and beyond things that could normally sour an entire trip.

eliztrav

Great report, but I do hope your trip proceeds under a better star!

How odd. When I was in Reading a couple of years ago, I travelled a bit in the area & one night, after dinner in Oxford, went to take the train back to Reading. It was delayed because...you guessed it....some guy decided to throw himself in front of a train on that track near Reading.

beachbum

Thanks for a fun read, Marilyn. Keep it comin'. And I trust at the end of it all, you'll provide a link to Phil Flash's photo journal as well. Did he have the camera out on the JFK transfer?

Scarlett

flanner, that is truly horrible and tragic. . and raises so many questions.

Marilyn, I would rather read your trials and tribulations any day, somehow yours are much more fun than mine or most peoples

Tiff

Dearest Marilyn,

How was I to know? You and I share a passion for the art of sarcasm. Darling, sometimes it is indeed the ONLY thing that gets you through, and I applaud your beautiful sense of sarcastic humor.

Thanks for taking us along for the ride.

Now continue typing, please.

Cheers! Tiff

EmBee

Cant wait to hear more!! Isnt it extraordinary how we find other people's disasters so amusing!

Surely, it can only improve!!

I love the way you write Marilyn and your sense of humour is admirable under the circumstances.

I wish you happy travelling from here
on.

Tiff

Oh, that is fabulous news, glad you have your knickers now!

gualalalisa

Marilyn: Sending hugs and good thoughts from Gualala - GREAT trip report - you should be writing for Conde Nast.

Am so glad you got your luggage - keep us posted!!

LoveItaly

I bet between enjoying her much needed cocktails and admiring the contents of her "lost" luggage she won't have time to write to us

Take care of that foot of yours Marilyn! Big hugs.

Marilyn

flanneruk, when the suicide occurred on the rail line we did learn of a similar event just a week before. It is really such an awful story – I hope you understand why I did not want to go into the gruesome details in what I hoped would be a humorous report. (eliztravel, what an astounding coincidence!)

Jet lag must have fried my brain. Despite what I wrote above, we did not travel on Labor Day Monday, but on Tuesday the 6th. We arrived at Heathrow on Wed the 7th and my luggage arrived today, Thursday the 8th. Sorry ‘bout that. (Faina, the conference isn’t until next week.)

“Don't you love it when you splurge to do everything right and everything falls apart?” Patrick, that’s exactly it! Any one of these disappointments wouldn’t really bear mentioning, but when one little thing after another kept going wrong on this supposedly deluxe trip, it became quite a saga.

I have no doubt that we will have a great trip – we always do. These little inconveniences are minor compared to some of our travel horror stories, believe me. We usually manage to hang on to our sense of humor and our civility.

Thanks so much to all who expressed concern about my foot, but it seems to be perfectly fine. I plan to “road test” it tomorrow when we hike 2-1/2 miles each way to a winery for lunch and a tasting.

Will you hate me if I start a separate thread for Chapter 2? It might take a few days before I have a chance to write it.

Scarlett

No one will hate you no matter what you do. Start the Chapter anyway you want, just be sure to post it!!
Get well kisses for the foot. Big oaf!!
I think we should keep you traveling all the time so we can have such fun reading to keep us entertained and well behaved

Marilyn

Hey Scarlett, I like that idea! It's very late here but I'm still on Calfornia time and wide awake. I better down some melatonin and try to sleep.

OneWanderingJew

Ya know, Marilyn, if anyone else but you told of the annoyances and fiascos, it would sound like a whole lot of whining and -itching but w/you, it's hilarious

Love it! Can't wait til you get your fingers off your coctail and onto another keyboard

(And why don't you just add to this thread so lazy butts like mine don't have to search too hard? hehe)

Margie

Your writing style is funny and much welcomed after a week of sad news from the South. Ron, relax and laugh a little. Christina, did you used to tattle in school? I'm sure if this was an in-air situation where security was compromised Marilyn would have taken the appropriate action upon landing.

Can you keep you whole report together? If you post a new thread it might be hard for someone to read your about your entire trip.

Keep writing!

AJPeabody

Literature, that's what it is. Dickensian chapter title (what will she call chapter 2?) and the joy of reading about disasters tolerated with good grace.

Second installment eagerly awaited.

SandyBrit

Marilyn:

Count me as a new fan. I was laughing out loud at your troubles - sorry.

Can't wait to hear about Totnes and local stuff in general.

Glad your luggage arrived and foot is o.k.

I also vote for the second part to be added here. Much easier for some of us to find it.

Sandy