h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

So far, I'm liking being 40

I got to speak to several people on my actual birthday--all of them people I've never spoken to before! I've got to update my PS...

Tom's parents are watching the girls and the animals for us while we're out of town for my traditional birthday trip--I'm typing this in the motel room while Tom's in the gym. The weather's been lovely.

Best of all, Tom gave me a belated birthday present tonight right before we went out to eat. He informed me that we will be starting a savings account specifically for a trip to the UK for the both of us

Happy belated birthday!

40 wasn't too bad, not sure yet how I feel about having turned 50...

You're coming to the UK? Make sure to let us Europeans know when!

It'll be a few years, likely, but actually setting up some way to save instead of just talking about it is much farther than we've gotten before!

And, you know me--when have I *not* told all about this sort of thing in exhaustive, boring detail?

Indeed!

When Hypatia did her UK tour, we had a special Meet Hyp Meet in London. I'd love to think doing the same for you and your hubbie.

*sneakily inserts a 'of' into previous posting*

Would certainly consdier if I could make it to the UK for such an occasion!

*still do not type well today *

When you *do* make it over here, Amy, I'll be sure to come and see you, then you'll be able to actually hear me (but worst of all you'll be able to see me )

Speaking of tech problems, the mic on PaperKid's tablet started working again, once it was way too late for anyone outside this timezone to see and hear me Though I probably would still look like Max Headroom... I wonder if having *everything* running on the wifi had anything to do with the looping

So, realistically, I probably won't be able to make the flight when I'm 42, since we'll be saving up for 2 roundtrip airfares and spending money. On the plus side, we'd definitely be over there for 2 weeks, and Tom's thinking of maybe extending things a week and maybe going one or 2 places in mainland Europe.

Copenhagen?

...although I probably wouldn't fail you for picking Paris or Rome

I don't know anyone in Italy

Might not be a bid idea to try getting Tom back on here, though, so it won't just be *my* friends he's visiting...

Your friends are my friends, Amy

I do think it'd be more fun for Tom if he knew some folks by then, though he's not shy, and so would have a better time being dragged around to meet people he doesn't know than I would.

Lots of Americans seem to like to visit Edinburgh. If you come during August we have a big festival thingy and a spare room which makes accommodation a lot cheaper.

What part of August (and I was planning on asking to use your spare room anyway)? Assuming scheduling stays the same (yeah, yeah, I know the saying about assuming) midJuly would be the earliest in the year we could come over, and the latest we could return would be late August/first of September, so an August festival thingy would certainly be workable.

Realistically, barring unforeseen windfalls, it'll probably be 4-5 years, since we're saving up for 2. Though it turns out it's only $100 each more to fly out from home instead of driving 5-6 hours and paying to park the car for 2 weeks, so in the long run, it's cheaper to leave from the most convenient place (at least as of now--fares could change by the time we can book flights). If it weren't for the timespan involved, I'd start a thread in Ask, to aid in actual planning, but it seems a little silly to do so this far out.

Something to consider for an August trip is the Edinburgh Tattoo.
http://www.edintattoo.co.uk/

(Or is this the festival of which you spake?)

The festival is actually three festivals, the international festival of high art and opera, ballet etc, the fringe: hundreds and hundreds of small shows, (where the bbc finds the next big thing) and the book festival of literary cements.

The tattoo is part of the international festival. We also live 1 km from the oldest church in Scotland (?attractions for Tom) and next door but one is a stately home...