Top 5 Lists

Now that we are now all safely back at home, it is time to reflect on our personal Top 5 lists.  We tried to offer something for everyone on this trip.

Craig

This is really tough for me.  The whole experience was really great.  But here goes, in a very loose order.

1.  Westminister Abbey- I find amazing all the history and stories about Kings and Queens from Medieval times.  The architecture was absolutely amazing.

2.  On/off tour- A great way to see the sites and get some history and interesting stories of all the places.

3.  British Open- I loved the energy of this tournament.  The glass court, the pros, the level of squash, seeing how excited the kids were.

4.  Hanging with Williams on New Year's Eve- Always an entertaining evening with the Williams (now there were just more of them).  This year I particularly liked when they locked the twins out of the house, accidentally of course.

5.  Harry Potter Studio Tour- Admittedly not the biggest Harry Potter fan, it was hard not to appreciate what went into making those films.

Ryan

1. Buckingham Palace (night).  Buckingham palace was one of the coolest things I saw while in England, but it was even better at night.  I liked it more at night because there was barely any people out and it was really easy to take pictures without people getting in the way.

2. The London Eye.  This was one of the coolest things we did while in England.  We had to wait literally all day to get on it, but it was worth the wait.  The view of London at night time with all the lights on was spectacular

3. Piccadilly Circus.  This place was really cool at night.  All the awesome architecture lit up by the lights looked so cool.  The lights hanging above the streets were amazing.  There were so many cool stores and stands that sold some pretty interesting stuff

4. The Tower of London.  This was one of the more interesting things we visited.  The history behind it was so cool.  Each building had its own bit of history and was actually fun to learn about.  We also got to see the crown jewels there.  The jewels were not at all what I expected but they were still pretty cool

5. Westminster Abbey.  This place was really interesting.  All the tombs of the king and queens was a little off putting but it was also really interesting.  It’s amazing how people could build huge buildings like that back before they had cranes or other things to help build tall building.

Final Day of the British Open

Marwan El Shorbagy

Final day in Birmingham and it’s the day of the finals! So exciting. We were ready to see some great squash and boy, did we ever! Our day started with a great breakfast just before the start of the Girls U15 final.  What a great way to start off our spectating, the winner of the final came back from 2-0 down to win it in the 5th.  The reaction from the crowd was amazing!
We watched squash up until the end of the Girls U17 final, 3-0 match. As Ryan, Amin, Sara, Zara and I were watching this match from above the glass court, I was looking around when all of a sudden I saw a bunch of juniors taking pictures and getting autographs with this guy downstairs. I was freaking out because right downstairs was Marwan El Shorbagy! #5 in the world!! We needed to meet him so we rushed downstairs and got a picture with him.  That officially ended my first British Open on a high note.  
We had to go because the Khan's driver was at the hotel to pick us up and drive us to London where we were staying the night before our flight tomorrow.  The 2ish hour driver didn’t seem that bad considering we played Heads Up the entire time.  Everyone but Amin was exhausted from the car ride. He was ready to go do anything whereas we just wanted to eat and sleep. After a quick stop at KFC for dinner (yay more fast food) we decided to put on a movie.  That was pretty much what we did all night, 5 of us watching Catching Fire off of a small tablet screen in our room.  Early morning tomorrow after an eventful day! Oh and did I mention we got the coolest sweaters at the tournament? You could decide which logos to put up on it and they are comfy. Great times. Hannah.

