Day 2 - We're Here!

May 3, 2008

After some delays and our luggage getting "lost" for about 2 hours (new terminal and they haven't quite figured out all the kinks yet), we finally made it! I was all smiles when I exited the plane as I heard real English people in speaking in their real English accents (I'm so excited that I'm going to be surrounded by that for 3 full weeks).

We got to the Hambletons around 5:45pm and were able to chat with their daughter Charlotte and her boyfriend David while we relaxed and waited for Mike and Gillian to come home from the theatre (they had tickets to see King Lear at the Globe Theatre). They are both very sweet and great conversationalists and Charlotte made me the best cup of tea I've ever had! It tasted nothing like what I've had in the States.

We were informed that London now has a new Mayor, whom David helped campaign for. David actually has things in common with both Jeremiah and myself: he does web programming, IT, and like robotics like Jeremiah but his day job is accounting like me.

Around 6:30pm, Mike and Gillian arrived home and I finally got to meet them. They are very sweet and so loving. They make you feel like you're at home instantly, especially as the first order was to offer us another cup of tea. :)

We sat and talked for a bit while they had their tea. We talked about their recent trip to China (their son works there and they visited him for 3 weeks). We talked about our trip and our plans as well as our flight here. They talked about tea time and how they actually enjoy a good cup of decaf coffee in the evenings. I thought this would be an excellent time to present them with the Decaf Vanilla Bean Coffee we had brought them as a gift. We handed one bag to each and they were very happy especially as they had just run out of their own supply.

After a bit, we called in a food order to the Fish and Chips shop a little ways up the street (The Frying Place). About 15 minutes later, Charlotte, David, Miah, and I walked up to the Fish shop to pick up the food. We came back, dished up the plates and ate around the dinner table while talking about various things.

During dinner, Debbie called to make sure we made it safely, which we did. She told us that she's been checking our blog and email very hour for an update, which we just hadn't had time to do yet, so I thought I better get to it, especially as I know my dad wanted frequent updates as well.

But before I sat down to write this, I called my parents to let them know of our safe journey.

Well, now it's just after 9:15pm our time and everyone is in the front room watching some TV so I had better join them before we head off to bed. I think we will acclimate to the time change fairly well. We were able to sleep just enough on the plane during the night to give us enough energy for the day but not so much that we aren't getting tired right now.

Oh, about the plane ride. We had a good dinner meal (Lasagna for Miah and Chicken with rice for me with complimentary wine) and plenty of movies and TV shows to choose from.

Miah watched Beowolf, which he has been wanting to see for a long time (but was pretty disappointed with it after watching it) and I watched Mansfield Park, the new version the BBC just did. We both started other movies after that but got too tired int he middle to finish them, so we dozed off and didn't turn the TVs back on until about 1 1/2 hour before our flight was over. A little disappointing for us since we didn't want to waste all these "free" movies we could be watching but we thought we needed the sleep more. Plus, there's always the trip back!

Ok, now I really need to go. More will come later!