Thirsk or Bust
Some days ago, the prominent blogger Iman Brotoseno suddenly asked me whether I have an interest of flying to London. A crazy question. I almost considered nothing before answering with only one word: Deal. In the following correspondence, Iman told me the T&C. Air Asia will pay the flight ticket for me, and only the ticket. I will have to pay all the taxes, the accomodation, visa application, and anything else. I must also plan the travel, and I will have to blog it, with a link to Air Asia. I might go with a partner, but the partner I chose must be a non-newbie blogger, who must also report on blog. Coincidentally, my partner is a long-time blogger too. Here we go!
It needed days before I could actually get the ticket from Kualalumpur to London Stansted and return (I had to pay for the airport tax to confirm the ticket). Until now I haven’t received the ticket from Jakarta to Kualalumpur and return. But today I have submitted the UK Visa application. It will need about 10 days for approval. Wow :).
Meanwhile, here is my brief plan: London -> Thirsk -> York -> Coventry -> Cardiff -> London
- London. Air Asia will terminate at Stansted around midnight. We will need a rest before our terrestrial journey. So, Day-1 will be occupied by short cultural visits in London. British Museum, or London Symphony Orchestra, or others.
- Thirsk. All started here. In this tiny town, the late Alf Wight used to work as a veterinarian, and then wrote his book If Only They Could Talk, with his pseudo James Herriot. Thirsk was altered as Darrowby. The translation of this book in Indonesian — Seandainya Mereka Bisa Bicara — started my interest of writing my diary — and then blogs. Anything Andrea Hirata wrote, Edensor has nothing to do with James Herriot.
- York. The voted best UK city. The cemetery of James Herriot. And the squirrels.
- Coventry. In english, the idiom sent to Coventry means excommunicated. But here in Coventry I pursued my master degree in telecommunications. A reunion with my alma mater and the city I lived years ago must be interesting.
- Birmingham. The perfect couple of Coventry, it is also the biggest city in the UK after London.
- Cardiff. I have visited Scotland, including the capital Edinburgh and the highlands. So I decide in this session to visit Cardiff (Caerdydd), the capital of Wales (Cymru). In Wales, they speak both English and Welsh (rooted in celtic).
- London. London has many uniqueness worth another visit, before the return fly to Indonesia.
One thought on “Thirsk or Bust”
I am seriously cnotemplating a change of career to become a vet. I was an avid fan of “All Creatures” when I was a child and, up until seeing the cover of this book, was really keen on the idea of re-training to be a vet! I don’t recall James Herriot looking quite so pained and with a Beatles hair cut (perhaps this explains the pained expression though). As for the cow’s owner…. are you sure they haven’t mistakenly put a character from “Life and Loves of a She Devil” into the picture?THink I m,ight need to take a trip to THirsk to look at this museum for myself!