Goodbye England.... British Open, Day 3

     After get back late from Harry Potter, we headed to bed because we had to be up early to catch our flight home.  Did I mention that Ryan and Hannah were staying behind?  It is very tough to leave your children behind in a foreign country and hope that they can function.  I guess it will be teaching them some life lessons (hopefully).  Long story, but when I booked the flights I based them on the dates of the last 10 years of the tournament.  Of course, they changed the dates this year.  That meant that we would be flying back before the tournament was done.   What is the kids were still playing??  Do you pull them out of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?  Or do you hope that someone you know is willing to help us out?  Yes, Anis to the rescue.  Anis is a medallion Delta flyer.  He was able to use his airmiles (which he seems to have oodles of) to fly Ryan and Hannah back at a later date.  Hannah even got upgraded to 1st class.  I hope Hannah doesn't get used to that kind of travel.  Anyways the kids were staying in England as we headed home.
     We were at the airport at 7am (for 9:45 flight) because London Heathrow is mayhem.  Heathrow lands about 650 planes per day.  Probably about the same taking off.  Our flight left on time but it was a really long flight home, almost 8 hours.  About 2 hours in, one of the stewardesses snagged my Apple headphones and as she walked by and broke the jack part off.  Not only did I have no headphones now but my jack didn't work because the other part was stuck in it.  Makes for a long flight.  Land in Philadelphia, wait for over an hour at bag carousel, re-check bags, go through security again.  On a side note, it is interesting how every airport treats security, there doesn't seem to be one standard they all follow.  Anyways through security, grab a grossly overpriced dinner and head to our gate only to find flight is delayed by an hour.  We finally board and then sit on runway forever, fly to Detroit, sit on runway waiting for gate to open.  Disembark and wait again at luggage carousel.  They always apologize for delays but what they don't realize is that is builds throughout a travel day and your patience becomes very thin.  I hate air travel.
     Finally get our luggage and head out to catch a shuttle to Qwik Park.  Of course we just missed the last one and wait and wait.  When we finally get on one and head to our car, I am convinced the car won't start after sitting outdoors in this extreme cold for 10 days.  But what do you know?  Started right away.  Anyways, we got home at 10:00... 3:00am London time so have been up for 21 hours.  Off to bed and I'll find out later how the tournament went for Ryan and Hannah.

     Hannah here.  As Mum, Dad and Emily boarded their plane to end their trip, Ryan and I were finishing the last part of our trip.  Final day of the 2018 British Junior Open (for us anyways).  Ryan was to be on court at 11:30 so we got up at 8 and set off to the club around 10:50, leaving me plenty of time to sit around and watch matches while Ryan warmed up.  His final match was against a guy from Spain.  He played really well and was right in the games but ended up losing 3-0.  It was a positive note for him to end the tournament on.  Even though he lost, he thought he played good squash and was happy.  It was an amazing British Open for Ryan!
    Afterwards we had to quickly make it to Edgbaston Priory Club for Graeme to coach Amin at 1:30, which, knowing Amin, it will be a very entertaining match.  Since I didn't play until 4:50 (or 16:50 as they like to say over here), we had some time to kill.  We quickly went back to the hotel and had

leftovers from the night before which was pizza (I know, great prematch meal).  Then back to the club we went.  Sara was on right before me so I didn't get to watch her because I was warming up.  My last match was against a girl from England and sadly, I lost in 3.  Although I feel I could have played better and it was my last match of the tournament, I can't be too upset because overall, this was an amazing experience.
     Later on, we all decided to go to the mall.  When we got there we realized it was actually a train station and had to walk around to actually find the mall part.  It was fun as Sara, Zara and I dragged Amin and Ryan into Pandora.  Amin and Ryan played the piano and we got free chocolate samples! 
     However, our night wasn't quite over as Amin, Sara and Zara's cousin came to town to visit us for dinner.  We went out to an Indian restaurant where we (mainly me) tried some butter chicken and other foods I can't remember the name of.  I also discovered that I have zero tolerance for spicy food.
     After a games of cards at the hotel it was time to rest up for the finals tomorrow, unfortunately none of us are playing in it :( .  Pictures from the day can be found here.  There are less and less of them.

Goodbye Birmingham..... For Some of Us

Well, this is it. Our last day in Birmingham.... well for some of us. More on that in a minute. Hannah had an 11:00am match and she won her first British Open match 3-1 over a girl from England. She played very well and is moving on to the next round Saturday. Mary Pat, Emily and I had to leave after Hannah's match. We are leaving Hannah and Ryan behind in a foreign country. Don't panic, they are in good hands with the Khan family. They have very generously volunteered to fly them back and watch over them the next couple of days.

