London hopes

Well, this should be interesting. TOnight I fly out to meet my mom in London. (Perhaps that should be “meet my mum in London”.) We fly back here on Friday, show her around over the weekend and probably go to Madurodam one day, then let her wander on her own while we work for a few days. We have a couple days off at the end of the week (for Ascension Day), so we’ll go up to Amsterdam then and go see the Anne Frank House and so on, and then she hops back over to London for a few more days.

She’s already in London, presumably; I decided to fly in this evening to give her some time to recuperate from the flight, because she seemed to think she’d be wanting to go a-touristing immediately and I want to give her a chance to rest, in the likely case that she’s wrong.

It occurs to me now that I could simply have gone and spent the day doing things I want to do that she might not, like book/yarn shopping. Oops. I also goofed in deciding I could just get by with carry-on luggage (Ryanair charges to check a bag, and it’s cheaper to pay when you buy your tickets. ) Given the 10kg carry-on limit, the rules about liquids and the draconic size restrictions (50cm x 40cm x 20cm = 19.5″ x 16″ x 8″) I don’t think that’s possible, so I will need to pay at the airport. Two goofs so far. I’m also a bit worried about sharing not only a room but a bed (the hotel she wanted had no twin rooms available) with someone who’s likely to be jet-lagged and waking up at odd times.

I hope this trip goes well – she’s never been to Europe before and England especially is a long-time dream. I hope all those gym visits pay off and she can walk enough to see all she wants to see – London is one of those cities that always seems to demand miles of walking. I hope the airline doesn’t cancel my flight this time. I hope the weather isn’t too wet. Mostly, I hope we don’t drive each other too crazy. (OK, I admit, I’m really hoping she doesn’t drive *me* too crazy.)