Just Got Home

Chris and I just got home tonight, it was about 6.5 hours, no turbulence at all. Everything was just about on time. I want to thank everyone I met in England, you all treated me extremely well. Thanks to Chris's parents for finally getting my butt out over the Atlantic, Nanny and Granny for their endless support throughout our trip. Thank you Peter and Denise, that was definitely one of the best home cooked meals I've ever had, and you guys were just amazing company, I hope to see you again soon! Jon, thank you for taking us out to Kingston, it was great catching up with you. And last but definitely not least, Robert, Amy, Lauren, Nicole, Jake, and yea, Fabian too, thank you all so much for having us and doing everything that you did for us while we were there. I can't thank everybody enough, on a scale of 1 to 10, the trip was about a 20. I had an amazing time in England, and I definitely know I got a one of a kind trip, but, hopefully it's the first of many. This post is the conclusion of this blog, I love you all and will miss you! Please please please keep in touch and let me know whenever you are in town, you are all welcome anytime! Take care and thanks for following!
-Steve

Good Morning

We just got to Nanny's house now, packing up a few extra things before we leave. We will be heading out to the airport around 5pm and our flight leaves at 8:25pm (London time). We should be landing in Newark airport around 11:05pm eastern time. Hopefully we'll be home by 2am or so. I'll post when we get home to let you all know we've made it safely.

SURPRISE!

Look at this, a special mid-day post for you guys. This morning we went to Harrods in London (saw 5 Ferrari's) and did a little shopping before we leave tomorrow. After that, we met up with Granny and walked over to Carluchios (I'm just taking a guess on the spelling) for a nice big lunch, which consisted of grilled garlic bread and a seasoned and fried flattened chicken breast. Once we finished lunch we walked up to the bus stops, but on the way we stopped at a couple places to pick up some miscellaneous items for our trip back home. We are now sitting at Granny's just relaxing right now. I don't believe we have any plans, some reading and a small nap may be in order though. Hope everyone at home is doing well!

Relaxing with the Dodds Family

Today was just spent relaxing, all day long. I definitely needed it. We spent the day at Chris's Uncle's and Aunt's house, who provided us with a nice fried chicken lunch. The girls had some of their friends over. While Chris and friends played PS3, I stayed outside in the nice weather and claimed my spot on a lawn chair and just relaxed the entire day. We just hung out all day, had a brief video chat with Luisa, watched some TV and ordered Chinese. Tomorrow we are heading to London again to stop at a shop and pick up some last minute things to bring back home. Afterward, we have a nice lunch planned for the grandmothers. Other than that, we pretty much have a somewhat open schedule tomorrow.

Wings and Wheels in Guildford

Chris and I were out the door at 8:30am this morning and headed out to Guildford for the airshow. We took a train to Guildford and a cab to the airport. Unfortunately, we were racking up quite a cab bill due to really heavy traffic. Luckily, at the rate we were moving, walking was actualy faster and cheaper. So we walked the last 2 miles. When we got to the gate, we knew it was going to be a great show. I think it was due to a Ferrari F50 driving by us as we walked in that gave us the hint. It started to cloud up a bit when we got there, but luckily, nothing was canceled. When we got in, there were groups of nice cars. Caterham's, Lotus's, Ferrari's, and even some Fords. While we were looking around, we caught the first part of the airshow. It started off highlighting the planes of WWI and WWII, along with a demonstration of the newest European fighter, the Euro Fighter Typhoon. I can't even begin to explain how loud that jet was. It literally sounded like the air was being ripped apart. We even got to see it come close to the sound barrier while he was making a low pass. After watching this, we got to see a huge selection of cars make passes down a huge runway, some of the cars clearly hitting over 170mph. Once the cars were done taking turns down the runway, we got to see some more plane action. We watched an aerobatic team called "The Blades" do some pretty amazing stunts. After their performance, the Red Arrows arrived at the airport for their performance. They came in with an amazing formation. But once The Blades were done performing, we headed out. Our feet were hurting and the weather was starting to get a little too chilly for our shorts and t-shirts. So from there we called it a day, and took the train back to Granny's for some nice omelets. All we have planned now is a good night's sleep.

