konfessions of the Koog

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Day 5-Union Jack Club-Bourton-on-the-Water-The Farmer’s Dog

It was our last morning at the Union Jack Club in London. With glazed lamb kidneys as yesterday’s breakfast special, I was so excited to see what today would hold at the breakfast buffet. Alas, it was Spanish omelets with chorizo. A pretty standard special and a signal that it was time to say, in the words of my beloved Taylor Swift, “So Long, London.” I had my usual cereal with mushrooms, baked beans and grilled tomato. The Union Jack club was a great place to stay but would not make my top 1000 places to have breakfast in London. We packed up our bags, checked out and grabbed out taxi using a snazzy gadget at the front desk where you push a button, it gives you a digital message like, “your taxi is on the way” and suddenly the taxi appears. It was literally less than 5 mins. Our driver, Alex, helped us Tetris our bags between the back of the cab where we were sitting and the front passenger seat. Unfortunately for me, I got the backward facing jump seat. It’s not about comfort, it’...

Day 4-Union Jack Club-Spitalfields Market-Nap-Larch-SkyGarden Fail

Since today is our last day in London, we decided to split up since each teen wanted to do a different thing but first breakfast. Again, it was not great but they did add a new item that, while intriguing, we all passed on tasting. Today’s special was “Glazed Lamb Kidneys.” Nothing says “Good Morning Britain” like a good glazed lamb kidney, am I right? Am I? I really don’t know because the look and smell of them were off putting. I don’t want to yuck anyone’s yums but dear God they looked gross. Opting out of my breakfast organ meat, I went for the same selection of oddities as yesterday except instead of coco puffs, I went for corn flakes. Honestly, I cannot wait to see what the special is tomorrow! What could top glazed lamb kidneys? I shutter to imagine. Anyway, as I said we were splitting the family today. It wasn’t so much what each kid wanted to do as much as it was what a kid DIDN’T want to do. The Mrs. and E were renting e-bikes to risk their lives riding in London traffic. B...

Day 3-Union Jack Club-London Science Museum-Harrods-Cream Tea-Nap-Covent Garden

We slept in this morning after overstepping our step count yesterday at Camden Market. The eggs were still the cystic fried egg or the orange scrambled variety so I passed on those and opted for the baked beans, mushrooms, grilled tomato and coco puffs cereal. While I will admit it was an eclectic combination of items, they collectively hit the spot. Also, the coffee at the UJC must be an aquired taste and, since I won’t be here long enough to acquire that taste, I opted for tea. They have PG Tipps, one of my favorites. After my odd mix of breakfast items and my pretty good cuppa, we headed off to the London Science Museum. E-Koog was excited because we were led to believe there was an F1 exhibit. There was not. He had a good time anyway, I think. We were sharing the museum with all the children of London. Seriously, there were like 5000 kids in that place. All with reflective safety vests. It’s not like you could miss them because they were at least 100 decibels each. Oh, and not on...

Day 2-Union Jack Club-Camden Town-Little Venice-Westminster

5AM—Good Morning London! We are on a crazy sleep schedule now. At 5:15am B-Koog was warming the kettle and taking tea orders. We were all up by 7 and showered and downstairs for breakfast around 7:30. Breakfast at the UJC is an interesting experience. It’s sort of the food equivalent of “meant well.” There are fried eggs that look more like unlanced cysts than eggs. The scrambled eggs are the color of an unpopular president. I tried the orange eggs, the bacon rashers and my favorite British breakfast items, baked beans, mushrooms and grilled tomatoes. In the words of a E, “it’s mid.” That about sums it up. After our mid but fine breakfast we headed to Waterloo tube station on our way to Camden Town. For reasons unknown, we were in a hurry. Unfortunately, nothing really opens in Camden town until 10am. It was about 8:45am. We stopped at a chain coffee place with a bougie French name that I always forget so I refer to it as “the manger.” No, baby Jesus was not in yesterday morning. W...

Day 1: IAD—LHR—Waterloo, London

Well, we are finally on our way back to the UK as a family! I love to early for a flight as I enjoy the Virgin 1st Class Clubhouse. Yes, I am a bougie snob but I’m also adorable. Unfortunately, the check-in desk for our flight didn’t open until 6:55 and we arrived at 5:45 and I should also mention I am the only member of the Family Koog that is flying Virgin Upper Class. Before I am judged let me explain. I offered, nee, begged Mrs. Koog to join me in my lay-flat-bed-and-free-pajama-oasis but she refused. I told her that while I respected her decision to go economy with the kids, I should not be punished for her poor choices, so 3 economy seats and 1 upper class for the Koog Family on this trip. Anyway, we waited our hour in line and enjoyed watching the passengers for Qatar Airlines come though the line with countless bags, boxes, suitcases and laundry baskets (no joke). I loved seeing the multigenerational families traveling together. Especially the little kids and grandparents. I ...

Luckily, I am frugal and outdoorsy…

The planning for our 2026 UK trip began in February in Deep Creek Lake, MD. For Christmas, my gift to the FamilyKoog was a 5 day trip to the mountains complete with skiing, shopping and ice caving. They were only thrilled with the first 2 of those activities, by the way. In true Koog fashion, I was planning the next adventure before ending the one we were on; so Mrs. Koog and I were sitting in the ski lodge at Wisp Resort talking about doing the UK again. She agreed that while our 2023 trip was magical, no one was able to enjoy London because of the exhaustion at the end of the trip and the entire trip was a bit overshadowed by our traumatic return to hear of her breast cancer diagnosis. But, that was 3 years ago and she is back to her healthy and amazing self, Thank God! Finally finished with their last run, the Twin Koogs found us in the lodge to swindle some cash and returned with their lunch trays packed with 2 large pizzas EACH, copious amounts of fries and the larges bucket of...

How not to drive in the UK. A cautionary tale…

When we were in the UK for a month in 2023, Mrs. Koog did all the driving. I will admit, she hit nothing and no one. She got us safely from London to Bath to North Wales to Liverpool and all over Scotland until we turned in our car in Edinburgh. And when we turned in that car, it was pristine. No dings, dents, scratches or bumps. As I have written in the past few entries my trip was magical and healing and all those things trips should be. With one exception, driving. I was nervous when I booked the trip that I would forget to stay to the left and cause an international incident on the M4. Apparently, staying to the left would not be the problem. No, my problem was staying too far to the left. For some reason, I completely lost my depth perception on the left (passenger side). This issue wasn’t a real problem on the motorway as there was a shoulder and every time I’d cross the line I was able to correct immediately. The drive from Heathrow to Conwy, Wales was uneventful until I go...