First few days of our holiday in England

We left on the 18th of December for the holidays in England. I thought I had about 7 hours to get ready on the day of the flight, but then Jim called to say that the weather was supposed to get bad and we also didn't have enough time for our flight change in Washington. So we rushed to get ready and left for a flight 5 hours earlier than expected. Elizabeth slept on the way to Washington, D.C. When we got there, we found out there were two flights to Heathrow before our expected flight. It was about 4:30 pm so we decided to see if we could get on an earlier flight. Turns out, our original flight was delayed until 2 am and we got our on the 10 pm flight. Elizabeth slept the whole way on me and had no problems. I watched two movies, got a special Indian vegetarian meal and generally enjoyed World Business Class on British Airways.

We arrived at Heathrow in the morning, while our bags enjoyed some overnight time in D.C. or whereever else our bags go on vacation without us. In fact, we didn't actually get our bags until about 8 pm on Christmas Eve. Rosie picked us up at the airport and she braved London traffic to take us to her flat. We were exhausted, so Lizzy and I slept at the flat while Daddy and Auntie Rosie got supplies for dinner. We took it easy because we knew we had a big day on Saturday.

Saturday morning, Rosie and I went to the gym early. I can only get up at 6 am to go the the gym when I have travelled across many timezones! We had a couple hours and we found the Broad Street Market. I think markets are one of the things I love best about Europe. We ate a big piece of tiffin and tasted loads of yummy samples, bought some pesto for Susan and mistletoe for the party. Then we headed up to Woodhouse Eaves for Derek's 60th Surprise Birthday Party.

When we arrived at the hotel, lots of old friends of Derek and Susan had already started to arrive. We sorted out logistics and Daddy went with Auntie Rosie to the house to get Derek and Susan. They were actually expecting us to arrive at Heathrow the next day, so Daddy played off that that was the surprise and Lizzy and I were waiting at a restaurant to take Derek out for his 60th Birthday. When they came into the town hall, they were so surprised to see all their friends gathered to wish Derek a Happy Birthday. The party went on until midnight with dancing, drinking, reminiscing and fabulous music from the band.

Derek and Susan with old friends, John and Mary.