Day 6: Blessings in disguise

We arose early on Day 6 to board the tube train back to London Heathrow. It was mostly uneventful. We had made all the tube connections Stephanie had printed for us, and even arrived early. At Heathrow, we picked up our bags from Left luggage and proceeded to line up at the Lufthansa check-in desk. We waited in line with dozens of other travellers. Thirty-five minutes later, we were in front of the Lufthansa agent. We presented our itinerary to her when things started to go wrong.

She asked us rather agitatedly, "Are you sure you are on this flight?".

I replied, "of course we are on this flight - it says right there on our itinerary!" (In actual fact, we had even checked our flight the day before at the Lufthansa ticket office.)

We were then told in no uncertain terms that our flight had been canceled due to fog and that indeed we were in the wrong line-up. Yes, I did say wrong. It was further implied to us that we should have heard the announcement broadcast over the PA system an hour ago, and that we were otherwise wasting her time. Apart from the fact that we weren't there an hour ago, attempting to hear an announcement in a crowded airport like Heathrow is a bit like trying to hear the take-out window clerk at a drive through intercom.

In short, we needed to stand in another 45 minute line-up and rebook our flight at the Lufthansa Ticket counter at the other side of the terminal. This presented a further logistics problem as my father-in-law who was still mid-flight from Vancouver to Düsseldorf had no means to know how to meet us now.

This was shaping up to be quite a travel nightmare, but instead of throwing up our hands in frustration, for some strange reason we began to see a number of blessings in disguise.

Blessing #1: Thank God for Sam!

One of the youth we had connected with back in 2003 was a fellow named Sam Leung. He is quite an interesting guy from Taunton. Because we did not know that he was now studying in London, we had not made plans to see him. He, however, upon hearing that we had arrived in London suggested that he could meet us for breakfast at Heathrow. We thought - what a great idea and consented. Our original plan was to pick up our luggage, check in, then have a nice sit-down breakfast with Sam before going through security.

However, when our plans took a turn, Sam happily blessed us. He helped us to remain calm through the ordeal. He looked after Erich for us. He helped us carry our numerous pieces of luggage as we snaked from one queue to another. Thanks to Karen, we even got to have breakfast after all, albeit take-away breakfast standing in a queue. All the while, we were still able to chat about how his life was going now.

In the end, Lufthansa decided to rebook us on an already full and very late flight to Cologne, Germany (we were due to arrive at Düsseldorf). It was so late in fact that after we had received our tickets we were told we were supposed to have checked our bags in 10 minutes ago! But Sam again went to the rescue taking our bags for us and standing in the check-in queue so as to expedite our check-in.

Both Karen and I remember thinking how God, in His infinite wisdom and timing had sent Sam to help us remember that God was in control.

Blessing #2: The two English gentlemen on the plane

After we rushed our bags through check-in, and rushed through security (we felt like we were on the Amazing Race), we finally breathed a sigh of relief as we walked onto the airplane and took our seats. An inspection of our assigned seats however indicated that we weren't seated together. Not wanting to subject too many of our fellow passengers to the restlessness of Erich, we decided we would ask if one of our seat mates would be willing to switch seats with us. Our immediate seat mate rudely told us no. However, the other seat mate decided he would bless us and kindly rearranged himself AND his colleague so that we could all sit together as a family. Now THAT is courteous!

Blessing in disguise #3: We lost our car seat

We arrived in Cologne as planned, and a shuttle bus took us into a secured building where we entered through German customs and immigration and collected our luggage. It seemed however that our car seat did not make it with us on the plane. We were dismayed at first, but then we realized this was yet another blessing in disguise. Not only would we not have to carry this on all the trains (we didn't really need it for the Germany leg of our trip), we would get it hand delivered to our destination in Bochum, Germany. As if this wasn't enough of a relief, losing the luggage also meant we got to visit Luthansa's lost baggage desk where the very nice lady filed our claim and allowed us to use her phone to contact my father in law. Had we not have 'lost' the car seat, we would have had to find our own way to the train station, and scrounge up enough cash to make a very expensive pay phone call.

Blessing #4: The two German girls at the train station

Our final blessing was in the form of good Samaritans who helped us in our train journey to Bochum. Because Hans, my father in law, was not there to greet us, we were forced to find our own way to Essen, a nearby city of Bochum. We used our very limited knowledge of the German language to try to find our way around. I got very used to saying: "Guten Tag, meine Deutches ist nicht gute. Ich mochte nach Essen gehen." or "Guten Tag, sprechen sie Englische?"


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The latter question was mostly met with either rehearsed and heavily accented answers or very polite "Nein". That is, until we met a pair of traveling German girls who just said "follow us!". I must admit that had these two girls been two menacing looking men, I might have had second thoughts about just blindly following them, but they seemed innocent enough and willing to help. They directed us to the nearest Hbf (main station) where we were able to find our way.

All in all, the lesson I learned this day was that all is not always as it seems when we choose to look for the blessings rather than the bad circumstances.

