Going back to my roots... and my friends ;) COMPLETED About This Page:

[chezp]

Going back to my roots... and my friends

Pre-trip report – part one: I am so excited! I cannot wait to get back!

Dates:Thursday 31 May – Saturday 9 June
Adventurers: Me, Cheryl, DH Mark and DBF Wendy
Destinations: Kent, where we live, with excursions all over the place, including a day in London, day in Edinburgh, and a day in Europe.
Resorts: our house
Celebration: a chance to spend more than a week with my best friend!

This story begins somewhere in late 2002 or early 2003, when I received a private message through the PassPorter messages boards from someone called wendyismyname. With a name like that on the boards, it wasn’t a huge shock for me to find out that her name was actually Wendy, and we got on like long-lost sisters. The only problem was she was in Indiana (and I did have to check on a map where exactly it was when I first got to know her! ) and I was in the UK.

As a result, it’s perhaps no surprise that it took until the fall of 2006 to finally meet. When we did, it was amazing, and the only shame was that we didn’t get to spend enough time with her. Fortunately, we rectified that problem, at least partially, when she and her husband Ben flew down to spend a day ( you read that right! ) with us in December 2007. Of course, that wasn’t enough time either...

Eventually we were finally able to spend a lot more time together on the Decade of Dreams tour back in May 2009 to celebrate 10 years of PassPorter. Now I have to say here, is it really three years since that? Where does the time go? We had such a ball, and again she and Ben returned to spend time with us that December, before we managed to coincide our trips in April 2011, spending the bulk of five wonderful days together.

I don’t remember when plans for this trip were born, but I know they go back sometime. I’m guessing that we probably first talked about Wendy visiting us on the Decade of Dreams tour, as we talked about everything under the sea then! I knew that Wendy wanted to come back to the UK, having visited once before, and she knew that she had an open invitation. Again, I don’t remember how we got to 2012 – it was probably the first gap we both had in our diaries, as we both had various vacations planned for 2010 and 2011!

Once that came up, I did a little bit of research, and found out that, because it would be the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee (only the second time in British history we’ve ever had such a celebration – the first being Queen Victoria at the turn of the 20th century), we would be getting an extra Bank Holiday. They were also moving the traditional late May Bank Holiday back a week into early June, giving us both the Monday and Tuesday off – a four-day weekend! This would be a perfect time for Wendy to come and visit. Not only would it be an amazing piece of British history, which she could say she’d been here for but she could come for a week and we’d be taking less time off work.

Now, despite what the Americans amongst you may think even with all our vacation, we do struggle to do everything we want – and that’s not made easier by the fact that I’ve recently started a new job with less leave. Heck, I only get 25 days a basic now compared to the 30 days I was getting (it would’ve been 31 this year had I stayed, but staying really wasn’t an option... trust me ). You realise that’s only five weeks, right? Ok, now I’ve rubbed that in thoroughly, you get the point I’m sure....

We talked about how long Wendy could come over for. I’m a firm believer, as you’ve probably guessed from our previous trips to the States, on going for as long as you possibly can, as you lose a couple of days each way with jetlag. I told Wendy that she really needed to come over for a minimum of a week, and even better, she managed to extend that just a little bit more.... but I’m getting ahead of myself.

She did mention some other options, including coming over at the end of March/beginning of April, but at the time, we were looking at taking a cruise to the Canary Islands over Easter at the start of April, so that wouldn’t work. Ironically, that later got changed to our Norwegian fjords cruise at the end of April...

It was in Julythat I got an email from Wendy that said “FW: Your US Airways flight”. I opened it, half expecting what I was going to find, but you know that moment when you’re hoping something will happen, but you’re almost too scared to hope, just in case it doesn’t? If that makes any sense to you, that’s how I felt as I opened up that email. Surely it was too good to be true...

But it wasn’t... here’s what it said:

I am so excited! I cannot wait to get back to the UK!

Also enclosed were details of her flights into the UK and returning home. She’d be arriving early in the morning on Thursday 31 May, and then flying home on the morning of Saturday 9 June. Because she’d gone with US Airways, she’d got one of the few flights from the States that come into Gatwick. This worked really well for a number of reasons, not least because Gatwick is a lot closer to us than Heathrow (about 40 minutes, as opposed to just over an hour to get to Heathrow) and also it’s a much quieter airport. Hopefully that should mean that Wendy doesn’t have much of a wait when she flies in to get through immigration and customs.

Wow, we were finally set and Wendy would be here with us for more than a week. How wonderful was that going to be?

Now we could finally start planning what we’d do while she was here....

