The Night Before (NOT The Morning After!)

Well, this is James here.  It's 11:15 p.m. on Friday night, the 23rd of July, and we're finally ready for our trip.  Good thing, too, since we have to get up at 4:15 a.m. tomorrow morning to catch a flight to Chicago.  From Chicago we head to Heathrow in London, and then on to the booming metropolis of Birmingham, where we will spend the night in a hotel.  This, dear readers, is likely to be the last of the comfortable night stays since for the next two weeks we'll be roughing it in a campground somewhere in Low Lorton in the Lake District.

Packing for this particular trip has been very strange.  Well, I suppose you'd have to talk to David about the actual details of the packing, since he has done it all.  But we've travelled enough together for me to know that it's not something that I should interfere with!  He has lists....and a system.  And woe is he who interferes with the system.  Kidding aside, he's done an amazing job.  What makes this trip different is that not only are we packing for a month of camping in the UK, but we're also packing for a week at the condo in Menorca and formal clothes for the wedding on August 21st.  We have more stuff than when we went to Spain for six months for my sabbatical a couple of years ago! (And if you weren't following the blog at that time, you might be interested in checking the archives. Then again, why I would imagine that you would be interested in the history of our travels is really beyond me!)

So....are we ready?  Toothbrush? Check! Passports? Check! Credit cards? Check! Sanity? Sanity? Sanity? OK! Check!

This trip is going to be extra special....and not just because I am being betrothed to the man I love.  We'll be joined on the 21st by 34 of our dearest friends from around the world, including Lisa (daughter) and Joel (her husband), Sonia (daughter) and George (her boyfriend), and a cast of VERY IMPORTANT PEOPLE.  (OK, that was a little too Pooh!)

So, onward to Bedfordshire (as they say in England) or to the Feather Ball (as my father used to say).  In other words, to bed....to rest....for at least 4 hours.

Until next time...

James and David