Just Another Stroll in London

We were in London by 11:15am this morning to try and witness the changing of the guards at the Buckingham Palace. We weren't too successful. When we got there, there were loads of people standing around and filling up the sidewalks. The streets were also blocked off. A parade came by, with a marching band and guards following, but we were so far away and at a bad angle that we could not see anything, so we decided to cut that short and head over to Park Lane to d some car spotting. We walked, and walked, and walked, and got a fair share of exotic cars. We also browsed through a couple parking garages to see what we could find there. We didn't really see much out of the ordinary, just a few Ferrari's, Lamborghini's, and tons of Bentley's. But, we did catch one bog fish today. While we were walking, Chris managed to spot, from about a block away, a Bugatti Veyron sitting behind another car. I have no idea how, but I guess his senses were tingling and he could smell it in the air. We also saw a couple Audi R8's, a Lotus 7, and a couple Lotus Elise's and Exige's. And tons of Aston Martins, they were everywhere. After we did this, we stopped at Mulligan's for lunch, but we did not eat there. They were closed unfortunately, but we did find another pub called "The King's Head". We both had an amazing club sandwich, it was huge and delicious. After lunch, we went and checked out a small dealership that had a Mclaren GTR, and a couple Formula 1 cars for sale. We then headed to the science museum to see a new exhibit that explains how technology invented in Formula 1 has been used in other field such as the military, medicine, and other sports such as cycling. After the museum we went over to the Tower of London, which was an awesome site. It was just amazing. To see how well they have kept some of the artifacts from the 1600's were really great to see, which included many things from Henry VIII's collection of armor and various weapons, even guns. The Tower of London is also home to the Crown Jewels of England. They had jewels as early as the 1600's, all the way into the 1930's. The amazing thing was the quality everything was kept at. Unless someone told you their age, you would think it was all relatively young jewelery and dishes. After the Tower of London, we went on a little walking tour that followed the murders of Jack the Ripper. We had a great guide, he really got into the characters of their time and was good at painting the picture of what happened during that time. By the time we finished the tour, the sun was already going down. We came back to a nice stir fry dinner and we are tired. We both have been on our feet all day, but tomorrow will be another long day. We'll be going to an airshow that is held at the facility "Top Gear" is filmed at. We'll hopefully get to see some car demonstrations and some aerobatic performances by the Red Arrows.

Finally, SLEEP!!!

Today was a day of rest for Chris and I. We slept in until about 11am this morning. Once we mustered up the energy to get out of bed we visited Chris' Grandfather's grave then took a bus to visit some shops in Putney. We grabbed some lunch to take back with us from M&S and headed back to Granny's flat. But once we got the chance to lay down, we both fell asleep, fast. It wasn't a light sleep either, this was a deep sleep. I guess we didn't realize how busy we have been until we actually sat down and stopped. We both slept for about two hours before we were woken up to have dinner. Chris's Uncle Robert and Aunt Amy picked up Chris, Granny, and I and we ate at a nice italian restaurant in Wimbledon. Chris and I got a pizza, which tasted great. It was a very relaxed dinner with just the right setting. We then went back to Granny's flat, but on the way Amy was nice enough to drive us back making sure we passed the tennis courts in Wimbledon. We got back, had a nice little conversation with Chris's Aunt and Uncle, and are now retiring for the night. Tomorrow we'll be up around 9am and heading to London by 10am. We'll be watching the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, running up and down Park Lane doing some car spotting, having lunch at Mulligans (English Pub), and a bunch of other stuff. Museums, dealerships, etc...I'm sure everyone will hear about it tomorrow. Other than that, good night to you all, I will talk to you tomorrow.

