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Commentary: There are trips and then there are vacations

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The thing about travel is that you must know at the planning stage whether you want to go on a trip or a vacation.

A trip involves sightseeing and cramming as much as possible into the time allotted, including souvenir shopping. A vacation involves lying in the shade on a chaise, reading a novel or doing a crossword puzzle, and sipping umbrella drinks.

If you and your traveling companion aren’t in accord, it leads to the expectations of one or the other not being met (with accompanying ill feelings). Once my husband and I figured this out, we alternated trips with vacations. Previously, I would be champing at the bit and raring to go, while Lee would be lolling about as though time were not of the essence.

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I just got back from my first trip since Lee died. Son Mark and I took a cruise around the British Isles. Prior to leaving, I experienced some tension and anxiety. However, Mark is fun to be with, and we laughed ourselves silly, starting on the airplane.

Maybe this is something you had to be there to appreciate, but I’ll test it on you.

We were settled into business class, having just been served our drinks, a Manhattan for me and Scotch and water for Mark. Usually the first thing I do is thumb through the airline’s magazine and the duty free catalog, but with no seat pocket in front of me, it appeared there were neither.

I said, “Oh, they don’t have any airplane magazines,” and Mark said, “Yes, they do. They’re between us, behind us.”

And he gestured across his chest with his Scotch and water, sloshing it all over his jacket. I said (of course), “Oh, Mark! you’ve spilled your drink!” And Mark said, “It’s OK, Mom. The jacket is waterproof ... and now it has been Scotch-guarded!”

I laughed so hard I was squeaking out sounds and gasping for breath.

So, did you need to be there to find that funny?

Deep laughter is a great release. Everything would be OK.

We didn’t have time to explore London — not even the outside of the Tower of London. We did walk from the hotel to the Thames so we could see Big Ben and the giant Ferris wheel called the London Eye. It was a long walk, over an hour. Clearly, my long-distance, fast-walking days are over.

As I was jet-lagged and spent, we flagged down a taxi on the bridge across the Thames. A lovely young driver rescued us.

I told him where we wanted to go and that I had a problem: I had no pounds with which to pay him. I had 20 Euros, a credit card and American dollars. He said the ride would probably cost about 15 pounds, and he didn’t take Euros or credit cards, but he would stop where I could use a currency exchange machine.

I said, “I am exhausted, and I will give you 40 American dollars if you will pay for the ride yourself.”

He recognized the very good deal (the pound was worth about 1.65 dollars), and I surely got my money’s worth. Mark and I agreed it was what Dad would have done.

After our auspicious start, everything continued to go smoothly. I carried my wonderful Los Angeles Times comics-patterned umbrella on each excursion, but it virtually never rained while we were off the coaches.

All along, Mark and I were of a mind as to the purpose of our adventure. We crammed in every possible sight we could in the two-week period, including a six-hour bus ride to spend five hours in Paris, where we went on a cruise along the Seine.

We visited many places we had never been. Guernsey. Blarney Castle in Cork, where Mark made the grueling climb up its tower, but I did not. (Although I didn’t witness it, I tell people that when Mark kissed the Blarney Stone, it kissed him back.) Dublin. Belfast. Glasgow. The Orkney Islands. Inverness — the Loch Ness monster remained submerged. Edinburgh.

Highlights: Foreign accents, green scenery, castles and cathedrals, the beer and Scotch distilleries, the Royal Yacht Britannia in the Port of Leith (Lee’s real name) and local souvenirs.

We returned home exhausted but thoroughly satisfied.

A trip to remember. But definitely not a vacation!

LIZ SWIERTZ NEWMAN lives in Corona del Mar.

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