Day 5D: Visiting cousins

We ended our one day in London with an evening with Karen's cousin and his fiancee. Michael Ling, an accomplished (and very busy) London attorney took time out of his busy schedule to take us out to dinner as well as to let us stay the night in London. We enjoyed some very delicious Italian food at a local restaurant.

Stephanie (Michael's fiance) was also very kind to show us around the transport system so that we would be able to find our way back to Heathrow in the morning.

We were very grateful for their hospitality and particularly for hosting us that evening. Being able to stay in London that night helped us to get to Heathrow quickly in the morning.

Erich still remembers very well this evening, because every time I show the picture above (of the outside of their flat), he says "Michael's house".

Day 5C: Prime Mark of London

One of our UK friends suggested we take a look at Primark, a bargain clothing store, whilst in England. Karen has a knack for finding great deals on clothing, so she jumped at the chance to bargain hunt in the UK. Therefore, on our second half of our tour through London, Caroline took us to the nearest tube station where we would be able to get to Primark on Oxford Street.

By this time I had gotten quite tired from all the walking, and carrying the stroller + Erich + bags up and down the tube stairs. I decided I would hang out with Erich near the front of the store while Karen did her shopping. Now this store, being rather big, has several entrances. At each entrance was a security guard checking for shoplifters and kindly asking passerbys not to eat in the store.

The first few minutes of my stay near the front door were rather uneventful. Customers strolled by, guards checked bags, and the sounds of people elated with the low prices filled the air. Then, just as I was settling into my spot, an alarm went off. A few of the security guards congregated and discussed about "the situation", decided it was nothing and life went on. Most shoppers even handily ignored the alarm!

But the alarm kept on ringing and as the alarm rang, so did my nerves. I wonder what the alarm is for, I thought. I don't see anyone shoplifting! It didn't help that the security guards looked nervous too. Then the tension was finally broken when suddenly, a voice over the PA system advised customers to please evacuate the store immediately.

"What in good heavens is going on?", I thought. Of course, being in London, unfortunately, the worst crossed my mind first - what if this was a bomb threat or some other sort of terror related incident? I mean after all, the person on the PA definitely had a sense of urgency about him.

I rushed out with Erich, and stepped aside as a crowd of several hundred people piled out of the store. I watched nervously as security guards hustled people out, and told them to drop whatever they had picked out on the floor and closed the doors behind everybody. I waited for Karen to emerge from the crowd. No sign of her. It was heart wrenching not knowing what happened to her.

Finally, amidst lots of shouting, we finally found each other. I decided that we would not visit the store again.

In the end, it turns out that the alarm was caused just because of one malfunctioning sprinkler head.

Day 5B: Good ol' friends in London

Back in 2003, Ether and Caroline were still doing their GCSEs in secondary school. Now, they are young university students at some of the most respected colleges in London. They were kind enough to take time out of their busy schedules to meet us, and to have lunch with us. They took us on a tour of some of the museums in the neighbourhood.

Among the places we visited was the Natural History Museum of London where we met some really, really old friends. Erich was particularly fascinated at the various animals on display.

Day 5A: London Madness

Our fifth day in England was spent mostly in London. I got up early again, and went into Reading town centre as Pastor Sam dropped of E-yan for school - this time to return the rental vehicle. Then it was off to Heathrow Airport where we dropped off two big bags of luggage and Erich's car seat at Left Luggage. This was a suggestion that our british expat friends Nick and Becky back home had given us. Brilliant suggestion. The thought of roaming around London's underground all day with two giant pieces of luggage.... We decided to travel 'light' instead - carrying only our carry-on backpacks with us.

However, as we soon discovered, roaming around London's underground system with a toddler, a baby stroller, and three heavy backpacks is quite a feat in itself. For one thing, almost none of the underground stations have lifts (elevators) which makes pushing a stroller around quite difficult. So we are left with the option of folding up the stroller, and carrying everything (toddler, bags, stroller) or having the stroller go to places where it shouldn't.

We decided mostly for the latter. Gone were previous apprehensions about using the stroller on escalators and pushing bumping it down stairs. All I can say in the end is that:

1. MacLaren makes the best strollers. British made, takes a pounding and keeps on ticking.

2. There are a lot of very courteous people in London, despite what some tourist guides would have you believe. (I have always been paranoid about being pick pocketed after my brother in law caught one red-handed last time on the London underground...) More than once, people without hesitation offered to help carry our stroller up the stairs.

3. We lived the "Mind the gap" experience. Yes, one definitely knows there is a gap there when you're trying to push a stroller on and off a train.

The ironic thing in hindsight? Many of London's underground stations (many built before the Second World War) actually HAD lifts once upon a time, but were taken out in favour of escalators.

UK: Right hand drive and other oddities

Driving in the UK was certainly a fun and fascinating experience. Here I am posing next to the Vauxhaul/Opel Corsa that we had hired in Reading. It is quite a nifty little car, and the sad part is that you can't get stuff like this here in North America.

I got to observing the distinct things that I noticed were different. Here are my top 10:

10. People drive on the left hand side of the road and the right hand side of the car. (Duh, but I had to start with the obvious! :))

9. Driving on the other side of the car of course means that my usual habit of turning right to look behind me when I am in reverse doesn't work. This one took a bit of getting used to.