2 Mclarens, 2 F40's

Today started off with a nice little drive to DK Engineering. When we arrived, they gave us a small tour of their showroom and work areas. In the showroom, there was an amazing orange McLaren GTR that had raced in Le Mans in 1996 by BMW, and has been slightly modified to be street legal. Basically, about 650 horsepower in a street legal race car. It was in absolute immaculate condition. As we left the showroom, we headed into the engine building shop. Right there in front of me was the engine block to a Ferrari F40. It was really amazing to see the heart of one of my favorite cars sitting on an engine stand. When we left and went outside, we found the car that engine belonged to. What was really interesting was that they removed the entire rear suspension in order to remove the engine, so what we were looking at was a little over half of an F40. Under my breath I told the gentleman that took us to DK (his name is Martin), "Watch, it'll be another 3 years before I see another F40." I said that as we were entering the restoration and repair shop. I'll give you guys one guess about what was sitting there. Yep, another F40. Along with a newer Murcielago, an old Beetle, and couple more Ferraris, old and new. DK's restoration and repair shop has catered to customers such as Ralph Lauren and Eric Clapton and had done some very impressive projects over the years. We then headed off from DK and headed to an exclusive viewing of another Mclaren GTR that raced in Le Mans in 1997 and 1998. This car was not street legal though, at all. It was a full out race car. Amazingly, we were granted permission to sit in it and take some photos which was great. I got in the car first and sat in it for a couple minutes and soaked it all in. Then Chris sat in the car, closed the doors, and after that I'm pretty sure we lost him. I think almost 20 minutes went by before he got back out of the car. He was definitely in heaven today. To be able to see 2 Mclarens in one day is an extremely rare opportunity, but then again, Chris is really great at making things like this happen. Later on we attempted to start it, but some electrical difficulties with the dashboard prevented the engine from firing. Now, you'll notice I don't have any photos of these events online. Between customer confidentiality, personal privacy, and the politics attached to today's events, I can't post them online. Do not fret though, we do have photos of it all. After this, we headed to the huge Mercedes Benz World located on the site of the once famous Brooklands racetrack where we strolled along and looked at all the latest models offered by Mercedes. They also have a huge performance area designated for the Mercedes Benz Experience. Basically, they let you drive around various tracks made for driving their highest performance cars at their peak levels. Well, they were running a special and of course, I couldn't resist. We started off driving around a larger track to get acclimated with the car. It was a 500hp C63 AMG. There was a lot to get used to. It was remarkably fast, then it just stopped on a dime. From about 85 mph to 0 mph was amazing. The car comes to a complete stop very fast. Much faster than anything I can describe. Its turning capabilities were just as amazing. I was racing down a straightaway at about 95-100 mph, got hard into the brakes, and it would just willingly dive into the upcoming corner with ease. We also tested the car's traction and stability controls. I was able to make a 90 degree turn from a stop, full throttle, and keep the car in control on simulated ice (a wet surface was used, and when it's wet, it becomes almost as slippery as ice). This was obviously impossible to do when all assists were off, the car just spun out of control. We also went around a skidpad where I did a couple laps doing a controlled drift, much like I do with Kevin's car in the snow when he isn't around (just kidding, I think he was home when I did that). After this I went back on the big track and did a few more laps, this time using paddle shifters to manually change the gears. After my little 30 minute thrill ride, we went back to Granny's for a delicious lamb stew and ice cream. Tomorrow, we'll be sleeping in. We don't have much planned, just some dinner with Chris's Aunt and Uncle. By the way, I couldn't give you guys real photos of what we saw, so we've provided an accurate representation of today's events. Illustrations by C. Dodds and S. Pierson.

Off to Granny's Flat

Today was a little bit of a more relaxed day for Chris and I. We got up around 9:30am and went to Romans International to check in and see what exotics they had. In the showroom, they didn't really have much. Just a Mercedes McLaren SLR Roadster, a couple of Porsche Carrera GT's, an Aston Martin DBS, a few Bugatti Veyrons (including the only convertible Veyron in Europe), an F430 Scuderia, and a pair of red Enzo's. Like I said, not much. On the way back, we stopped at Chris' grandfather's grave and watered some flowers. When we got back to Nanny's house, we had some pizza, packed up, and left for Granny's flat. We hit a little rain on the way, but once we got there we had a very tasty dinner. We had chicken with potatoes, carrots, and peas. After dinner, we sat back, watched some TV, and got all unpacked. Tomorrow, we're hoping to get a glimpse of a McLaren F1, and possibly some other great cars at a place called DK Engineering. Hope everyone at home reading this is well, so far, the trip has been amazing.

