The weary travelers

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Geo: 51.5002, -0.126236

Our flight from Detroit to London was pretty uneventful....not that we're complaining! I fell asleep almost immediately and I'm not sure Mom slept at all. She passed the time with Harry Potter and by watching the Dilemma (not a very "Jean Whitson" type movie). I slept except when I would turn to glare at the gentleman behind me who seemed to use his touch screen tv (in the back of my headrest) as a punching bag. Bastard.

Upon arrival at Heathrow, we noticed two things....raindrops and the announcement that it was 48 degrees (fahrenheit not celcius)! Crap! We looked at each other and I'm sure we could both see the wheels turning in the others head.....what did we pack that might be considered warm enough? Umm, not much! We were bolstered by the fact that there were a great number of fellow American idiots wearing flip flops and sandals too!

Customs was a slow process.....picture shopping at Target the day after Thanksgiving....40 registers but only 7 cashiers. Yes, the line looked like we were at Cedar Point on a busy day. But 50 minutes later, after numerous thoughts of "I could expedite this process" and "this is crappy customer service", we were on our way. We hopped the slow train to Paddington Station (the Express is nonstop but costs £10 more). We wondered how many people arrive in London unprepared and spend a ridiculous amount of money because they don't know the alternatives. Yes, Ranger Rita worries about those people. To be quite honest, we KNEW what we were doing and where we were going but still had a number of questions for each station worker we encountered.

**note: the exchange rate that we got in the States was $1.73 per £1. You do the math!**

Anyway, after a train and subway, we got to Marylebone station to catch our train to Stratford Upon Avon. What fabulous public transportation England has! The train station had sandwich shops, flower shops and a grocery.....oh, what a grocery! Mom came out after a quick trip through with this glazed look about her. She said, "I'm never gonna lose weight on this trip if all the groceries look like that!" I went in for a look. Holy cow! What a great place....we'll get some pics and post them at some point.

Anyway, train to Stratford and we lugged our suitcases to our B&B. I have a feeling that I'll be overusing the term "quaint"! Pretty, charming and tidy with a very warm and welcoming host....Peter.

More about our evening later.....an evening with the Bard, er, uh, Elvis. Time to head out on the town. A beautiful morning (sunny at 5am). Heading to Shakespeares grave....literally, one of the things I'm most looking forward to! Cheerio!

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Comments

[Jenni]

Cheerio my sears! Please tell Jean vacations are not for loosing weight !