We have a train booked backed to London at 12:50. We have tickets booked for the Harry Potter Studio Tour (more on that later from Emily) in London for 6:30. If you ever plan on visiting London and want to do this tour, you need to book it months in advance. It is one of the most popular tourist destinations in England. Of course, we didn't know that and waited too long to book and nothing was available while we were actually in London. Fortunately, we were able to get tickets for the last session on the Friday night before we leave. Unfortunately, it meant hightailing it back to London (that is an oxymoron). Uber from Squash Club to train station, arrive 10 min early, board as train is ready to leave, arrive in London, take 3 subway lines then an Uber to arrive at hotel just in time to check in and hop back in an Uber for Harry Potter. Make it to Harry Potter just in time only to realize that Emily left her phone in the Uber. Deal with that and get in line just in time for Harry Potter.

Hannah here. After my match, mum, dad and Emily left to go to Harry Potter World back in London.  Leaving Ryan and I in the hands of the Khan’s, lucky them.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get to play another match today because I got a bye and Ryan wasn’t playing until 3. So Anis took us back to their hotel where they got us a room. Yes, our very OWN room. The Khan’s have shown our family lots and lots of generosity and I don’t know how were supposed to thank them.  

Ryan and I then taxied back to West Warwickshire for his game. We got there a bit early and there was only one match on in the entire club. We watched that then I sat and watched Ryan solo for a half-hour waiting for his match to start. I guess the solo was good for him considering he hadn't actually had a match in a while due to all his byes. Eventually his opponent showed and his match began. He started off really well, even if the scores don't show it. The rallies were really close and Ryan had his opponent on his toes. Overall, Ryan was happy with how he played and that's all we could ask for.

After his match we just hung around the club and waited for the Khan's to come back for Sara's match. Sara's match (she lost :( ) was over around 7:00 and it was time to go out to dinner. Everyone was starving! Back to the hotel we went where Anis ordered 3 large pizzas, chicken wings and mozzarella sticks for the 5 kids to eat. Let's just say we had a pizza and a half left and some wings when we were done (mostly eaten by Amin). The pizza wasn't as good as what we were used to in Windsor but it was still good.

Later on we went to the lounge area (only for members) and got some (more) free food and drinks. We played a game of cards for a while with the Fast and the Furious on the TV. Once we got bored with cards we played HeadsUp and had lots of laughs with Amin singing and Ryan acting out what clothing spanks were.

Craig here. Harry Potter was amazing. This was the actual set and location where they

filmed the movies. They had all the clothing, the masks, video clips how it was all put together.

Anything you can think of about Harry Potter, it was here. Our tour was almost 4 hours long

and you never got bored looking at the sets and the film-making. This is a must-see for

anyone visiting London.

Posts will be less frequent as we will be traveling and have limited access to WiFi but

stay posted, we will continue to update. Pictures from day can be found here. Harry Potter
pictures can be found here.

British Open, Day 2

   

     Today was all about squash.  Ryan was supposed to play at 9am but his opponent withdrew.  Either due to injury or he looked at the draw and saw Ryan.  Either way Ryan got his first international win and moves on to the next round tomorrow.  So that meant we didn't have to be at the club until Hannah's match at 1pm.  Everyone was exhausted so we slept in and leisurely made our way to the club.  Hannah was playing a girl from Spain.  They looked pretty even on the court but Hannah got behind too much in the first before she started turning it on and couldn't overcome the deficit.  Games 2 and 3 saw long rallies but Hannah could not pull out either game. 
     This now meant we had the whole day to do whatever we wanted.  Ryan and Hannah chose to go watch another player from Windsor play at the other club.  The action at the other club was amazing.  Former pros walking around, well-known international referees, camera crews.  Just sitting down watching the best juniors in the world play on the glass court was an awesome experience.  Living in Windsor you don't realize how big squash is until you come to a country where it is big. 
     Mary Pat and Emily decided to go shopping but not before stopping at the flat to get some stuff.  However best laid plans..... Turns out Mary Pat Uber app wasn't cooperating and she didn't have enough cash for a taxi so she was stuck until I got back.  By that time it was dinner.  We heading into a cute little burrow for dinner.  By the time we got out of dinner, everything was closed.  Two things we have noticed here.  One the days are dark by around 3:30 and two, stores do not have long opening hours. 
     So it is back home to pack and prepare for the tomorrow.  This is Mary Pat, Emily and I last day in Birmingham as we have tickets to the Harry Potter Studio Tour tomorrow in London.  Ryan and Hannah are staying back to complete the tourney.  Pictures can be found here.