Prodrive Tour

Wow, unbelievable day again. We made a 1.5 hour trip to the Prodrive factory around 3pm. For those of you that don't know, Prodrive is a company that builds custom racecars, and are extremely competitive in the racing world. They've worked in F1, World Rally Championship, and Lemans. Right now, main focuses are in rally and Lemans. We met up with a small group of people outside the factory before our tour. We were excited, as we could smell the brownies and cookies they ahd made for us all the way from the parking lot. The second we entered the Prodrive office, the smell disappeared. Clearly, the baked goods were in a different building. So we entered the lobby and waited for our tour guide for the day. We headed into the museum area where they had several cars on display, including a Subaru Legacy driven by Colin McRae, a BAR Honda driven by Jensen Button, and an amazing E30 BMW Rally Car. This portion of the tour was amazing because not only were we allowed to touch the cars, but we could also open the doors and peak inside. This included the car driven by McRae (very famous rally driver who passed away a year or two ago). So then we headed into the area where transmissions and engines were built. She showed us rally car transmissions and engines that were worth over $100k alone. Something interesting at Prodrive is every transmission and engine is built by a single person, which ranged from 60 hours to 120 hours to build. And they aren't paid overtime. Their reasoning about overtime is that any overtime they work, it's for the team, and that they want to win. This helps weed out engineers who are working purely for money. It also brings in the most competitive people, and keep the competitive edge. Even within the company they hold little competitions to build things and try and beat out other teams (on team was building a small raft while we were there). The next room had a nice, white, DBR9 race car being prepared for racing. Along with a wrecked LMP1 car that was in pieces but being repaired. The next area was kind of a smelly area. This was because it was a building with about 4 bays with completely stripped chassis. Basically, they strip the cars of all paint, glue, bolts, everything, chop off the noses, and start beginning the fitment for increased chassis strength and roll cages. Now, some of the rooms I'm describing you won't be able to see pictures of, simply because we weren't allowed. Some of the things going on were top secret, and some spots we weren't even allowed to see. The next room was another car building area, there was a few Aston Martin race cars that competed in different classes, and also a V12 Vantage that was driven by Jeremy Clarkson. The next room I found particularly interesting. It was the machine shop, and they had everything you could imagine. They even had about 3 or 4 CNC drills that could rotate in all different directions. I have seen videos of these machines carving out complete engine blocks from a single piece of aluminum. We then went through another work area that had a few Subaru WRX rally cars that were being built, and one in need of some minor repairs. After this we headed into my next favorite area. It was a large bay containing 3 LMP1 cars, one of them was a winner from last weekends lemans race in Germany. They had literally just been unloaded from the truck a few hours before our tour. What was neat was that one car was almost completely disassembled, while the other was mostly intact. It really highlighted what was the chassis on the car, and how big the body work was. The cars themselves are very tiny. but when all the aerodynamic body work is added, it completely changes the look of the car. It goes from being a tiny bug to a long and wide race car. After this, we headed into another room where another Subaru rally car was being worked on then headed back to the main lobby for some souvenirs. We really gained a new appreciation for the work put into a race car, and learned way more than I could squeeze into this little blog. But it was definitely a great day. And we never got our brownies though. It wasn't until the end of the tour that we learned that the Prodrive factory was sitting right next to a chocolate factory. Everybody went the whole tour waiting for cookies and brownies; man were we fooled. Also, on the way to the factory we saw a Porsche GT3RS, an Audi R8, and surprisingly, an Enzo.

Good Morning

Good morning everyone, hope you all slept as well as I did last night. Now, on with yesterday's journeys:

We took the train into London Waterloo, where we met Chris's cousins Lauren and Nicole and their friends Fabian and Jake. We took a walkway over the Thames River and into the streets of London where we stopped to pick up bus tickets to visit the sites. We hopped onto the top level of our first bus and cruised around until we got to the closest stop to Buckingham Palace. We got off and took a somewhat long walk through a grassy area where people were just laying out in the sun. We walked to the front of Buckingham Palace because we were right on time for the changing of the guards. Only one problem though. The changing of the guards happens every other day, and yesterday was not one of those days. Luckily, when we go again later this week, we'll most likely be able to see the changing of the guards. From there, we stood on a slab of concrete in the middle of the road for a few minutes, completely confused on which direction to go to find the next bus. We did a little walking and found the next bus, and headed toward Big Ben. We got off near the Houses of Parliament, and made our way to Big Ben where we stopped for some pictures. After admiring Big Ben, we walked over the Westminster Bridge and headed toward the London Eye. We were going to purchase our tickets to get on the London Eye, but the line was just way too long, so we decided we'd go on later. But, while we were there we managed to score a free seat in a "4-d" movie that was meant to help you not only see, but feel what London was like. It was a 3-d movie (about 15 minutes long), but there was also wind, water, and even snow (well, foam that fell like snow). After this we walked over to a financial area of London (similar to Wall Street in New York) and grabbed some lunch at Marks & Spencers. After some walking and talking, we hopped on the next bus and took a trip through the London Dungeon. Dad, you would have loved it. Mom, you would have had fun, but probably hated the first portion of it (we were trapped in a mirror maze). The London Dungeon is a 20 person group walk-through, where you were guided through themed areas such as the Bubonic Plague, witch hunts, unjust courts, and Jack the Ripper. The actors were great, I was tried in court because apparently, I had some very close relations with a local horse. After the Dungeon, Chris, Fabian, and Jake decided to go into "The Tombs" which was another fun house type of thing. Nicole, Lauren, and I decided to stay back and sit outside and talk a little bit. Once the guys got out of The Tombs, we headed toward the Tower Bridge. We took a bus over the Tower Bridge where we got a great view of the HMS Belfast, and the Tower of London. We stayed on the bus until we got back to the London Eye for an amazing sunset ride. Once we got off, we got on a taxi until we found a rickshaw. We got 2 rickshaws, and by natural spirit of competition, we raced each other through (and in the middle of) the streets of London. After a death defying ride through London's Chinatown, we arrived at our dinner spot, Inamo. We were about 45 minutes early, so we went into the downstairs bar and lounge for some drinks and conversation. Now this was an amazing place. I have never been anywhere like this. It was a very nice place, small, dimly lit, with some really smooth, trendy music. We got upstairs to our table, and right away, Chris and I turned into little kids. On our table was a white plate and a background. The tables were lit up by projectors mounted above each table, and from there, the whole night was conducted. Everything was ordered from the table, you never needed to ask the waiter for anything. The menu consisted of different Asian dishes, and what was cool, was when you viewed the description of the dish, a projection would appear on your plate of what the dish looks like! So Chris and I both got the same thing, spring rolls for an appetizer, and duck for the main course. While waiting, you either had the option of playing battleship against the person in front of you, or, if you wanted to see what was going on in the kitchen, you could pull up a live streaming camera of the chefs cooking in the kitchen. The meat we had was amazing. Nicole let me try some of the ribs she ordered, and the meat literally fell off the bone. It was extremely tender, and very tasty. After eating, we took a cab back to Nanny's and pretty much just called it a night. We were on our feet all day, walked everywhere, and once the food was in my stomach, I was ready to go to bed.

Today we'll be making a two hour trip to Banbury to see some exotic cars at Prodrive and possibly some other places. It will be another late night tonight, but hopefully I will be able to fill you all in on the days events. Also, there are some more photos from London coming, just a matter of getting them from the other camera. In the mean time, enjoy the photos I put in the album last night, and also the videos I put up of us at Inamo and how the tables worked (it's dark, but you'll be able to see the important things).

A Little Tired

I'll be honest with you all, we left around 9:20 this morning, and we just got back around 11:45 tonight, so I'm just a little tired. But it also could give you a hint at how busy, and amazing, our day was. So what I'm going to do here is link you guys to most of the photos I've taken today, then get up in the morning and try and explain what's going on, and add some photos that Chris took from his camera. Click here to see an album of the photos.

