Laurie's light travel travel tips

..... ----------------------------------------------------Here I am at BFI, which I believe stands for British Film Institute . I'm on my second coke and rum with lime and am too knackered to look up the "I". The lighting is dim and low here in the bar, just as one would expect between suspenseful seminars on film. I've enjoyed two so far. The first was "Trust No One: Conspiracy and Paranoia in the Age of Fake News" , which was moderated by BBC presenter Samira Ahmed who introduced two journalists who gave their analyses of why one shouldn't trust anyone they meet in film. No that's not right. Shouldn't trust some people in film or some journalists? (I know they laughed about how journalists used to be the sign of who to trust in films but no more!) The movies in the first seminar did not include anything I have seen, I am embarrassed to say, but now very much want to see ("Coma" and especially "The Parallax View (19...

The walk down there was gorgeous, the colors just a week past peak, and Virginia seemed to speak to me in gentler tones than it had before I left for London . I also could clearly see why Virginia Colony was the first English settlement in North America. The historic houses on Broad Street pay homage to some of the dandiest in Blighty, with an American twist - impressive Colonial designs, broad porches, exuberant maples and gorgeous firs. After I voted - the woman wished me good luck at grad school! - I journeyed over to Starbucks, put my legs up, and watched the day go by. I was musing that it had been the first time in I-don't-know-when that I didn't have some kind of agenda for an hour. The guy beside me had his legs up on the little ottoman and so I had copied him. Then my dad called, perfect timing. Fun to come back to Falls Church this week, forgetting that it would be the week to vote for a new governor. As a woman with two countries right now, I wasn't quite sure ...

I'm back in the U.S. for Reading Week, a new term to me but a welcome one. I love studying at King's College London, but also love coming "home". I still have a U.S. apartment til the end of the year (lease), and though it pains me financially, it's an emotional balm. Transitioning to a new country and way of life is harder than it seems when we're sitting around doodling pictures of Big Ben and dreaming of handsome Colin Firth-like men whisking us away in their chariots (with the steering wheel on the wrong side.) As I reflect on my three weeks in London , I'm struck more by the stories of the people I've met than anything else. My friend Kelly, who passed in 2008, once told me: "All cities are alike." She was right. New York, Chicago and London share Starbucks, traffic, a cosmopolitan sneer and swagger, and competitive financial climates. Walk into any busy Whole Foods and you'll forget exactly where you are unless you've picked u...