British Open- Day 1

     The tournament started for Ontario with Hannah playing first today against a girl from Italy.  The club was jam-packed and very hard to move around to watch matches.  Hannah got off to a great start, winning the first point of the game.  Game one stayed tight until about 7-7 when her opponent went on a bit of a run and took game one.  Hannah played tough in the next two games but unfortunately her opponent took the match.  

     Hop into an Uber and head over the University Club where Ryan was playing at 1:30.  Ryan was playing a player from the US who was very tough.  He hit it hard, had good touch and his lengths were perfect.  Despite playing very well Ryan lost in 3 games.  Neither one plays now until tomorrow so we had the rest of the day to tour around.

     Our original plan was the visit Cadbury World but who would have thought that it was sold out until January 24th!  So that was out.  We opted to hit a very large shopping mall in downtown Birmingham.  It reminded of a big shopping mall in the states but after a few hours, everyone was exhausted and ready to head home.  Dinner in and off to bed early tonight.  Not many pictures from today but here they are.  

Birmingham

    Off to Birmingham today.  Thank you to the Williams for being such great hosts and allowing us to be a part of their Christmas celebration.  We rented a car, don’t panic I didn’t drive.  Graeme did so maybe you should have been worried.  In the end, he wasn’t that rusty driving on the left-hand side of the road, we only drove on the wrong side once.  The drive was a very similar drive to London (Ontario), minus driving on the left-hand, the rain, the traffic and the roundabouts. 

     We showed up at University of BirminghamSport and Fitness Complex where check in and our practice courts were booked (the entire tourney takes place over 4 different clubs).  This complex is unbelievable.  It is brand new with state of the art facilities.  On a non-squash note, the spinning had this massive screen that looked like you were actually climbing up a road in France and monitoring everyone’s performance as they went.  Talked about motivation.

     We were a little early and just kind of hanging out when who walked in but Nick Matthew.  He was kind enough to take pictures with the kids.  The kids and the Khans then got a solid 45 minutes of practice in before the exhibition match.  The setup for the exhibition match was great, full glass court with seating for 200.  This court is also being used for the tournament and being streamed through SquashTV.  You can watch here.

     First match was between Emily Whitlock (rank #16 in the world) vs. Sara Jane Perry (#8).  Sara

won 3-0 in a pretty easy fashion.  The next match was between Nick Matthew (#6) and Declan James (#25).  This was a very entertaining match with incredible shot-making and great rallies.  At the end of the match all the kids went down for pictures and autographs. 

     The highlight of the day definitely happened as we were leaving.  Ryan didn’t initially qualify for

the British Open (program can be found here) as they only accept the top 5 players in each age division per country.  He brought his stuff just in case there was a last minute drop out and sure enough there was.  So Ryan is now in and plays his first match tomorrow at 1:30 (Hannah at 11).  Ryan’s draw is posted here and Hannah’s draw is posted here. 

     Pictures of today’s event can be found here.   

