45under45: I Just Flew In From Florida and Boy, Are My Arms Tired!

At present (12:00 noon), I'm sitting by the hotel's pool, watching Nicholas swim and listening to him chatter. While he was going between the hot tub and pool, I was finishing up reading the journal my mom kept from when we lived in England.

Why she titled it, "Life In The Mother Country" I do not know. Her father was of German ancestry. But, now that I think of it, I do recall my mom saying that her mother's side was Scotch-Irish. A-ha! Mother. Mother country. Got it.

So much of this trip is going to be so weird! Weird because I was in fifth grade when we lived over there and Nicholas is going into fifth grade. Weird also because so much of my English memories are quite vivid yet blurry as to exactly when and where. And the sad fact that we're are traveling as a family but Cindy is missing.

As I read my mom's journal I just kept thinking about the parallels. She wrote a journal; I'm writing a blog. My dad was the left-handed driver; Shawn will be filling that role for us. My mom was the navigator; I've been assigned that duty. They traveled with two kids...we are too.

My grandma came to visit us in England, now my folks are the grandparents.

Today is our flight. We're all packed and ready, just killing time now. We don't take off until 8:00 pm! Our plan is to hang out by the hotel pool, shower, and then get booted out of our room at 2:00. Next, putz around in the hotel lobby until close to 4:00, when we can take the hotel's airport shuttle. That'll get us to the airport four hours in advance! Good grief!

Cindy and me loading our bags on a cold January day (in Kentucky) 1981.

Summer and Nicholas loading their bags on a warm Tampa afternoon. (My mom sent me pictures from when we were in England. I'd like to "recreate" some of these photos with the new cast of characters.)

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I should also mention that this blog is being typed with my thumbs on my phone and that makes for some very frustrating and haphazard autocorrects...some handy, some not!

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We managed to kill time in the airport. My folks flew super duper mega ultra first class and were able to sit in their über posh airport lounge. Each traveler was allowed to bring in one guest. So, Summer and Nicholas were the chosen ones. We were told they snacked on Nutella, cookies, crackers, celery and hummus. Shawn and I had a Nathan's hot dog.

For the flight, Shawn and I upgraded from Economy. My parents were in "Club Well" First Class (with chairs that convert to full sized beds!!!), then there was another sleeper chair section, then Shawn and me (our chairs reclined "30% more" than Exonomy and had a foot rest, and eight seats per row vs. nine seats in Economy), then two vast sections of Economy (where the kids were.).

The kids slept a bit. Shawn and I slept some. My parents slept comfortably.

The following photos were taken of the TV screen that showed our flight path and miscellaneous stats. Negative 56 degrees!!!

Summer in Economy...Kilroy was here.

Nicholas was super excited to get the window seat and thought that being over the wing was the best seat on the plane. Little did he know that at the end of the flight, he got to sit in the co-pilot's seat! (Being the last to deplane has its advantages.)

Although we dilly dallied, our bags were among the last to make it to the baggage claim. Over the loud speaker was some sort of announcement about why the bags were delayed but we didn't have our British accent ears tuned in and couldn't understand what was being said.

After we collected our bags, we hired a car to take us the hour's drive from Gatwick to our hotel. Due to heat, exhaustion, and hurky jerky cab driving, both kids felt car sick. Summer actually threw up out the window!

Nicholas fell asleep with the barf bag in his lap!

Once we arrived at our hotel, Summer crashed and Nicholas "plugged in".

After a variety of naps, my folks, Nicholas, and I walked to Kensington Gardens and watched Nicholas play in the Princess Diana Memorial Playground. Nicholas made fast friends with another boy named Nicholas and romped around the shipwreck area for almost an hour.

Nicholas and Nicholas

On the way to the Gardens we took some perfunctory phone booth shots.

We came across something quite unexpected:

I guess the BSA wasn't founded in the USA, but rather the UK!

We finished up the day with a visit to a pub for a couple of pints, one Pimm's, a ginger beer and a cider... washing down the pub fare: fish'n'chips and cheddar and Branston pickle sandwich.