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 Deep Kick Girl @ 7:25 AM
3 Comments:
At 11:28 AM,
Melissa & Craig said…
Hi Guys
Great to hear from you again after a few days of silence.
Your trip to London sounded pretty bad, you have all my sympathy. England sounds lovely though, cold but lovely. I would love to have a decent holiday their one day in the future.
Craig has only got six more days with us before he heads to Indonesia for a few weeks. We are going to miss him badly, especially on Christmas Day and New Years. I'm still rostered to work the whole time so baby sitting's going to prove rather interesting...
Loved the last lot of photo's you posted. Vicky still looks as beautiful as we remember.
Anyway take care.
Cheers Melissa, Craig & Daniela
At 3:12 AM,
Claire said…
Oh, you poor things. The journey from Bogota to London sounded horrendous. Glad you eventually arrived safely.
I'm so pleased you love England, you're actually making me homesick even though I know from experience an Engligh winter gets a bloody sight colder than 8C!!!! Quaint buildings don't look so good in blizzards and torrential rain!!
It's been boiling hot here in Sydney, definate pool weather. The lead up to Christmas is very different here to the UK don't you think? Has Jason tried out any good English pubs yet?
Keep haveing a great time.
At 7:00 PM,
therese said…
Glad to see that you have resurfaced! Was beginning to think I'd have to call the lovely Julia to check that you were all OK. Sorry to hear the flight was so nasty...hope the trip home is much better. Guess it won't be long now and you'll be gearing up for the last leg of your journey home. Enjoy your time with the family...and the Merry Olde England hospitality.
Love to you all,
Therese and clan.
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