I'm not a fan of Kentucky Fried Chicken. It's a vile American fast food chain. However, KFC is a very different thing in England. Unlike our local KFC, which is little more than a run-down take-away shack, the KFC in Newbury is more like a snazzy Starbucks outlet, complete with stylish cafe lighting and tables. More important than the cosmetic differences, is the Zinger burger. Sadly, the Zinger burger is not offered at KFC in America.

Dan hyped up the Zinger Burger so much, that I had to try one on our trip to England.

Spicy, yummy goodness.

Finally, it's time to try this Zinger Burger.

Three Zinger burgers please!

KCF in Newbury.

The Zinger burger is good. Real good. If it was offered in America, it would be a compelling reason to stop at KFC. The magic in the Zinger burger is the spices. I can't handle super spicy foods, but this gives just enough kick to be really tasty and balances with the mayo.

On second thought, I am really relieved that this isn't offered in America. I don't need any additional fast food favorites to tempt me!

I spent the afternoon with Dan's mom in the nearby town of Hungerford and we went to two very cute restaurants.

The first was a place called Rafters Cafe, located in the attic of an antiques arcade. We went for tea and a snack, before checking out the antique booths.

To get to the cafe, we had to walk to the center of the arcade and climb two separate flights of stairs, weaving through all sorts of merchandise haphazardly crammed in narrow aisles with low ceilings. I felt like Alice exploring Wonderland.

A tea cup hanging on the wall.

The interior of the cafe. Notice the wood railing, very old!

The entire building was very old with low ceilings and uneven floors. Lots of character!

The second set of stairs leading to the cafe

Cute sign for Rafters Cafe

Signs for Rafters Cafe

We ordered a pot of tea and shared a hot cross bun. To be honest, I had no clue what a hot cross bun was, despite playing the song for my third grade violin recital. The actual bun is far superior to the children's song, although, I bet I got it stuck in your head. You're welcome. It was delicious, kind of like an English Muffin with warm currants.

My cup of tea.

Tea

Hot Cross Buns, Hot Cross Buns, One a Penny, Two a Penny, Hot Cross Buns. (those lyrics don't really make a lot of sense)

Rafters menu and sugar bowls.

After checking out the antiques and strolling around Hungerford, we ate a late lunch at the Tutti Pole. It was a gloomy, rainy day and a bowl of tomato- basil soup with crusty bread hit the spot.

Delicious Tomato-Basil soup.

The Tutti Pole.

Art at the Tutti Pole.

The Tutti Pole.

You're probably wondering about the quirky name, right?

A Tutti Pole is a long staff decorated with flowers, oranges and ribbons and is associated with Hock Days. Having origins in the medieval period, Hock Days traditionally occurred a few weeks after Easter and was a time when money was collected for the local church. This tax was collected in various light hearted ways, including the Tutti Men.

Two men dressed up in coats and top hats would walk house to house with their Tutti Poles and collect both coins and kisses from the women. Today, the town of Hungerford still celebrates the tradition and although they no longer collect money, the collection of kisses still continues!

Coming soon...my encounters with antiques, ducks and telephone booths in the beautiful town of Hungerford.

My first trip to Europe has sadly ended and now it is time for the onslaught of blog posts and Tripadvisor reviews. As I'm writing this, I'm still in the throes of jet lag and my entire system is completely confused by the time change. We were home and in bed before eleven, but I woke up at three in the morning, thinking that it was the afternoon and that I should be having tea or visiting a castle. I'm going to try my best to make it through today without a nap and hopefully be back to normal by tomorrow.

England was a good mix of everything that I imagined and stuff that never occurred to me. More on that in future posts, now let's start at the beginning and talk about the journey on British Airways.

I'm not just saying this because Dan's dad is a retired BA employee, but British Airways was far nicer than any other airlines that I have flown on, this includes many different US carriers and Air Canada.

We flew economy, so you know that it's going to be cramped and kind of miserable, but I felt like British Airways did everything possible to make the journey more bearable.

When we boarded the plane, each seat had a pillow, a blanket and a little bag with headphones and a mini tooth brush/tooth paste kit. Having the means to brush your teeth after a long flight is a big mood booster. I have grown accustomed to airlines only providing pillows and blankets upon request and them never having enough on board for all the passengers. It was nice to have the extras and not have to fight for them.

Note, although it's nice that they give you headphones, my own Iphone headphones were so superior in sound quality that I would recommend to make sure to bring your own.

