More day one.

Enormous National Buses, I rode one to Bath, the next stop on my trip. It was a pleasant 2 1/2 hour ride through countryside.

 

Once I got to Bath (rather dazed and confused) I went across the street to a nice new shopping mall in order to buy a pre-loaded phone to use while in England. I saw this Krispy Kreme shop, which floored me.

  I flagged down a taxi (the first time I've done that) to take me to my car rental, where I got a Vauxhall compact, I made sure I got an automatic shift and a Sat-Nav.

 

I then spent a terrifying 45 minutes trying to get out of Bath in Friday rush hour traffic, driving on the wrong side of the road for the first time. I finally got out of Bath, onto the M4, and then to my exit to the tiny village where I was supposed to spend the night. All the while I'm thinking I wish I were staying in Bath tonight, I wish I had booked a tour so someone would be taking care of all the details, why didn't someone talk me out of this!!??? Oh wait, people did try to talk me out of this! Okay, don't throw up, it will be alright, it will be alright, it will be alright. Well, after another hour, several stops to ask directions, stopping at the local pub to find someone who could tell me where the key to my cottage was (it was now 6:00 p.m., no one was at the estate office or in the manor house. Turns out everyone at the manor was having a party up in the woods) I had, thankfully, ordered food to be waiting in the fridge, ate it, went to bed and slept.