To England

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We got up in the morning, ate breakfast, played with the resident dog (he really was cute), loaded up the car, and headed back to Inverness. We got into town in record time so we did a bit of shopping then headed to the airport (which we almost couldn't find!) and dropped off the hire car.

My suitcase was right at weight...20 kilos (44 pounds). Like I said, I overpacked. We were allowed one checked bag each and one carryon. Everything that wouldn't fit in my suitcase without making it overweight, I put in my duffel which I'm sure weighed almost as much! Our carryon was only supposed to be maximum 10 kilos (22 pounds) so I had to make the bag look like it was a lot lighter than it was. I'm not strong, so that wasn't easy. But, we made it on the plane without having to pay any overage charges. Whew!

Our friend Sarah picked us up from Heathrow and took us out to Dan's (her boyfriend's) parents in Old Basingstoke. Ali had stayed with them when she first got into the UK and had discovered when she got there how much she had really overpacked. So they let her leave some of her things there. We visited with them and Sarah went home. I'm having trouble sleeping. They don't have air conditioning...no one does around here...and it's incredibly hot out. The British don't even typically have fans, so there's been a run on fans in the stores since this heat wave. Ali and I have gotten so used to Highland weather, which was much cooler, that we had forgotten about the heat wave in London!

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