in pictures: derby, england. [part 1 of vacation series]

it is a bit overwhelming trying to blog an entire european vacation so i think i will break it up by cities.  the boy was already in england for a week before i left since he was there for work.  he had flown over with a group of guys from work.  i was to meet him in derby, england which is the city where the rolls royce headquarters in located.

i began my journey on a sunday evening flying out on Indianapolis headed to washington d.c. dulles airport.  this was the first time i had flown alone so i was a little nervous.  luckily  i made my connection and continued my journey from Washington d.c. to dublin ireland which was a six hour really hot flight in the back of the plane squished against the window.  the food was terrible and i never once slept or got up.  i realized in this moment that i don’t really care for flying much at all.   once i arrived in dublin i was shocked at how empty yet updated this airport was.  not a lot of signage and i had a several hour layover here so i wasn’t exactly sure where to go.  i ended up finding some internet on my ipad which made the time go quicker.  after being redirected several times when asking for direction, i ended up being at the right gate all along. an easy one hour flight with no one in my row but me and i was in england!  i landed in birmingham and was to take a train from the airport to the main train station in town.  from there i needed to get on a longer train to derby.  this was the part i was nervous about so i was asking a lot of people for help along the way.  luckily everyone was very nice, i managed to carry both my bags on the train and find room to sit. when i exited the train station in derby the boy was downstairs waiting for me and the most stressful part of the trip was over.

it was late and i was tired so the first time was spent walking to dinner and showing me some of his favorite things.  tom also had a rental car for a couple more days so we experience the thrill risk that is driving on the wrong side of the road.  he still had one more day of work to finish before we were going to be traveling to london.  i explored the town, took pictures, and tried to catch up on sleep.  that evening after work we headed straight for the train station and would be in london that evening.

photography note:  photos were taken with a canon mark ii,  nikon d3, or my iphone 4s.  iphone photos were edited with pic tap go app.
                                                                  snapshots of ireland

hello derby- the shopping district

                                                                   food choices were less than appealing… baked beans for breakfast? uh no thanks.                                                                   we tried to pack as light as possible but it still felt like too much luggage.
and just like that his work trip ended and we were on a fast speed train to London.