From Jennings to London in 25 Hours

August will take a last gap and leave us tomorrow night at midnight.  It has been a long, humid one.  We welcomed it in in the hollow on a Sunday and it will depart after, hopefully, we are checked into our hotel in London.  I did not look up the weather in London today, but since we are heading on to Dublin on the first of September, I did check the next ten days and it sounds like it will be cool with a fair amount of rain.  It is good that our hooded windbreakers are nestled in our luggage ready to ride to Orlando.  I have checked my list tis morning, emptied leftovers out of the fridge and a lot of the other things that need to be done the day we leave for a trip.  After the bags are in the car and Klep is showered, the thermostats will be set on 82 and the hot water heaters will be turned off.  The ghost who lives in the attic does not need hot water.  Meanwhile, it is pleasant to sit and relax a few minutes before we head south on interstate 75.

By five o’clock we were at Anne’s townhouse in Orlando for a rest before we are picked up by Deborah who will take us to Orlando International Air Port.  It is so good to have people who are willing to take care of us!  When we return, Anne will be there to pick us up, but right now she is in Ghana.  We came through some torrential rain just before our exit off the turn pike and our GPS routed us a little differently, but with a little patience, we wound around and got on 528E and then off and into the development where Anne lives.  All of this land was orange groves or farmland when I taught in Orlando during those last pre-Disney years.

We worked our way through the air port from check-in to pre TSA to TSA and then to the gate in a little over an hour.  We felt fit from all the walking we did to get to Gate 28.  Our premium seats loaded right after the "needs assistance" folks and we settle in to head across the Atlantic Ocean to Gatwick.  We had dinner served at about two thirty a.m. and then we both managed to sleep off and on until six Eastern time.  After a light breakfast of bagals and fruit, we landed early at about one-thirty p.m. London time.  Subtract five hours for EDT.

It took us over an hour to make our way through the marathon that is walking from the arrival gate to pass ports to luggage claims through customs and to the exit.  One of the interesting sights (other than the people) was the portrait of Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mother that looked like a mosaic from a distance but up close was a composite of thousands of small pictures of British citizens.

Our driver collected us at the exit and took us on Mister Toad's wild ride into the heart of London where we will stay the night.  We got quite a tour because the major roadways were backed up and he took us in a circuitous route!  I shall include some of the shots Klep took from the car, but my creative self is jet lagged, wants something to eat, and a hot shower before I crash!