London Vacation

We left the United States a few days before the rest of the team so we could spend a few days just as a family in London. We had a very nice time, and it was a good way to relax, in between the craziness of getting ready for the survey trip, and the survey trip itself. (Pictures will follow after we return to the States and have high-speed Internet again.)

Monday, May 26^th – We left Memphis about 10:30 a.m. We had a layover in Cincinnati, then another layover in Chicago. We flew out of Chicago at 8:30 p.m. We were all tired, having not gotten much sleep the night before, so we slept most of the way to London.

Tuesday, May 27^th – We arrived in London about 9:00 a.m. Unfortunately, our bags did not, but they were delivered later that day. After we picked up our rental car, we drove out to where we were staying at the Wycliffe Center. We spent the rest of the afternoon trying to stay awake, to avoid jet lag. We had dinner at the Center (Alex fell asleep at the table), then came back to our room and just crashed.

Wednesday, May 28^th – We drove out to the Cotswolds, a truly beautiful part of the English countryside. It was foggy most of the day, but we still enjoyed seeing the little villages with their stone houses and winding streets. We had lunch at a very cool old English pub, and the food was delicious. We went to a grocery store and bought food and had dinner back in our room that night.

Thursday, May 29^th (our 9^th anniversary) – We spent the day at Warwick Castle – very cool! Rusty and Alex had never been. We walked around for a bit, then bought lunch and ate it on the grounds and let Alex burn some energy. We walked around the town of Warwick for awhile, then had afternoon tea. We got take-out for dinner that night and ate it back in our room.

Friday, May 30^th – We were supposed to meet the rest of the team in London for the day, but they were all re-routed, except for Nathan. So the four of us drove downtown, had to sell a kidney to pay for parking, had lunch at an awesome Japanese restaurant, then walked over to where the Parliament Building and Big Ben were and took a few pictures. Then, we drove back to the airport, returned the car, checked in, and waited for a gate assignment for our flight to Luanda.