Day 1 - arrival

We have safely arrived in the UK!  Mom arrived early this morning on a separate flight and was picked up by our new friend, Jackie Marshall.  She is an English lady who works with and is friends with Mom's brother, Wes, in South Sudan.  She just happened to be back in England during the time we would be here so we had a chance to meet.  Since Mom was going to be here for several hours waiting on us, Jackie agreed to pick her up from the airport and entertain her until Grandma and I arrived.

I met up with Grandma in Atlanta where we started our flight to London.  We were seated together and were even able to preboard so Grandma could take her time settling in.  Soon the rest of the passengers were loaded and we were ready to leave.  Then came the announcement that a "switch" in the cockpit that only helps the pilots detect if the engine is having a problem was broken and had to be replaced.  That took two and a half hours while we sat at the gate, hot and tired.  This was to be a dinner flight so we still hadn't eaten yet!  FINALLY they got the part and installed it and we were on our way.  Dinner came well after midnight.  The rest of the flight was smooth but not comfortable enough to sleep well.  We ended up arriving an hour late.  It took quite a while to get through customs and also standing in line at the Avis desk to get our rental car.  At last we were on our way towards High Wycomb which is west of London, exactly the direction we needed to go.  In this little town there is a Wycliffe Centre where Jackie was staying.  I had purchased UK maps for my TomTom before leaving and now that we had the car it was just a matter of turning it on and putting in the address.

Our car is a cute little Peugeot that has manual transmission and takes Diesel.  Naturally, I have to shift with the left hand, and remember to stay on the left side of the road, and manage rotaries (aka round-a-bouts) and mind the GPS.  It takes some courage and a lot of attention.  Once you get on the highway, it's much easier.

In about 30 minutes or so, we made it to the Wycliffe Centre and found the reception where they rang Jackie to let her know we were there.  She and Mom were relieved to know we were safe as we weren't able to communicate all the delays to them along the way.  We had a nice supper with her and then said goodbye and started towards West Bristol where we currently are.  We found our hotel fairly easily and enjoyed getting the airplane sweat off of us!  There is no AC in the room as weather here is generally cooler than the US.  Grandma is missing it right now.

Jackie took some of us with her camera which she emailed us.

 We didn't take any today as the only pictures would have been of us standing in endless queues!  The above picture was taken two days later while in the country.  More tomorrow!