York

      First full day in Leeds and we decided to spend it in a town called York.  However, we didn't get going in the morning until around 10am.  I definitely didn't not get enough sleep as we were up until 1am last night (Craig here, it was closer to 3).  To get to York we took a taxi and the driver spoke maybe 3 sentences to us for the entire 30 minutes.
     By the time we arrived, Emily decided she didn't have enough for breakfast so we went into a restaurant to feed the beast.  Luckily we got there and placed our order (online ordering) just before noon so we could still get the breakfast menu.  I had the best Mango-Apple juice (who knew that was a thing?) which Ryan, Emily and Dad all tried to convince me it had alcohol in it.  Mum wasn't in on it so she ruined the joke (not that I believed them).
     We took the suggestions from the Williams and decided to go to the Shambles and the York Minister Cathedral.  We set off to the Shambles and it was so cool! The streets were narrow and made of cobblestone which dated all the way back to the medieval times. We went into a few shops there and as we got deeper into the streets we saw a huge building over the shops and right there a few streets over was the York Minister Cathedral.  It was huge. Mum loved it and was making sure we got lots of pictures. It really was an amazing building.  Sadly, we didn't have time to tour it.
     Another thing suggested to us was a castle that was in the town and since we hadn't yet seen a castle, off we went to find it.  We were distracted along the way by some more shops, buildings, and a street performer who was on a tight rope playing a fiddle.  Eventually we found the castle.  It wasn't hard to miss considering it was a bit of rubble on top of a hill.  It was really cool but since it was New Year's Day it was closed :(.
     Around 3 we decided it was time to head back but we had a problem.  How were we going to get back in Leeds? Taxi? Too expensive.  Uber? Not allowed .  Our only option left was to take the train back into Leeds which wasn't that bad, just a 30 minute train ride.  We got back into Leeds and got the same Uber guy as yesterday.  I think him and Dad had a repeat of the same conversation as yesterday.
     When we got back to the Williams house, it had a different feel to it.  Everyone left!  We went from 24 people last night to just us.  Graeme took Ryan and I to hit once more in Leeds before heading to Birmingham tomorrow for the tournament. The club was dead so we actually got the class court that wasn't as hot as a sauna. We did a few drills, a game of cut throat(which I won) and Ryan and I were finishing off with a game when the lights went out. Unfortunately Graemes' iPhone flashlight wasn't cutting it.
     Afterwards, our parents ditched us to go to some pub with Graeme (boring!). Craig here.  It wasn't just some pub.  It was the oldest pub in England and I was introduced to a new beer (Timothy Taylor from Keighley) . Hannah back.  We did meet up after for a lovely dinner at an Italian restaurant, where to Dad's surprise they actually hired real Italians!  So tonight is our last night in Leeds before we all travel to Birmingham tomorrow.  Hopefully it won't be a very late night for us.  Pictures of today can be found here. 
Hannah

Travel Day

     Goodbye London.  For a few days anyways.  Today is a travel day as we are off to visit with Graeme, Victoria, Maisie, Iris, Isobel and the rest of the Williams family for New Years, 24 people all told.  We took a 2 hour train ride out of King’s Cross in London to Leeds.  The train was very comfortable and fast. Top speed was 125 MPH (yes they do MPH over here, didn’t know that).  We arrived around 2:30, took an Uber to their house which was about 20 mins out of town.  We didn’t get to see much of Leeds at all.

      As our Uber approached their house and accidentally drove past it, who was that crazy guy in shorts and barefeet running after the car? He even has a Windsor Squash shirt on, wait it looks like kind of like Graeme, yep that was Graeme trying to flag us down.

     After meeting the Williams clan and spending some time visiting, Graeme, Hannah, Ryan and I heading out the neighbourhood squash club.  Yes I said neighbourhood club.  There are apparently 50 clubs within a 100 km radius.  Graeme and the kids worked out on the court and I left to visit the grocery store.   When I returned there was a very large crowd of people watching them do drills.  I heard comments like, “Wow, this is real squash” and “Who are these guys?”.  I got chatting with them and next thing you know, they are buying me beer.  Awesome club J.

     Back at the Williams house it was time for present opening.  As the kids opened their presents the Guthrie were surprised to discover that Santa left us presents at their house!  Before long it was time for New Year’s Eve festivities which included a lot of kids running around, some weird drinking games (Ring on a String) and watching the countdown on TV.  If you want to see an amazing fireworks display, check out this display London puts on, wow!

     Definitely a different kind of day from the past few.  It was nice to settle a little and experience New Year’s in a little quieter fashion.  Tomorrow we are off to York.  Apparently it is a very historic little town about a ½ hour from here.  Not many pics from today but here they are.