Marina Madness

So here we arrreee, at the marrinnnaaa. We took a couple trains and a taxi into Brighton today to visit Chris's Uncle Peter and Aunt Denise. It was a nice sunny day again, clear sunny skies and a cool air temperature. We got to their apartment with them waiting outside for us. They led us up to the apartment they had on the third story of the building. Right when we walked in the door, we were blasted with heat from the oven and the delicious scent of the meal we were about to have. We chatted for awhile and watched the F1 race (that had no commercials!) until dinner was served. Wow. What a dinner. It was a DEEP steak and ale pie. Basically, there was a crust across the top, and inside it was extremely moist (and tasty) beef cubes, kidney, peas, and carrots. Words can't describe how amazing the taste was, and of course, I forgot to grab a picture, sorry guys. We then had desserts and cake afterward. Once we were done eating, we let things settle then walked it off a bit around the marina. What an amazing area. Peter and Denise told us a little about the area and its development over the years, and how some people are living from their boats in the marina. The pictures will speak for themselves about the area. It had a busy, small town kind of feel, but was at the same time, very relaxing. We stopped at Cafe Rouge for some drinks and more chatting. It was really a great time, couldn't have asked for better weather. Tomorrow, London.

Hanging Out in Kingston

Today started out as a little bit of a late morning around 11am. We had crumpets for breakfast and headed out to our friend Jon's house. From there, we went to Kingston to the Bentalls Centre, which is just a nice mall, probably with about 3 or 4 stories of shops. We visited the Apple store while we were there, which was laid out exactly the same as the American stores. We killed some time then and walked around looking at the different shops and stores in the area. All of the stores were really nice clothing stores along with some very nice restaurants and cafes. After a little walking we headed back to Jon's house where he gave us a little demo of his scratching abilities (here he is in action) along with a little mini lesson. We killed some time talking and playing PlayStation 2 then headed out to the theater back in Kingston and saw the movie Inglorious Basterds...in our assigned seats of course. After the movie we went to a little place called Nando's for dinner. They specialize in making different cuts of chicken at varying amounts of spicyness. Chris and I both had a chicken breast burger at medium, Jon had a 1/4 chicken, extra hot. I didn't try it, but he seemed to handle it pretty well. Tomorrow we'll be spending the day meeting up with some more family. So far, the trip has been amazing, the weather has been perfect. We've also had our fair share of nice cars. Aston Martins are a regular occurrence. There are also plenty of Porsches to go around. And Bentley is practically a cab service. We've only seen two Ferrari's so far, a 599 and and F430. That will definitely change later this week though.

A Nice Day for a Cup of Tea

Today we woke up right around 11am. Both of us slept nearly the whole night, we were out. Around 12 we went and had lunch at a restaurant called "The Harvester". Chris had scampi (think fish nuggets instead of chicken nuggets) and chips (fries), and I had a bacon burger with chips. The bacon was a little different than what we're used to in the US. It was called a bacon steak. The closest thing I could compare it to was ham. After that, we headed into Putney to visit Granny (Mr. Dodds' Mom) for a cup of tea, and then tea. I had my cup of tea, then for tea we had half sandwiches with a choice of smoked salmon or swiss cheese. After that we topped our stomachs off with coffee cake. Chris and I also got a chance to walk down a couple blocks near his grandmothers flat (apartment). The street we were on comes out of London, and naturally, a couple nice cars. The weather was perfect, middle to low 70's and sunny. We had one small shower pass by, but it only lasted about 30 minutes or so. After a long chat with the grandmothers, we headed back to Nanny's (Mrs. Dodds mom). Great day so far, tomorrow we plan to hang out with Chris' friend Jon and see where that takes us. Here are some pictures to fill you guys in on the atmosphere (you can click them to make them bigger):

We've landed!

We landed safely today, around 7:30pm London time. It was a very smooth flight, no problems with bad weather. We flew over Boston, the Atlantic, Ireland, and then into England. We passed over London with great veiws of the London Eye, various football stadiums, the London Bridge, and of course, Big Ben. We did have a small scare as we were about 10 minutes away, our plane banked left, and out my window was another plane within 1000ft of us banking right. Near miss? Probably, the airport was packed. Once we landed we met up with Chris' Grandmother and her friend Michael who then took us to her house and fed us well. Our meal consisted of pork pies, mini sausage, scotch eggs (eggs wrapped in sausage), and sausage rolls.

New Blog for the England 2009 Trip

So hopefully I'll be able to update this as much as I can during our trip. I set it up to kind of follow along if possible. I put in a few email addresses, so you will get an alert when this has been updated at any point.