In a few short months, I will be traveling to London. It is one of my favorite places on earth. Despite several previous trips, I still have a to-do list that I wouldn't complete if I went back every year. Is that the appeal of a place? Somewhere that has so many things to do, you never tire of going there? (I'll just throw out there that I feel the same way about New York. Every trip is a different neighborhood, and every trip makes me want to return.) My trips have had enough years in between that my tastes have changed, my interests matured, and I find myself wondering how I've never been to the V&A, or The Globe, or the Tate.
My first trip to London was part of a study abroad program when I was 19. Oh to be young again. We knew not what we were doing. My best friend and I signed up for the program during our very first quarter of community college. The summer study was actually in Wales, but we had long weekends in which to subject Great Britain to our naïve, American ways. London was, thankfully, one of our last weekends of the trip. By then we considered ourselves quite worldly. I think we ended up on a tour of some sort, so we at least got a few of the "highlights" in: Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, the Tower. Our trip to the British Museum lasted longer than intended when we were put in lockdown while touring a room of Celtic artifacts. After wandering around the small gallery for an hour, we'd had about all a 19 year old could take. Helpful suggestions from the discount-theater-ticket-guy led us to see The Mouse Trap. I think that's where they send all tourists, visiting for the first time. Looking back, I think of all the things I missed. But when you're young, you have time to waste.
The same friend who made the inaugural trip with me all those years ago will be with me again. We are bringing her 19 year old niece. Perhaps we'll make her reenact our youthful follies. I think there are some musts for her to see, so it will be fun to look again on familiar scenes with fresh eyes.
So now I dream of all the things I'll do and see on my next trip. My to-do list has to be pared down to "must do's" and even that list might require some value engineering. Since agreeing to this latest London adventure, I started grad school (the MLIS program at San Jose State). Maybe if I throw in a few libraries, I can feel like I'm doing "research".
