I see London

Have you ever said to yourself, "Self, I REALLY want to go on vacation right now"? And have you ever just let yourself be taken in by the power of the internets, and given your bank account a guilty look, and just pressed "Purchase ticket," because you'll never go if you think too hard about it?

Not that I would ever do anything like that. NEVER.

Except that...I'm going to England! I leave in less than three weeks! I'll be gone for eight days! Surprise!

See, it's hard to travel when you have plenty of vacation time but limited funds and tons of friends who don't want to leave their husbands behind. So when a friend--we'll call her Christine, because that's her name--decides to visit London on her way to Berlin, and invites you to share her hotel room, you take her up on the deal. If you're me, you might go home, check the internet until you find a decent ticket price, call your mother for a reality check that's really a pep talk, close your eyes, and click. Then you might spend some time freaking out. But then you calm down and feel pretty good, because you're going to England!

The plan is to meet Christine in London on the 24th, hang out with her there until the 27th, and then take off to parts unknown-to-me--I'm currently thinking the Lake District, or maybe the Peak District? Somewhere wild and moory but accessible by public transit, because cars are expensive and trains are far more romantic, anyway. I'll spend a few days in the country and then cruise back to London for a night and fly home Sunday, July 1.

Mostly, I just can't believe I did it. But I'm getting used to the idea pretty quickly.