The first thing I needed to know was what Wendy wanted to do while she was over here. I knew she’d been to the UK before, so she’d done a lot of the “touristy” things, particularly in London, and her focus was very much on seeing things outside of the city. Between us, we soon came up with a list of ideas, which included:

• A night time trip on the London Eye (you see, there was still something she wanted to see in London.... ) – this was I think her first request, just a couple of days after she booked her flight.
• Some villages
• Some gardens
• Edinburgh, because Wendy (I’m remembering as best I can here!) has family roots from Scotland, and that was cool for me, as I’ve never visited Scotland in my life – seriously!
• France – although she wasn’t keen on Paris, and although we discussed Disneyland Paris, that really wasn’t an option either... I seem to remember Wendy describing it as a “fleeting fancy”

With that in mind, I set about making a few plans. The first thing I knew was that I wanted to book our flights for our day trip to Edinburgh, and yes you did read that right. We were going to Edinburgh in a day! I went for Easyjet flights. Here, I need to explain a bit. Easyjet are one of our cheap airlines over here. They’ve been following the lead of some of the American operators with introducing charges for various things, and basically they’re very cheap to fly if you don’t want the added extras. By the time you’ve added on baggage, their version of Southwest’s Early Bird Check In, and various other things, the price can get quite high. In fact, it can be cheaper to go with a more expensive operator like British Airways, as I discovered on our weekend away to Amsterdam. But for a day trip, it should be fine, so long as I could secure flights cheaply enough.

Like most other airlines, the prices tend to get higher the closer you get to the dates, so I logged on to see if they had flights available. Quite often, Easyjet don’t have flights at 11 months out, but I lucked out. They had reasonable prices for most dates, and considering it was a four-day Bank Holiday weekend, that really surprised me. I really wasn’t sure which date to go for, as I didn’t know, at that stage, what plans were in place for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee weekend. The only thing I had heard about was a giant flotilla of boats along the River Thames on the Sunday, so I decided to avoid that day. I finally opted for the Tuesday. I think it was the cheapest day of the lot, and I got some great flights. We fly out of Gatwick at 8.25am, arriving in Edinburgh at 9.50am, with our return flight leaving at 9.20pm and getting back to Gatwick at 10.55pm. it will be a long day, but that gives us a full day in Edinburgh, allowing us lots of time to explore a city that will be new to all of us.

The next thing I got in place was our daytrip over to France. I deliberately opted for a working day, rather than the weekend, as I figured it would be quieter, and prices better. Again, it would be another long day, with our outgoing train leaving at 6.50am. It has to be done this way, as France (and in fact the rest of Europe) are an hour ahead of the UK, meaning that we won’t get there until 8.25am. It’s a 35 minute train journey, and just in case there’s any confusion, this is the one where you drive your car on to the train, which then takes you through the Channel Tunnel to France. I say this, as it’s easy to confuse that with the Eurostar, which is the conventional passenger train that runs through the Channel Tunnel.

It would be a very early start for us, as we need to be checked in by 6.20am at the very latest and it’s about a 40 minute drive to the Eurotunnel terminal, so we’d be leaving the house probably at 5.15am. So that’s going to be our second very early start in just three days, after our Edinburgh day trip.

On the way back, we’d be catching the 9.20pm train, arriving at 8.55pm, because you’re going back an hour when you return to the UK.

So, if you’re counting, that’s two of the nine days Wendy will be with us sorted out. As part of her Christmas and birthday present last year, I got her a book about Edinburgh, and another about Northern France, so that she could play a part in planning our days out. I also got copies for myself, so that if she mentioned something, I could ask her where she had found those details.

Next: this is narrowing it down?

[ilovedisney247]

Wow a flight to Scotland and back in one day! That's incredible! I spent some time with a friend in Paris and we went to Dublin, but we did a weekend, not just a few hours!
I cannot wait to read all about this trip! I love both of you and know how close you are so this week should be amazing!

[lauriep]

So exciting that this is finally happening! Your plans so far sound great, although I'm sure the best part will be just being together.

[Wendyismyname]

Originally Posted by ilovedisney247

Wow a flight to Scotland and back in one day! That's incredible! I spent some time with a friend in Paris and we went to Dublin, but we did a weekend, not just a few hours!
I cannot wait to read all about this trip! I love both of you and know how close you are so this week should be amazing!

I am so glad you're the first to post Heather, I have been thinking about you so much. please send me a text when you get to Orlando. I can receive texts for free, but don't be surprised if I use Cheryl's Internet to respond back. I am too cheap to send texts back at $.50/each. Love you girl!

[Wendyismyname]

. Listen to you rubbing it in about your time off!

Actually Chez hit the nail on the head with everything, except it was 2003 since I didn't come along here until then. . However, I think you were the first person I ever sent a PM to.

I first went to England in June of 2000 and it was just my second commercial flight and certainly my first international one. I had a better time the the ladies I met on my flight than I did the people I stayed with. I rather enjoyed seeing Stonehenge, Bournemouth Beach, fish-n-chips , walking by the Tower of London, seeing Big Ben, Parliament(yes, I said it in my best Clark Griswold voice), Buckingham Palace, Picadilly Circus(what a mess). My very favorite was seeing the Tower Bridge. That is my favorite landmark of London.

