Reporting In From UK

Sunday October 20, 2013

This is day three in England.  I've pretty much been feeling really lousy since we left Florida.  We drove a rental car from Sarasota to Miami, a trip of about 3.5 hours.  It's an easy trip, but ever so boring straight down I-75 and the across Alligator Alley through the Everglades and the Micosukee Indian Reservation.  Once we checked in at British Airways at about 4PM, we had lots of time to kill until our 8:45 PM flight.  John relaxed with a pint of Guinness and I had a Starbucks.  Security check, even though jam packed with tons of people, went surprisingly quickly and smoothly.

The flight to London departed on time at 8:45 PM.  I had chosen our seats online.  I picked a window seat for John and an aisle seat for me, in a gamble that the middle seat in this row of three seats would remain empty.  On these international flights fron Florida, business travelers aren't usually in economy so it's mostly families and not a lot of single travelers so I was betting the seat in the middle would remain empty.  I won the bet and we had tons of room with that empty space between us the entire flight.  Except for the eight foot tall German lady sitting in front of me who kept her seat back all the way to UK even during meals which she slept through, the flight was great.  Even though I normally don't drink alcohol, because I was in throes of this awful cold and really wanted to just sleep through the flight, as soon as we lifted off and the attendant came around with the drinks cart, I asked for two bottles of red wine.  John looked shocked. I drank them both (they were each 1 glass) and promptly went to sleep.  John awoke me for dinner.  It must have been the wine speaking, because  I chose the chicken curry for dinner rather than the lamb.  It was horrible and I didn't feel up to eating anyway so I promptly went back to sleep.  Eighteen hours after leaving our home we landed at Heathrow, five AM our time, ten AM BST.

We made it through immigration, baggage pick-up and customs, wended our way with baggage through terminal 5, out the doors, up an elevator in a parking garage, picked up our rental car, a nifty little VW Polo, and headed to Louise's.  We arrived there at 12:30.  After a decent cup of coffee and a sandwich, we sat around visiting with Louise, David and grandson Harry who had an early release day from school.  We left around 4PM for Janet and David's where we are staying.

Janet had given us her lovely bedroom with a big comfy king sized bed.  We visited with Janet and David.  Neither of us were hungry so declined dinner.  We forced ourselves to stay awake until 10PM so we wouldn't experience jet lag.  Thirty hours after leaving home we went to bed.

I awoke at 1:30AM, watched old episodes of Breaking Bad on the IPad until 4PM and then went back to sleep until 8AM, Saturday.  I felt horrible so sent John of alone to spend the day with Stuart and the children.  The children loved their new clothes, Aeropostale for Ella and Quicksilver for Ben.  I spent the day in my pjs, didn't even feel well enough to shower, and didn't eat.  Last night I forced myself to stay awake until 11PM.  I slept straight through until 9AM this morning, showered, had a piece of toast and coffee and feel mostly human, rather than one of the walking dead.

After lunch, we're heading off to a local garden center that I like.  I'm trying to find some more ceramic mushrooms like I have previously purchased for the garden.  The temperature is high fifties, rainy off and on, in summary, dreary and not the least bit Florida-ish.  

