The Adventure Begins

Teresa drove me to meet Kay on I-285 so she didn't have to drive me all the way to the airport..  We met at Panera and had lunch there, then took off for the airport.  Kay managed to get TSA Precheck and I did not so after we checked in and dropped the luggage which for both of us was just under the wire, we made a pit stop before heading to security.  After coming out we looked at each other and couldn't believe that in the 5 minutes we were in the restroom, about 20 buses dropped off spring breakers going on trips with various groups and the security lines were now out of the ques...yikes!  Of course she head to precheck and I wait in the line.  It moved pretty fast and in about 25 minutes later I found her on the other side.    We were very early and since it was now only 3:30 in the afternoon, our flight wasn't going to board until 6:25 so we did lots of different things to amuse ourselves...walking the concourse, looking through the shops and having frozen yogurt. 

Finally they started to board and we get on and get seated in our economy comfort (economy miserable) bulkhead seats and get settled.  Kay brought a "donkey" stuffed animal to go with Shrek and we had fun taking photos of them in various places in and around our seats.  One of the flight attendants came by and laughed.  She said do you want me to take a photo of you two with them and we said sure.  She said she would get them the Delta wings they give the kids and we put them on them and took more photos.  She said can I take them to the cockpit?  We died laughing and said sure and she took my phone too.  She came back with pictures of the pilot and co-pilot holding them in the cockpit.   We howled.  She said do you mind if I show them where I work?  Of course we laughed some more and she was gone forever and when she returned we laughed over her galley photos with them.  She set the tone for the fun.

 

Well our departure time came and went and the captain came on the intercom and said they were waiting for a few passengers from another flight.  They finally show and they close the door.  Shortly thereafter he announces that the ground crew people noticed a hydraulic leak and they were checking it out so we would  be sitting until they finished.  The next announcement at about 8:10 not almost an hour after we were supposed to have left said they were calling for mechanics to come and he made it sound like if they didn't fix it we would not be going.  Our 767-400 was full to capacity and of course they were to serve us dinner and we were getting hungry.  Finally he came on and said they were closing the door, the problem was fixed and we would be in the air soon but it would be a bumpy ride.  Well, it was quite bumpy so no serving drinks or anything else because we were locked in no one up mode.  The bouncing around was getting to poor Kay and she said much more on the empty stomach and it was not going to be a good scene.....thank heavens we had bought a bottle of water each so we could at least drink water.   Finally it settled enough for them to serve dinner and then everyone tried to go to sleep since it was so late.  Just so hard to sleep or get comfortable in those seats.  I know we nodded off but it was not restful and the plane continued to bounce most of the trip.

We arrive to sunny skies which is something I have never experienced here.  When Debbie and I were here the last time, we didn't see the sun the whole time.  It was so clear and beautiful that Kay was able to get pictures of Big Ben, London Eye and Buckingham Palace on our approach to land!  We manage to get through UK Border and then Customs and got our luggage and found our drive...yay things are going well!  We head to the parking garage with him and his pass wouldn't work in the machine....after him talking to them through the machine they finally sent someone out and we were on our way to the car.  He was very nice and chatted us up about The Donald of course. 
About an hour later we were in Oxford at the Enterprise place to pick up our car.

They bring out the car and we load our stuff in it and get in.  We looked at each other and said "this is so weird".  Everything is reversed and of course we were so lucky that the car had a GPS system which we didn't pay for.  We had no idea where we were or how to get to Ilmington and the cottage.  This was a very busy area with a lot of traffic.  Kay handled it well and soon we were on the road and headed to the cottage.  I counted the exits on the roundabouts and tried to video the event as well.  Since I was the navigator I had to pay attention and some of the photos I had to delete but still got enough to give you the idea.  I was very proud of Kay, she only ran over the curb a couple times and came dangerously close to a guy on a bicycle but we made it here and she did not kill or injure anyone in the process!

I can't even describe to you how beautiful this place is.  Felicity and Tony who own the cottage and the house they live in across the courtyard are just delightful people.  She had a tray in the kitchen with tea, jam and had baked us a fresh loaf of bread!  After taking us around the house and explaining about everything, she said Tony would be here but she was leaving Sunday to go to Dublin as they have a cottage there too and she needed to get it ready for the renters.  She had made reservations for us for dinner at the Howard Arms Restaurant and Hotel which is just a few blocks.  It wasn't time for us to go yet but we took a ride around town to see where things were and stopped at the shop up the road where Felicity told us we could get a few items to tide us over.

Everything here is pretty much grown locally and the produce was gorgeous!  The people are so nice and helpful and the two ladies in the shop "chatted us up" for awhile and were so sweet.  We came back to try to drag our luggage up the stairs to the bedrooms and get ready for dinner.  By this time we were really having major sinking spells.  Kay went out to walk and I tried to get somewhat settled.  We were pleasantly surprised with dinner and both of us were really hungry by now.  The food was very good as was the wine and desert!  When we finished and came home it was a race to see who could get up to our respective room and fall asleep the fastest.....I think it was a tie.  It was just past 9 PM UK time and I can't tell you how proud I was that I made it that long!

So ended day 1!