Here we are in Merry Olde England...
Well, it's been an interesting few days... where to start...
The day we travelled from Bogota to London was a nightmare, pure and simple. Definitely the worst day of my life, well certainly in the top 5.
It started with our bags being searched at Bogota airport. Jason's carefully packed souvenirs were a mess, Marianna was screaming, it was hot, it was horrible... Then we were stopped and searched, passport checked, etc at least another 4 or 5 times at that airport. At the immigration checkpoint where we handed over Marianna's paperwork the girl took forever, calling over another girl, looking at us suspicious... I was getting very stressed and worried. There was even a seperate bag search at the Iberian Airlines gate.
Finally we flew out and the flight itself was OK. Marianna and Will slept most of the way. I didn't of course but I did get to watch Must Love Dogs so that was something.
We expected a 2 hour layover in Madrid (HUGE airport, by the way) but the plane was delayed... and delayed... and we took off about 3 1/2 hours late. Then we had to circle and circle Heathrow Airport, landing at about 6:30 pm instead of 2:30 pm. It was horrendous. We were all so tired, Marianna was very restless and getting hungry. Will was tetchy, bored, annoying, just horrible.
Getting out of the airport was no problem at all but then we were hit with the freezing cold outside. We had to push our 130kgs of luggage through the crowds to the Budget Hire Car bus stop, wait for the bus and then it took over 30 minutes in the HORRIBLE traffic to drive 1 km to the Budget place. Then they tried to give us a smaller car. Jason just went along with them but I chucked a wobbly and demanded the car we had booked and paid for and finally we got it (after hanging about for over half an hour). Marianna was getting to be a very cranky girl by now. She was hungry but I had no water left and no clean bottles. I thought we'd stop at a petrol station so I could get organised but we got on the Motorway and there wasn't a petrol station for about 20 odd miles. Marianna screamed and screamed. It was just awful.
Finally we found one of those huge service stations with all the mod cons. Got fresh water for Marianna and she was happy with her fresh bottle and KFC for the rest of us. It's amazing how much better everyone feels when tummys are full and the baby is sleeping instead of screaming.
Another 50 miles down the road and we found our hotel and suddenly we were all cosy in our lovely hotel room, warm and comfortable, with beautiful beds and a heated towel rack.
After passing out, too exhausted to sleep even, we awoke the next morning to a crisp sunny British winter day. It was gorgeous. A proper English breakfast (with TEA, how I missed TEA) made us feel very human again and we were off to find Jay's grandmother's house.
Can't stay on much longer at the moment but suffice to say we LOVE England and we LOVE Portsmouth. We are having the most wonderful time. The weather has been lovely - crisp clear sunny days (a balmy 8C today). We love the old buildings and the quaint shops and cafes. It is just wonderful. So far we have spent some time with Jason's grandmother Peg and her friend John and Jason's uncle Stephen (who came down from Birmingham) and his two lovely teenage children Emily and Joe. Today we have spent the day with Jason's cousin Diane and her friend Pam. Everyone has been wonderful to us and we couldn't be happier. I'm in serious danger of looking at real estate.
Write again soon. Love to everyone back home!
The day we travelled from Bogota to London was a nightmare, pure and simple. Definitely the worst day of my life, well certainly in the top 5.
It started with our bags being searched at Bogota airport. Jason's carefully packed souvenirs were a mess, Marianna was screaming, it was hot, it was horrible... Then we were stopped and searched, passport checked, etc at least another 4 or 5 times at that airport. At the immigration checkpoint where we handed over Marianna's paperwork the girl took forever, calling over another girl, looking at us suspicious... I was getting very stressed and worried. There was even a seperate bag search at the Iberian Airlines gate.
Finally we flew out and the flight itself was OK. Marianna and Will slept most of the way. I didn't of course but I did get to watch Must Love Dogs so that was something.
We expected a 2 hour layover in Madrid (HUGE airport, by the way) but the plane was delayed... and delayed... and we took off about 3 1/2 hours late. Then we had to circle and circle Heathrow Airport, landing at about 6:30 pm instead of 2:30 pm. It was horrendous. We were all so tired, Marianna was very restless and getting hungry. Will was tetchy, bored, annoying, just horrible.
Getting out of the airport was no problem at all but then we were hit with the freezing cold outside. We had to push our 130kgs of luggage through the crowds to the Budget Hire Car bus stop, wait for the bus and then it took over 30 minutes in the HORRIBLE traffic to drive 1 km to the Budget place. Then they tried to give us a smaller car. Jason just went along with them but I chucked a wobbly and demanded the car we had booked and paid for and finally we got it (after hanging about for over half an hour). Marianna was getting to be a very cranky girl by now. She was hungry but I had no water left and no clean bottles. I thought we'd stop at a petrol station so I could get organised but we got on the Motorway and there wasn't a petrol station for about 20 odd miles. Marianna screamed and screamed. It was just awful.
Finally we found one of those huge service stations with all the mod cons. Got fresh water for Marianna and she was happy with her fresh bottle and KFC for the rest of us. It's amazing how much better everyone feels when tummys are full and the baby is sleeping instead of screaming.
Another 50 miles down the road and we found our hotel and suddenly we were all cosy in our lovely hotel room, warm and comfortable, with beautiful beds and a heated towel rack.
After passing out, too exhausted to sleep even, we awoke the next morning to a crisp sunny British winter day. It was gorgeous. A proper English breakfast (with TEA, how I missed TEA) made us feel very human again and we were off to find Jay's grandmother's house.
Can't stay on much longer at the moment but suffice to say we LOVE England and we LOVE Portsmouth. We are having the most wonderful time. The weather has been lovely - crisp clear sunny days (a balmy 8C today). We love the old buildings and the quaint shops and cafes. It is just wonderful. So far we have spent some time with Jason's grandmother Peg and her friend John and Jason's uncle Stephen (who came down from Birmingham) and his two lovely teenage children Emily and Joe. Today we have spent the day with Jason's cousin Diane and her friend Pam. Everyone has been wonderful to us and we couldn't be happier. I'm in serious danger of looking at real estate.
Write again soon. Love to everyone back home!
posted by deepkickgirl @ 7:25 AM
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