We made the mistake of not double checking if our flight was delayed prior to leaving the house. It was delayed for two hours. Normally, this wouldn't be a huge deal, but the international terminal at LAX is a wasteland. I didn't appreciate how bad LAX is, until I walked through Heathrow. Heathrow is like a mega mall and LAX is like the DMV. It's bad.

We found this spot to wait and named it "Dan's Nap Room". LAX is the pits.

Even with the wait, it was impossible for my excitement to wane. It only took thirty-five years, but I was heading to EUROPE!!!

Next stop, England!

Our plane.

If you have to fly economy, picking the best seats is essential. Dan knows the ropes. The plane has three rows of two seaters on either side in the very back of economy. However, only the first set of two seaters on either side has extra space by the window. It's not a lot, but every inch counts. I was thankful to be seated with Dan and not squeezed in with other passengers. My only negative about BA, is the leg room seems more cramped than economy planes that I have flown on with other carriers.

Economy after the flight..what a mess!

Panorama of economy.

The inflight entertainment was plentiful, with a good range of movies and music. They even had a spoken word series of short stories and podcasts, including my favorite podcast, This American Life. I was very excited to watch movies and read books on the flights, but misjudged how sleepy I would be. On the flight over, I only watched, Lawless. On the way home, I fit in two movies, On the Road and Seven Psychopaths. The movies were okay, but I most enjoyed the documentaries offerings, including a travel program on Brazil. Next vacation destination perhaps?

I've not seen meals on an airlines since the mid-ninties. I know that airline food gets a bad rap, but really, I'll eat just about anything and the food that BA served was pretty darn good. We had a full dinner and a light meal each way. They also served free alcohol on board. Did you hear me, FREE ALCOHOL! I think that the only reason this is so exciting is for the novelty. I've never seen free booze in economy. It's not such a great idea to drink while flying and you'll feel crappy for it later. I had a mini bottle of wine (two going) with my dinner. It's the little things that count.

I really liked the yogurt drink.

Pur breakfast box, served about ninety minutes prior to landing.

Excuse the bad Iphone picture...but this was our curry chicken dinner. The carrot cake was outstanding.

Complimentary beer and wine.

When not watching movies, it's hard not to stare at the moving map screen. I love and hate this feature. It's fine if you can refrain from checking it every five minutes. A watched plane doesn't fly faster!

The map.

I was seated across the aisle from the most unaware man that ever existed. An hour into the flight, he knocked my water over and it spilled on my lap and IPad. The Ipad was safe, but soaked jeans make economy travel even more uncomfortable. During dinner he flung food from his plate on to mine. It kept things interesting.

Heathrow Baggage Claim

My landing card

Almost there...

Welcome!

Grimy and happy after a long flight.

The trip back to Los Angeles was even smoother. The plane was delayed nearly an hour, but they managed to make up the time in the air and we landed only fifteen minutes late. It's easy to kill time in the Heathrow airport, because there is just so much to see. We spent most of the time having coffee in a quiet lounge, where Dan even ran into a former co-worker.

I can move to England and still go to country concerts!

Dan and I, before a long flight home.

funny lottery ad.

latte and smores cake

Funny Red Nose Day advertisement

Goodbye..we will hopefully return soon!

Red Nose Day was on the Friday of our visit. We spent that day at Legoland and sadly, didn't see any Red Nose activity.

We found a quiet spot for a latte and complimentary paper.

I read the London Evening Standard

Shopping at the airport

We left on a cold, rainy Sunday afternoon. It even snowed earlier in the day. Here are all of the BA planes in the cold.

Panoroma

Plane on a stormy day

Even though the flight going home was an hour longer, it was an easier flight due to the time of day. It ran into the late evening, but wasn't overnight, so I wasn't completely exhausted. It's much nicer when you can stay up and take advantage of the entertainment, rather than attempt to sleep in a cramped chair.

The food on the way home was good too.

The second meal was a chicken salad sandwich and chocolate chip muffin. Decent.

Again, BA did a great job with the desserts.

Dinner..Butter Chicken Curry with pasta salad and a caramel chocolate mousse for dessert.

I didn't see London from the air coming or going. It was too cloudy. I like to think that London was just saving itself for my next trip, when I will hopefully get to visit the city.

Both trips with British Airways were as nice as they could be for an economy flight. The staff was friendly, professional and very attentive. I look forward to flying on BA on future vacations!

Stay tuned for my England trip reports!

England March 2013- Gluttony Part Two

England March 2013- British Airways