...I thought while having breakfast with my cousin Brian in London.
I've blogged all my major trips (all two of them, whatever) but it's been a long time since I traveled. And since then, the internet has exploded into massive overshare with Facebook, Twitter, etc, of which I participate (Follow me! Friend me! Nah, you don't have to...) so it took weeks for blogging to occur to me when I found myself traveling again.
But here I am, now: a writer (who hasn't written anything in months) with a great new job (that I both love and then not-love sometimes) that gives me to opportunity to travel the world, so why not? As I sat in Brian's kitchen eating blood pudding with hammy bacon and waxing poetic on the relationship of travel to inspiration, there I was- inspired to write again! Using more than 140 characters! Nice!
A quick moment of prequel... eh, nevermind, I kinda just did that.
So anyway, because I've already spent a month working in Alaska I'll do a quick speed-through:
Anchorage, Alaska: bleak, cold, desolate, beautiful, ugly, shady as hell and easy to navigate.
Anywhere around Anchorage: raw, natural beauty. A whole spectrum of "Holy shit..." inspired landscapes. I spent so much time trying to take pictures at snow-covered mountains as I drove that my inner monologue was continuously writing and re-writing the news lead: "LA women crashes into gorgeous mountain and dies in fiery snowball" was the usual.
And I wasn't the only one- for some reason it became one of our favorite games to play on set. "Make-up artist spontaneously explodes into fiery snowball..." "Movie producer falls overboard tour boat into fiery snowball..." You could die in any way as long as you met your ultimate fate in a fiery snowball. I loved it.
I had my first two helicopter rides in Alaska, and I gotta say- if you think Alaska is pretty from the ground, it blows your damn mind from the air. Helicopters are fun, fun, fun. I always wanted to levitate, and that's what riding in a helicopter is. Both times we floated over and landed at glaciers that were so graceful and gorgeous that words are too small to describe.
I can honestly say Glacier #2 (of course every single one of these big girls have names and naturally I can't remember a single one) is the most beautiful place I have ever been to in my life. See for yourself...
If Alaska has to be so effing cold, at least its to make unreal stuff like this. And Jesus, was it cold.
The rest of my Alaska impressions are tangled in with all my badass crew members. GREATEST CREW EVER. Man, I loved those guys...
Which brings me to...
The UK! Suffolk, to be exact. Woodbridge, to be more exact. Rendlesham Forest to be ever more exact. The first time I saw the address, I got tired. Suffolk is 2 hours from London, a county of tiny villages on the North Sea. I haven't seen any of it yet- I've been working my ass off since I got here, staying in the production office til dark, and lemme say: dark is DARK in Suffolk. It's country, yall.
A few things I'm excited about for this location...
Accents. Sweet lord, do I love British accents. I have crushes on every person I've met so far- male, female, gay, old, pot-bellied... I'm open for business. Just sayin'.
Right-hand driving. Meaning driving on the WRONG side of the rode ("RIGHT SIDE" my new accented friends jibe me) in the WRONG side of the car. The first 2 times I drove, I followed one of the guys to and from work like a duckling. The next day, when I woke up 2 hours late and 1 hour from my catching my train to London, I threw my Sat Nav in the car, roared onto the road, and made it to the office only getting lost twice. Nothing like a greater fear to overcome your other crap. (Feel free to use that nugget of brilliance in your daily mantras & affirmations.)
Aliens & ghosts. As my driver drove me into town for the first time, he informed me Rendlesham was UFO and ghost central. Despite 12 hrs of travel I perked up like it was my birthday (It was my birthday!) and got him to tell me everything he knew, which wasn't much. Still, I've quizzed everyone who will answer and its true! Rendlesham is the Area 51 of Europe. More on this as I do research, but I heard of a haunted hotel that I'm determined to spend a night in.
London. Instead of spending my first weekend in Suffolk laying groundwork for any possible future making-out, I took the train to London to work for the weekend. London is SO CLOSE I dream of dashing out to get my boss big city things I can't find in Suffolk like cute boots and cashmere sweaters- er, I mean Cuban cigars - on a weekly basis. We'll see, but getting to spend the weekend here was outstanding!