My great-great-great-great grandparents(maternal)came from Edinburgh, settled in this area and stayed. They are buried 1.5 miles from me and I visit their grave often. I also recently found out that the Craigs, my dad's mom's ancestors, came from Scotland too. My Dad's paternal came from England and my mom's maternal came from Germany, something I just learned on Sunday!

I am getting ahead for a second because I am traveling tomorrow and I may not be able to respond as much.
I know where you are going with the "narrowing down" line. . I threw out a bunch so you would help me narrow it down. That's my story and I am sticking to it.

Yes, I really didn't want to visit Paris. While I like being in a big city for a very small amount of time, I am very much a country girl and I want to see wide open spaces(cue the Dixie Chicks) and lots of green, flowers, trees--hey do you know that a lot of trees grow to look like green tunnels? Yes they grow close to the road and the come together(cue The Beatles or Aerosmith) and form a neat thing to see. If I were writing this on a computer, I'd dig out and scan my old photos and you could see what I mean.

It's things like that I find interesting. I'm not an art gazing, museum visiting gal. I just like to "be". . Not to mention the real reason......I am cheap.


I am enjoying this morning, it's fairly quiet because all but one kid is still asleep. I will see them off to school, Josh to work(he does an online high school and they finished last week) and then I will gather the rest of my stuff. Ben is anxious to get rid of me and is taking me to my friend's house.
Wanda for wanting me over and for not minding that my husband wants to avoid the Indy traffic.



Tomorrow I will pop in probably after I check in at Indianapolis Airport. I fly to Charlotte at 12:01 and arrive around 1:30pm. I have a nice long layover and leave on USAirways flight 732 at 6:25pm for London.......just so you all know.

Yes, I am nervous. I am excited. I am a little sad to leave the family behind, and I will miss them, however they will be just fine without me I have trained them well.

If any of you are reading this and have my cell number, feel free to send a text. I can receive texts for free.

[BettyBeBop]

It's here! It's here!! IT'S HERE!!! I can't wait to follow you and Cheryl all over!! Have a great time. LYGF!!!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Wendyismyname

I am so glad you're the first to post Heather, I have been thinking about you so much. please send me a text when you get to Orlando. I can receive texts for free, but don't be surprised if I use Cheryl's Internet to respond back. I am too cheap to send texts back at $.50/each. Love you girl!

50 cents? That's cheap! The text I sent you cost about £1.20 - or nearly $2!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Wendyismyname

Tomorrow I will pop in probably after I check in at Indianapolis Airport. I fly to Charlotte at 12:01 and arrive around 1:30pm. I have a nice long layover and leave on USAirways flight 732 at 6:25pm for London.......just so you all know.

Yes, I am nervous. I am excited. I am a little sad to leave the family behind, and I will miss them, however they will be just fine without me I have trained them well.

If any of you are reading this and have my cell number, feel free to send a text. I can receive texts for free.

You'll be absolutely fine - and I can say that with certainty, having gone through exactly the same feelings when I headed off on Decade of Dreams! It's daunting heading across the pond on your own and leaving loved ones behind, but you'll be here soon and having an amazing time!

[oldmom]

can't wait for photos

[Wendyismyname]

Originally Posted by chezp

50 cents? That's cheap! The text I sent you cost about £1.20 - or nearly $2!

But I am cheap.....

I did end up buying the package of 50 texts for $10

I am sitting here in Indy having a good time with Wanda and her family. We are talking lots about Disney.

[KMB733]

Great Start Cheryl and Wendy!!! I hope you have a wonderful trip and enjoy your time together!!

[Colexis Mom]

Can't wait to hear all about this trip!

[mcc0313]

Have a wonderful trip Wendy. Love all the plans, how great that you are going to have some real quality time with Cheryl and Mark.

[Grammy Grumpy]

Hooray!! You are so close to your big adventure. I am so jealous but hope to be able to make a trip across the pond sometime in the next few years.

Recently I have been working on my family's history and my paternal grandparents came to the US in the late 1890's from London. My maternal grandfather came to the US with his family in the early 1900 from Scotland and my maternal grandmother's parents (my great grandparents) were from Germany. Family names of Tyler, Davis, Ross and Kirschstein repectively. It's so facinating that I now have the itch to try and go to locations that they would have gone so many years ago.

Hope you all have a great time! We'll be waiting here patiently for all the news of your adventures.

[Ashli]

I'm so excited to read your report, Cheryl! I know first hand how much fun it is to get a special visit with a best friend, so I will have a great time reading about your and Wendy's travels.

I wish you were going to have more time in Scotland - it's such a beautiful country. Something is better than nothing though, right? And Edinburgh was my favorite city when I visited Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales on a college trip. Can't wait to read all about it! Great start!