Yes, we made it....

Greetings all!  Yes, we made it to the UK again.  We have had more than our fair share of technology challenges since we arrived, so have not been able to blog or be in phone contact much.  Today is the first day that we have had any kind of online access, and this is at a motorway service station.  Part of the technology battle has been telephony issues.  For those of you who have both of our UK cellphone numbers, James' number is messed up at the moment.  So if you need to call us, please use mine.  The number is (from the USA) 011 44 7950 185 421.

Anyway, we have much to share with you all, but that is going to have to wait for a little later on.  Just wanted you all to know that we are fine!

We'll post soon....

Big Love to all!

D&J

Up up and away!

So here we are, finally in Chicago. Everything seems to be in order at last! The flight is on time and James is wearing his hat. What more could we wish for? We are going to be heading straight up to the lake district in the morning for our meeting. It will be the first time we will have been in the Winder Hall! Who would ever plan a wedding in a place they haven't seen? We would! As soon as i can get online tomorrow, by phone or Pc i'll post an update. Till then, Big Love! D&J

On our way.....take 2!

So, after much to do, we are back on our way to the UK.  As you will have seen, dear reader, due to weather in Chicago, our 6.50am outbound flight from Cinty was cancelled this morning.  We were told that all the airlines had cancelled their flights, and so we couldn't even been booked onto another airline to make our 9.30am daylight flight to the UK.  Ok, we said, and waited to be re-booked.  A few taps of the keyboard and we were booked onto a flight leaving Cinty at 3pm this afty, and then an overnight flight to London (booo...)

We thought "how nice they are all being".  Then as we moved to one side, another group of passengers moved up and went through the same process.  Except the check-in lady told them that she could get them on the United Airlines flight to Chicago at 7.56am!  A quick process and karma check told us to leave it, rather than haul the lying witch across the counter and ask her why she had told us there were no United flights.  So we skulked off back home for an extra few hours of kip seeing as we had only slept for four hours the night before.

Karma paid off.  I managed to cancel our UK "non-cancellable" reservation at the hotel in Birmingham for this evening and get a refund, and I managed to rebook our car rental with Budget instead of Hertz, reducing that cost by 40 pounds too.  So, despite the pleasure it would have given us to rip the check-in ladies head off, we made out okay in the end.  Now we are back in the airport and getting ready to head through security on step 1.  Lets hope that the weather fairy plays ball when we get to Chicago for our next leg.

So now we will be landing in England tomorrow morning at 6.50am.  We will have to drive straight to the Lake District as we have a meeting at the Winder Hall at 2pm!  Nothing like jet lag and meetings!  Oh well, we are thrilled to be on our way at last (hopefully!)  I'll post more when we get to Chicago!

Big love to all,

D&J

Oh Dear! The weather fairy became weather bitch.

Thanks to weather in Chicago our flight was cancelled. This also means that we will miss our england flight now too! Stay tuned for more info as we try to stay chipper! Big Love, D&J

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

Only a few more days...

Greetings BlogPickers! I thought that it was time for an update on this wet and rainy morning in Hebron, Kentucky! We are now in the home straight for the upcoming trip, as we depart this coming Saturday 24th July!

It is a little nerve wracking as we have only just started to pack! Sure, getting ready for only a month away is a lot easier than when we went to Spain for 6 months, but the wedding makes things a teeny bit more complex. We have so many things to take over for the ceremony itself, not to mention loads more luggage than normal too! Wedding suits, evening outfits and so on. And on top of that all the camping equipment too!

As for the wedding preparations, we just sent out the menu choices to our guests. We have had a lovely time sorting it all out as we both love to cook and eat. When we first started to work with Nick, the owner of Winder Hall where we are having our weekend, we asked him if we could make requests for the meal. He was thrilled with the idea, saying that he often cooks the same kind of thing over and over again. As he is a top rated chef, the idea of being able to stretch his wings again was something very appealing. So we took him at his word and spent many months crafting our menu! Here it is:-

1st. Pimiento Bavaroix (Red Pepper Mousse) - or - Parma Ham, Asparagus Tips, Poached Egg, and a foaming Chive Hollandaise

2nd. Vichyssoise

3rd. Citrus Sorbet

4th. Best End of Lamb, Crusted with Green Peppercorns, Mint, and served with a current sauce - or - Fillet of Pork, stuffed with Prunes and Sage, with a Sage Cream Sauce - or - Fillets of John Dory

5th. Lemon Torte

6th. Local Cheeses and Crackers

7th. Wedding Cake and Champagne

After all of this we will be handing out a pair of stretchy trousers to everyone! Although it is only 8am in the morning, now I am starving....

More details of the wedding weekend will be posted soon. We wish that we had been able to invite everyone to come to the UK with us, but as that wasn't feasible, we will try and keep you all up to date via the blog instead. Of course, there will be all of our wild and wacky travel adventures too. Those of you who have been following our blog for a few years will know what we mean. Perhaps we can throw in a few more videos too!

So over the next few days we have to finalise elements of the ceremony and we still have to work on the actual important 45 minutes were we get hitched.  We have music sorted, entrances and exits, some readings, and a sketch of the vows.  Time to get busy though!  We have, though, finally succeeded in choosing all the music for the evening event.  It promises to be a totally random affair as both of us sat down and created playlists of some of our favourite music.  We have everything from Bing Crosby to Lady Gaga, with a stop over on Marilyn Monroe, Doris Day, Spice Girls, and Vicky Carr.  Quite eclectic to say the least!

So, there we have it dear reader, a smallish update.  The first main blog post will likely be from the airport on Saturday.  Keep watching!

Big Love,

David & James

Re-entering the blogosphere....

Greetings all! This blogmeister David returning to the blogosphere once more. But wait, I hear you all cry...why now?

Well, dear reader, in case you didn't know, James and I are heading off on our travels again this summer. Though this time things are going to be even more exciting than usual. We are heading to England on July 24th, and will be away until August 24th. And the exciting part? On August 21st we will be getting married/civil partnered! Oh the excitement! Oh the joy! Oh the....planning!

So, in preparation for that, it is time to dust off the blog once more. We will be keeping you up to date as we prepare to leave, and of course, once we land back in good old Blighty (England for all the Americans.....) we will be posting lots as we travel around too. Will we be posting on the day itself? If I can smuggle my cellphone into my wedding suit, most certainly!

So, sit back and enjoy. This blog exists on blogger.com and can be accessed directly if you want to by heading to www.rovingtheworld.blogspot.com . It also gets feed into facebook pages through the wonderful world of Networked Blogs. It would really help us if you became a follower of our blog through Networked Blogs. The more followers we have, the more frequently Networked Blogs and Facebook will check our blog for updates. If you are reading this on Facebook, then you will likely see a button to follow us somewhere! Please click it!

Happy Trails, and watch this space!

Big Love,

David and James