Jaffe Update 6: Compare and Contrast

Yesterday, I started typing up transcripts for my grandmother's and great-uncle's letters and postcards home over the course of their trip, and I've noticed many differences between our experiences, simply on face-value. These differences arise from their actions, their environment, and their time period. Below is a short enumerated list.

1. It was a group tour. There are many references to the same people on their trip, where as the only person I mentioned daily was Jacob.

2. It was a guided tour. O! the hours Jacob and I would've saved had we had a guide who knew the English and Scottish roads. (Although I'm fairly certain we would've gotten lost despite having a guide, because...)

3. There was a discrepancy in the technology. We had GPS; they had a guide. My bike broke down on the last day; Mary's (my grandmother) broke down on the 2nd. There are more more specific things, but you get the gist.

4. They were quite a relaxed group. They would often hop on a train and skip a few miles, whether that was in the plan or they were simply tired. On a dreaded, giant mountain pass Jacob and I went up, Mary and the guide hitched a ride with some lead miners. In essence, it makes me feel better about taking a train on my last day.

For now, that is all. Best of luck to whomever reads this on these final few days!

Jaffe Update 5: Back in the US[SA]

<sidenote>
I know I haven't posted in a while (as is my duty as a member of this blogspot blog), and I am regret that you haven't gotten as many opportunities to read my wond'rous lit'rature. (I'm being sarcastic (as tone is hard to read).) To avoid potential problems, I'll update more often to make up for missed posts. If I cannot do this Ms. Samet, please let me know in a comment so I can save the effort.
</sidenote>

As this is a make-up update, I will post as though it were Monday.

Today (Monday), we rode from Oxford to a small town about halfway between Oxford and London called Tring, got onto a train, and rode via train to London. In our defense for this seemingly obvious violation of the spirit of our trip, we were really tired. Plus, upon closer inspection of my grandmother's and great-uncle's letters, they would frequently "hop on the lorrie" and skip a part of the ride, as a result of fatigue, just as Jacob and I experienced at this time. Plus, there was the whole thing where I got a flat and my brakes weren't really working anymore. Also, it was raining; although at this point it seems as though rain in Britain is the norm.

Overall, I'm simply quite tired. I've biked at least 370 miles over the past eight days. If I were actually typing this on Monday, I'd be doing so around 1 in the morning. Leisure time has been hard to find, and when I do find it, I want to actually do something, and not just relax; I want to use the time I have in the UK, in a foreign (yet somehow familiar) country, as much as possible. Yet I just don't have time to do both the resting that I need and the sight-seeing that I want. As I said in a previous post, I mostly wish I had more time. But more on that later.

Jaffe Update 4: A hard bike

As I alluded to in my previous post, the last few days have been a blur. Now that we're at the halfway point in our trip, I can easily say that we've seen a great many fantastic sights, and met a quite a few great people (and some not-so great ones as well). Just yesterday we biked up Kirkstone Pass, a mountain pass that is 2 miles long and a 1/4 mile vertical. I had to stay in the lowest gears possible just to keep moving, and took breaks every 100 vertical feet or so. It said that it was a 13% grade, but that was likely an average.  My guess is that it started out at 0-5%, then upped to 15-20% about a mile in. If you want to bike up a 20% grade, try going up Old Mill, the alternative route to the Mayfield Hill. Oh, and then multiply that by 10.

In any case, last night we stayed at the Ambleside Youth Hostel, which I recommend nobody stay there; honestly, the worst place at which I've ever slept. But you can read more about that in a review Jacob plans on writing tomorrow. Today we are heading out to Birmingham via train. I hope we get there alright.

Jaffe Update 3: A mid-trip reflection

NOTE: I intended to post this yesterday, but I had no internet access. While I did type it up, I couldn't put it online.

Thus far in my trip, I haven't exactly had much time for introspection as this blog asks me to portray. My daily schedule is: get up; eat; make sure everything's packed into four tiny bags; bike; drink; bike; drink; bike; eat lunch; bike; drink; bike;...arrive at the destination; settle into the place we're staying for the night; find dinner; type up my blog (http://hellersteinrecursionexcursion.blogspot.com); sleep; repeat. You might say that I could do that introspection while I eat, but I'd retort that Jacob's there and we chat. The only other opportunity I have for this introspection is when I am typing up my blog, but with that I'm mostly trying to remember the people's and place's names (often unsuccessfully), recount that which happened accurately, and be witty. Not much space for reflection there, don'tcha think?

In any case, the most I can say about my experience is that it's been busier than Mary's: they had time to go swimming, ice skating (!), and visit museums, while all I can do is sleep and eat. Tomorrow is my day off, so I might be able to do something else then. I suppose I should've made this trip longer, so that we could truly stop and smell the roses. If I ever get the opportunity, and decide that I want to do another bike trip, I'll be sure to double the total time and spend a day in each destination.

Jaffe Update 2: The Layover

I'm currently in Boston on my 12-hour layover, hanging out with my cousin Hal and aunt Susie (on my mother's side). Despite only having almost three hours of sleep (up packing/writing my blog post for last night) and  waking up at 04:30 to catch a 06:30 flight out of Akron, I have to say that I am fairly awake. Then again, that might just be the delicious latte that I drank a couple hours ago.

Seeing as the UK is 6 hour bumb up from EST (or rather, EST is -06:00 and GMT is 00:00), I'm doing my best to prepare myself for the time change. I plan on eating dinner around 6 instead of the usual 8 or 9; I have four nyquil at the ready (two for each of us) to take right before we board; and I refuse to sleep when it isn't nighttime in the UK.

Last night, I stayed up with my mother until midnight packing everything. I feel as though our packing strategies were just a little too convoluted: I took one (1) large dufflebag, in which we stuffed two pairs (total 4) of panniers; in two (2) of the panniers, we put one waterproof camping bag (total of 2), in which we stuff all our clothes--some of which were, themselves, compressed into ziplock bags. Only a Matryoshka doll manufacturer could've packaged it better.

All that is in the past, though. Susie is on her way to pick up Jacob from the train station (coming in from Providence), and when they get back, we're all going for a walk. For the moment, however, I will just relax.

P.S.-You can read my daily blog here: http://hellersteinrecursionexcursion.blogspot.com
(Warning: overlap is inevitable)

Jaffe Update 1: Just a little research

The past two days, all I have done is a little research at the Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS). I am looking into my family history on my mother's mother's side of the family. Thus far, I have found two relevant sources for the project.

I found a book that we actually own called "In Between the Lines," in which there is a chapter about my great-aunt's and great-uncle's trip throughout Europe. I haven't yet read it, but I have it digitized and will read it during my trip. 
The other document I discovered at the WRHS is (who I believe to be) my great-great-uncle Paul Rosenwasser's (oft called Rosewater) travel diary, also throughout Europe, in 1904-05.

 At the WRHS library, the librarian (whose name I will write down for tomorrow/Saturday's entry) is very sweet, and told me that she grew up down the street from my grandmother Mary Feil's former place of residence. Like I hear my mother say more often than one might expect, what a small world!

I am leaving on Saturday morning for Boston, where I will meet my brother Jacob, and then we will hop on a plane that stops halfway there in Iceland, and will arrive Sunday morning in London. I plan to write an update during the layover on Saturday.