Well the day has come. Time to load Fredie’s car and have him run us from Fort Myers Beach to Orlando to catch a flight to London, England for the start of our adventure/journey. This is a milestone trip for Pat and I. Pat turned 65. I turn 65 in November. We’ve been married for 25 years and together for 29. We’ve planned this for 2 years and there’s no turning back. Here we go.

It’s my first time in Europe and Pat’s 2nd (She went when she was 19). So a lot of new stuff, places, people and adventures. I’m pretty excited. Yep, I’m half English and half Cowboy according to my Dad. My Mom was full blooded English and my Dad said his heritage was pretty much anything I could think of so I guess Cowboy was the best way he could put it. I’d take one of those DNA tests, but maybe I’ll just call myself a Cowboy.

As we headed north to Orlando, we ran into a pretty impressive storm. It made me think of what is going to happen to Florida and the east coast as Hurricane Mathew works his way north through the Bahamas tonight. My thoughts are with friends in the islands, boats and wildlife. As Jimmy Buffett says, “There ain’t no reason to hurricane season.” Be safe everyone and pay attention. Please.

So after we got to the airport, we headed to the counter and got the tickets and they accepted our 40 pound bags for shipment to London. We headed to the gate to meet up with Pete and Iva our good friends from Illinois. In fact, our trip started out with Pat & Katie from MN, as well as Judy from AZ coming along also, but because of conditions of life, that happens, they had to cancel. So the phrase for this trip is, “And now there were four.” One suggestion from Bro. Dan was, “**** Pat,” but it was overridden, except now Pat has the title anyway.

Well the flight was good. Up the east coast, about 100 to 200 miles off the coast until about New York then we began to head northeast then east to London. It was an 8 hour flight from Orlando and only about 45 minutes of turbulence a couple of times through the night. We left Orlando at 10:30 p.m. and arrived in London at about 11:30 a.m. London time.

After customs, we went to be picked up by our driver to take us to the flat we rented, but he’d left. So we called the company and they sent him back to us. Our 45 minute drive was over to hours because the driver took us through a ton of neighborhoods. He didn’t know how to get to where we needed to go. After two gps’s and a phone call or two to dispatch, WE found the pace for him and all was fine.

A great place, a good dinner and an amazing nights sleep… We were here! Now to explore and meet the locals and experience the sites and the culture.

Capt. Paul West

Paul@CellGrasp.com

http://www.CellGrasp.com