The Big Trip Has Begun

When I last wrote, we were still in London hoping our car would clear customs. Well...it did late Friday afternoon. The office closed at 4pm, so we stayed in London for the weekend and then could pick up our car from Felixstowe on Monday morning. So with a few extra days in London, we were able to get a nice although quick glimpse of the city. Big Ben, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square. In addition to the double decker bus tour, we also took a boat tour on the Thames River to Greenwich. This was neat since it's where people chose the prime meridan to be located and where GMT (time) is from. On Sunday we attended a service at Westminster Abbey. This was so interesting, expecially thinking that we were in the place where all the monarchs were crowned since William the Conqueror became king in 1066. On Sunday afternoon, we took a bus to Felixstowe where we anxiously awaited the reunion with our 4Runner.

Monday morning, Stani went and picked up the car. Mostly everything was ok, however there were a few things missing, nothing too important (a roll of paper towels, flashlight, pen, plastic water bottle, 6 music CDs, tissues, ziplock plastic bags and Gateraid mix) but still it was annoying that these were gone. We think they were probably taken from the port in New Jersey. The good thing though was that we had our car and the trip could begin!

From Felixstowe we drove north to Sheffield and stayed overnight with one of Stani's work colleague's parents, Dick and Margaret. We enjoyed London, but it was really nice to be out of the big city and in the English countryside. Dick and Margaret gave us a really nice driving tour of the area and we enjoyed a lovely dinner (fish and chips and chicken & mushroom pie...and pints of beer of course) at a cozy restaurant. They were gracious hosts and we really enjoyed this visit. It was a perfect way to start the big trip!