I Haven't Been to England Since Clinton was President.

***A note to my regular readers: the following blog post is my entry in the Blog Away contest. With luck, I'll be blogging about the Royal Wedding firsthand, not from what I see on the telly:

I haven't been to England since Clinton was in office, and I realize that this is a very long time to avoid visiting a country where they nearly speak the same language. The upcoming Royal Wedding has made me realize that I might have missed a few things in England.

Then again, the England that I visited in the 1990’s needed changes. In 1992, I stayed in a London hostel so squalid that, when I locked the bathroom door to take an early morning shower, I found a line of livid strangers outside the bathroom door.

Reporter Sarah Lyall moved to England in the mid-1990's, and has illustrated the changes in English society in her book The Anglo Files.  I’m curious to see these societal changes firsthand. I just never again want to be facing a long line of hostel strangers in my towel.

Sure, I’ve got several girlfriends who’ll be spending time in England this July. Alas, their trip falls during my annual pilgrimage to Latvia.

Faux-Brit tearoom during SXSW 2011.

If I’m blogging during the Royal Wedding, you can expect that I’ll blog, Tweet, and post pictures to my Flickr account. The adventure might be documented at www.anna-hanks.com .

If I go to the Royal Wedding, I hope to find something classier than this!