Sunday October 20, 2013
This is day three in England.  I've pretty much been feeling really lousy since we left Florida.  We drove a rental car from Sarasota to Miami, a trip of about 3.5 hours.  It's an easy trip, but ever so boring straight down I-75 and the across Alligator Alley through the Everglades and the Micosukee Indian Reservation.  Once we checked in at British Airways at about 4PM, we had lots of time to kill until our 8:45 PM flight.  John relaxed with a pint of Guinness and I had a Starbucks.  Security check, even though jam packed with tons of people, went surprisingly quickly and smoothly.
The flight to London departed on time at 8:45 PM.  I had chosen our seats online.  I picked a window seat for John and an aisle seat for me, in a gamble that the middle seat in this row of three seats would remain empty.  On these international flights fron Florida, business travelers aren't usually in economy so it's mostly families and not a lot of single travelers so I was betting the seat in the middle would remain empty.  I won the bet and we had tons of room with that empty space between us the entire flight.  Except for the eight foot tall German lady sitting in front of me who kept her seat back all the way to UK even during meals which she slept through, the flight was great.  Even though I normally don't drink alcohol, because I was in throes of this awful cold and really wanted to just sleep through the flight, as soon as we lifted off and the attendant came around with the drinks cart, I asked for two bottles of red wine.  John looked shocked. I drank them both (they were each 1 glass) and promptly went to sleep.  John awoke me for dinner.  It must have been the wine speaking, because  I chose the chicken curry for dinner rather than the lamb.  It was horrible and I didn't feel up to eating anyway so I promptly went back to sleep.  Eighteen hours after leaving our home we landed at Heathrow, five AM our time, ten AM BST.
We made it through immigration, baggage pick-up and customs, wended our way with baggage through terminal 5, out the doors, up an elevator in a parking garage, picked up our rental car, a nifty little VW Polo, and headed to Louise's.  We arrived there at 12:30.  After a decent cup of coffee and a sandwich, we sat around visiting with Louise, David and grandson Harry who had an early release day from school.  We left around 4PM for Janet and David's where we are staying.
Janet had given us her lovely bedroom with a big comfy king sized bed.  We visited with Janet and David.  Neither of us were hungry so declined dinner.  We forced ourselves to stay awake until 10PM so we wouldn't experience jet lag.  Thirty hours after leaving home we went to bed.
I awoke at 1:30AM, watched old episodes of Breaking Bad on the IPad until 4PM and then went back to sleep until 8AM, Saturday.  I felt horrible so sent John of alone to spend the day with Stuart and the children.  The children loved their new clothes, Aeropostale for Ella and Quicksilver for Ben.  I spent the day in my pjs, didn't even feel well enough to shower, and didn't eat.  Last night I forced myself to stay awake until 11PM.  I slept straight through until 9AM this morning, showered, had a piece of toast and coffee and feel mostly human, rather than one of the walking dead.After lunch, we're heading off to a local garden center that I like.  I'm trying to find some more ceramic mushrooms like I have previously purchased for the garden.  The temperature is high fifties, rainy off and on, in summary, dreary and not the least bit Florida-ish.  

Comments

[theyoushow]

Well, you are braver than I am. (Refuses to fly) . Though I do not take planes, I have visited about 18 states in the USA. Have visited one foreign country , though I did get there by automobile.

[Catherine]

Glad you had a safe flight. Hope your feeling better soon so you can enjoy your time there. Hugs...

[Jill]

Dont know about rain on and off, on the motorway today was not a nice experience. More like a cloudburst this afternoon with accompanying thunder and lightning. Was laughed at this morning because I wore a jacket and it was warm outside. Had the last laugh my jacket was showerproof. New one and delighted to prove it as still dry when we arrived home. Dogs very peeved no walks today, just exercises. Nor will they have a walk this evening, just so wet and muddy underfoot. May get their skateboard out later, will just have to see whether they settle or not.

Welcome Dana to England, looking at the forecast it looks as though its going to be a very wet and soggy one, too.
Jill

[Jack Gill]

Jersey has strict criteria in that no colds are allowed on the island

[Havi]

Hope you're on local time by now - and feeling way better! Looking forward to more tales from the land of the monarchy.

[Sue]

Welcome! We hope you soon gain your vim and vigour! x

[ConnieK]

Thanks for letting me know where to find you. I'm here these days: http://findingflorida.org/ (and ConnieK at Prosebox). Would love to have you drop by either place anytime. Glad the trip over went fairly well (except for tall people), but not happy to hear you arrived under the weather. Speaking of...cool weather headed our way this Thursday. Everyone excited. film at 11. :)

[Chris]

Take care ... some of those "bugs" are hard to shake ... glad you had a safe trip!