2024 England - April - Guernsey Trip - Day 01 - Arrival, Shipwreck Museum

April 15th, 2024

I’m writing this from the Imperial Hotel on the Isle of Guernsey.  After a Saturday and Sunday night back in our flat at the temple, we headed out around 8 AM to Gatwick airport to catch a flight to Guernsey.  I have a huge mistake by asking our chauffeur, Dave Thackeray, to drop us off at a place away from the Gatwick drop off zone.  This was to avoid the £6 drop off charge.  As we began our walk to the terminal, I saw cameras and a sign indicating there would be a £100 penalty when caught stopping within 30 yards of the camera.  I believe we are going to fall victim to that.  I was originally going to a McDonald’s that was just another 50 yards down the road where I knew I would be fine.  But this just felt easier.  But in the end, cameras are everywhere in England and you get burnt when you try to bend the rules.  I’m pretty sure a ticket notice will show up in Dave’s mailbox and I will pay the penalty.  So stupid I am sometimes.

Our hotel sits right on a beautiful bay in the English Channel.  Guernsey is part of the English Channel Islands.  We arrived in very windy conditions.  The plane was really rocking left to right as it approached.  It was a turbo prop plane, which I have not been on for some time now.  Nonetheless, the pilot got us on the ground in great fashion.  We then retrieved our luggage and headed out to catch an island bus that would take us near our hotel.  It turns out, the stop is in front of our hotel and took only 15 minutes or o to get here from the airport.  Really nice for £1.50 per person.  To get back to the airport on Thursday, we will need to use a taxi.  I’m told this will cost me £25.  Buses aren’t running at 5:30 AM.

I think I mentioned it was windy.  That is an understatement.  It is blowing quite hard.  And it will probably be that way the whole time we are here.  It is also cold…low 50’s…with the wind making it feel even colder.  But that does not take away from the beauty outside our hotel door.  We were supposed to get a seaside view room.  But a few days before, they sent me an email saying that all ther seaside view rooms halve need for some emergency repairs and that we would be moved to a standard room.  They have told me that we will get the reduced rate, one night free and a free evening meal in their restaurant.  We booked that for Wednesday evening.  Our room is small but nice.  It’s been cold as the radiator heat does not seem to stay on.  And the TV is worthless as there is no cable wire connecting the TV.  I reported both these.  They did get the heat running for a while.  The TV…they never addressed it.  Not that it matters as we would not watch it anyway.

When we arrived at the hotel, our room was not quite ready.  So I spent about an hour on the phone with T-Mobile trying to get my cell data capabilities to work.  I can call, text, etc….but no cell data capability.  I tried everything following T-Mobiles’s instructions.  But naturally after a long time with them, the connection dropped and they never called back.  Such good customer service.  I guess I will just be able to use it with WIFI.  Denises phone works great.  The only difference is that my phone has dual SIM’s and I use them both, one for my UK phone and one for my USA phone.  I just wonder if Lebara’s  (UK carrier) configuration is getting in the way of T-Mobile’s.  Anyway….it is what it is.

After getting into the room, we set out to see a Shipwreck museum that was about half a mile down the road.  Lazy us, we paid to have a bus take us down there due to the cold and wind.  But coming back, we did walk and we did make up for the initial ride as we had head winds going back.  The museum was interesting as it called out the many vessels that have been shipwrecked on the rocks here in Guernsey and near where we are staying.   I think the last one was in the 70’s.  I can see how this could happen if a ship lost power in windy conditions and get blown into these rocks around here.  Anyway, it was fascinating to see.  Divers had brought up many old items from shipwrecks.   One find was a Roman ship that existed in 90 AD…they believe.  The timbers have been tested and that’s what they had come up with.  That was cool.

After the museum visit, we walked across the street to a cafe.  It was called the Himalayan Kitchen.   The food was really nice.   We were quite surprised by it as it was just a small little cafe like place.  We didn’t expect to get such fine dining there.

It was around 5 PM when we returned to the hotel.  We debated taking the bus into ‘town’.  However, the bus lines start shutting down around 7 PM.  So we decided to just hang out in our room and watch a few of our USshows that we can stream on my iPad.  Unfortunately, I started into trust/estate stuff with my siblings describing what I thought was to happen with monies in an IRA that my father owned that is tied to his trust.  I’m getting mixed messages from some legal counsel that I have and Pershing, the custodians of the money.  If I follow Pershing’s instructions, the trust will be taxed 39% of any distribution made out to us, the beneficiaries.  My legal counsel is saying that is not right as it the tax burden should be passed on to the beneficiaries (and would be at a much lower individual rate).  Anyway, I don’t know how it will end up.  But the moral to the story is, do not tie any IRA to a trust…just use named beneficiaries.  Trust tax rules are crazy and have high rates.  I finally tried to go to sleep around 10:30 PM.  More to come tomorrow.

Pictures:

This is the Guernsey airline that we flew on.  It is pronounced Orreenee.

The turbo prop plane that got us here safely.  We were in Gatwick when taking this picture.

We are at the Guernsey airport waiting for the bus.  I’m trying to get cell data to work on my phone using T-Mobile.

This is inside the bus that we used to get to our hotel.  Bus #92!

This photo was taken on the front door step of our hotel.  Pretty beautiful.  The water here is crystal clear, unlike the beaches in England close to where we are.

The Imperial Hotel.

A view from inside the Hotel lobby of the bay outside our door.

Our hotel bedroom.

Believe it or not, this is the shipwreck museum.  You go into the white round thing and then there is a spiral staircase that takes you down one level.

This is inside the museum.  It was quite nice how it was set up.

Across the street from the museum, next to the cafe, there was a special room that contained these remnants of a Roman ship that sunk around 90 AD.  Pretty amazing.

Denise’s poke bowl at the Himalayan kitchen. 

My sizzling chicken plate.  Both plates were awesome.  We chased both plates down by sharing a piece of carrot cake!

Our walking path back from the museum to the hotel.  They don’t believe, nor have room, for sidewalks.  You take your life in your hands.

This is a picture as we left Gatwick.  It reflects the area in which we live.  Gatwick is 10 minute drive from our flat at the temple.

My beautiful wife.

Another shot of our walking path.

We almost of a ‘sea view’.  This is what I see outside a small window above our bed in our bedroom.  We would have had a balcony if we had received a ‘sea view’ room.  Kind of sad about that.