8. Roundabouts are everywhere. I have grown to love these things: why stop at a four-way stop or a traffic light when you can just merge into a roundabout and exit just as efficiently? Think of all those left turn accidents that this avoids.

7. Speed limits are reasonable. On country roads and dual-carriageways, speed limit can be up to 50mph. Considering the width of these roads, there would be a media circus if this were the speeds in Vancouver.

6. Cars are much smaller. This could be purely because things are just generally so much more expensive in the UK, but cars are much smaller, compact and practical than the bloatware you often find roaming the streets in Vancouver. The Opel/Vauxhaull is affiliated with GM by the way. Why does GM have this obsession that North Americans like big cars? If only they sold their European cars in Canada, I might actually use some of my GM points I've racked up over the years...

5. Petrol (gasoline) is very expensive. Think same price except in pounds per litre.

4. Everybody knows how to drive standard. Had I not had the chance to practice driving a standard transmission, right hand drive, 12 passenger mini-bus back in 2003, I think I might have freaked at this one, but this is old hat now. That and driving a manual transmission Mazda5 back home helps.

3. Standardized road signs. They were a bit difficult to figure out at first, but once you had them figured out, it was easy to navigate with them. Of course the hardest one for me to figure out was the white circle with the slash through it - I didn't know it meant "National Speed Limit" until I was told.

2. People know how to drive. In general, drivers are alert, aware and observe fast/slow lane rules. On the motorway, the slow lane really is the slow lane, and the fast lane is really the fast lane. You don't have people who drive in the 'fast' lane just because they feel like being on that side of the road.

And the number one thing I found was different...?

1. Drivers are much more courteous. I guess it has to do with knowing how to drive well. When you drive well and are aware, letting someone else go ahead of you means you'll know they'll be paying attention and you'll be making traffic flow more efficiently. Compare this to the "me-first" or the deadlock "you first, no you first" situations one often finds in Vancouver.

Day 4: Bekonscot Model Village and Oxford, UK

We took the car we hired to Beaconsfield on day four of trip in search of the world's oldest model village (The Bekonscot Model Village). Our visit would have been much nicer had it not been pouring rain, but nevertheless, it was quite enchanting. The museum itself is located near the centre of town, but on an otherwise residential street. If the signs were not there, you would think it was just another house. We parked, as instructed, at the Catholic church across from the model village and made our way through the driveway of what appeared to be just another house around to the back. What looked like an ordinary driveway now turned into an amazing display of multiple villages all interconnected by trains.

Erich enjoyed looking at each display and proudly shouted out the names of each thing that he saw. At one point in our walk through the village we heard a choir singing. The sound was so realistic that I was actually fooled into thinking that it came from the Catholic church we had parked at. It was only upon further inspection, I realized that the sound was actualy coming from the model Anglican church in one of the villages. (We got a kick out of name of the 'rector').

[It was raining so hard that day I didn't dare take out my camera. Here is a photo of the church taken by Andy P. Be sure to visit his other Bekonscot pictures.]

Some of the other displays were pretty incredible too. Along with the model train system that runs across the entire display (outdoors no less!), there was a house on fire with model firemen putting the fire out. The display came complete with "fire", and smoke. It was quite incredible.

After lunch, we headed for Oxford on the M40. We had never been to Oxford in any of our previous visits so I was glad we got the chance to do so this time. Although the interest was mostly academic (haha), we enjoyed being in the same places where many famous scholars had once been. Here's a photo of a future scholar (though I think his Mom seems more enthused than he does about the prospect...)

Day 3B: The Bluebell Railway, UK

If you were to ask Erich what his favourite toy is right now, he would undoubtedly point to his box of wooden railway tracks and trains and say "die eisenbahn" (german for railway). Ever since he was young, Karen would often bring him to the Chapters store below where I work. At that store, there is a Thomas the tank engine demonstration table. He can spend hours on end playing with Thomas and his favourite character Bertie the bus.

As a behavioral reward on our trips this year, we started to give him parts of his own wooden railway set from Thomas. He was overjoyed to receive them. So imagine the awe on his face when we told him where we were going to bring him in England. We were going to go see a REAL steam train with real observation cars.



After hiring a car in Reading, we drove an hour an a half from Reading to Sussex where the Bluebell Railway operates. We boarded the train (a genuine restored observation car from 1913, being hauled by a restored steam engine from the same era) and began a 1.5 hour tour from Sheffield Park station to Horsted Keyes. Most of our fellow passengers were more elderly people from the era who were on the train reminiscing about a bygone era. However, there were also a few families on board with kids just like Erich who were Thomas fanatics.

So imagine the reaction of the kids when the tour guide introduced the steam engine that was towing us today. Her name was Stepney and is actually one of Thomas' friends. (In fact the Stepney in the Thomas story is actually inspired by this very engine.) Needless to say, the kids on board just about went crazy when they heard this!

All in all, Erich had a grand time on the Bluebell railway as is evident in his facial expressions on these pictures I took.