I'm now back in the UK! The last 24 hours have been extremely busy for me as I've gone from being on the bay in California to blogging from a hotel room in London.
The first 2 hours of the last 24 were spent moving the Hoa Hele to a friend's house near the marina where we normally practice. Instead of going straight to storing the canoe, I decided this morning that I would get some paddling time in before I went off to London. I got on to the water this morning and it was perfect out there, the kind of conditions that make you want to stay out all day. As I was watching the planes come in for their landings at Oakland Airport, I decided then and there that I would set the bar for myself in the "Most Transportation Vehicles in 24 Hours" category.
Seeing as I started the 24 hour clock by taking the Hoa Hele out, I'll count travel by outrigger canoe as number one.
As I was putting her away, John, whose backyard was to serve as dry dock for the Hoa Hele while I was gone, offered to drive me to the airport. A generous offer, as I was running late by taking a run out into the bay.

I got to my plane a little over an hour after he dropped me off and I was off and flying to LAX on a McDonnell Douglas MD-80 to catch my connecting flight to Heathrow Airport. I watched as the California coast scrolled past my window to Los Angeles. John's Subaru is transportation vehicle number two, the MD-80 number three.
Once in Los Angeles, and facing a 4 hour layover until I could get onto my flight to the UK, I met my sister who picked me up in her Toyota FJ, vehicle number four. I had a nice California burger before heading back to LAX to catch a Boeing 777 to London Heathrow.
Once on the 777, vehicle number five, I met up with an American team participating in the Charity Rally this year, Team Grand Canyon 2. Jeff and Art bought a Landrover Discovery to make their way through to Ulaanbaatar. On the way they'll hit
all the 'stans
and Iran and will be tackling the Pamir Highway, the famed road to Dushanbe. We had a good time talking and when we disembarked, they were nice enough to sneak me through the "invite only" passport line where it took mere minutes to get processed and into the UK proper. From there it was off to the London Underground.

Since I had some experience dealing with the tube, I helped Jeff and Art out by getting them maps and showing how to read the London Tube map. To the unitiated, the London Tube system map can be a source of anxiety, until you realize just how brilliant it is.

Once on their way, Jeff and Art made their long trip to retrieve their vehicle. I'll have more about them when I meet up with them tomorrow and get the rundown on their vehicle. I took the Picadilly line further to Holborn. The Tube train is vehicle number six. Once I got off, I had to take the number 55 double decker bus to my hotel in Bakers Arms, making it vehicle number seven. It took about twenty minutes and puts me in North London, a few miles within Islington where the Rally starts. I got checked into my hotel, and found the accommodations kind of scary. It's adequate enough, however there's a raging case of mold growing in the shower stall. I made the joke online that its probably more afraid of me than I am of it.
It's afraid...it's afraid!Aside from the scary mold, I'm glad to be back in the UK, and I look forward to meeting the rest of the teams this evening and tomorrow at the Naadam Festival in Highbury Fields. After 7 different kinds of transport and running all over the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and London, I'm ready for some sleep. Hopefully I won't be too terribly jetlagged and I'll be coherent within a couple of days.