One of these things is not like the other...
but all equally phenomenal!
I've blogged all my major trips (all two of them, whatever) but it's been a long time since I traveled. And since then, the internet has exploded into massive overshare with Facebook, Twitter, etc, of which I participate (Follow me! Friend me! Nah, you don't have to...) so it took weeks for blogging to occur to me when I found myself traveling again.
But here I am, now: a writer (who hasn't written anything in months) with a great new job (that I both love and then not-love sometimes) that gives me to opportunity to travel the world, so why not? As I sat in Brian's kitchen eating blood pudding with hammy bacon and waxing poetic on the relationship of travel to inspiration, there I was- inspired to write again! Using more than 140 characters! Nice!
A quick moment of prequel... eh, nevermind, I kinda just did that.
So anyway, because I've already spent a month working in Alaska I'll do a quick speed-through:
Anchorage, Alaska: bleak, cold, desolate, beautiful, ugly, shady as hell and easy to navigate.
Anywhere around Anchorage: raw, natural beauty. A whole spectrum of "Holy shit..." inspired landscapes. I spent so much time trying to take pictures at snow-covered mountains as I drove that my inner monologue was continuously writing and re-writing the news lead: "LA women crashes into gorgeous mountain and dies in fiery snowball" was the usual.
And I wasn't the only one- for some reason it became one of our favorite games to play on set. "Make-up artist spontaneously explodes into fiery snowball..." "Movie producer falls overboard tour boat into fiery snowball..." You could die in any way as long as you met your ultimate fate in a fiery snowball. I loved it.
I had my first two helicopter rides in Alaska, and I gotta say- if you think Alaska is pretty from the ground, it blows your damn mind from the air. Helicopters are fun, fun, fun. I always wanted to levitate, and that's what riding in a helicopter is. Both times we floated over and landed at glaciers that were so graceful and gorgeous that words are too small to describe.
 |
| Glacier Mouth... say ahhh... |
 |
| No words... |
The rest of my Alaska impressions are tangled in with all my badass crew members. GREATEST CREW EVER. Man, I loved those guys...
 | |
| Love. |
The UK! Suffolk, to be exact. Woodbridge, to be more exact. Rendlesham Forest to be ever more exact. The first time I saw the address, I got tired. Suffolk is 2 hours from London, a county of tiny villages on the North Sea. I haven't seen any of it yet- I've been working my ass off since I got here, staying in the production office til dark, and lemme say: dark is DARK in Suffolk. It's country, yall.
A few things I'm excited about for this location...
Accents. Sweet lord, do I love British accents. I have crushes on every person I've met so far- male, female, gay, old, pot-bellied... I'm open for business. Just sayin'.
Right-hand driving. Meaning driving on the WRONG side of the rode ("RIGHT SIDE" my new accented friends jibe me) in the WRONG side of the car. The first 2 times I drove, I followed one of the guys to and from work like a duckling. The next day, when I woke up 2 hours late and 1 hour from my catching my train to London, I threw my Sat Nav in the car, roared onto the road, and made it to the office only getting lost twice. Nothing like a greater fear to overcome your other crap. (Feel free to use that nugget of brilliance in your daily mantras & affirmations.)
Aliens & ghosts. As my driver drove me into town for the first time, he informed me Rendlesham was UFO and ghost central. Despite 12 hrs of travel I perked up like it was my birthday (It was my birthday!) and got him to tell me everything he knew, which wasn't much. Still, I've quizzed everyone who will answer and its true! Rendlesham is the Area 51 of Europe. More on this as I do research, but I heard of a haunted hotel that I'm determined to spend a night in.
London. Instead of spending my first weekend in Suffolk laying groundwork for any possible future making-out, I took the train to London to work for the weekend. London is SO CLOSE I dream of dashing out to get my boss big city things I can't find in Suffolk like cute boots and cashmere sweaters- er, I mean Cuban cigars - on a weekly basis. We'll see, but getting to spend the weekend here was outstanding!
 |
| Oxford Street |
 |
| Pee or call...? |
 |
| LOVE a great bathroom! |
One of these things is not like the other...
but all equally phenomenal!
 |
| Big fan... |
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