A twenty year adventure and more

Driving down the highway to the airport, at night, in the driving rain and constant construction caused the vein in the middle of my forehead to stick out like crazy. My Sister says I look like those guys from StarTrrk when I get it (usually due to rage, or stress). I assume she means a Klingon?

Jaw clenched tight, vein popping, Olive turned to me and said “Mom, this is going to be a trip of our lifetime.”

It made me stop (not literally thankfully). Just halted in my tracks: my brain, and stress, and I reevaluated the craziness that has been the past few weeks. She is right. It will be the trip of a lifetime. Still a bit of a stressful drive, but after that I was able to take a deep breath, and in my mind start to relax into the idea that yea, this is going to be the trip of a lifetime. Exploring foreign lands with my family. Showing the world to my children. Enjoy the day to day in what will hopefully be a mindful, observational and participatory way. Amazing! The trip, of a lifetime.

And we made it, safe and sound to London! A bit late because there was an oversupply of carryon luggage that had to be dealt with, but otherwise an uneventful trip. We slept a bit, albeit fitfully, and arrived to a quick and easy slide through customs (literally 2 mins once we got there after a labyrinth of moving sidewalks and escalators), and walked right out to the arrivals area.
Med stopped there to have a bite to eat, and try to figure out the faulty cell situation.

Next we hopped on the underground from Heathrow to Paddington station. A relatively easy affair, but I’m glad there were some employees there to guide us in the right direction (literally and figuratively).

We arrived at Paddington station and had a coffee, did a bit of a hunt for Paddington Bear, and then checked into our fine enough hotel/hostel. Not the Ritz by any means, but aside from the fact that the Underground must be about 5’ below us, so everything shakes and grumbles every miniute or so when a train rolls through, it’s a fine enough place to sleep, and a great location.

After checking in we went for a walk along the Paddington canal, but got caught in driving rain while walking through the “Little Venice” part of town. We spent the next hour or so trotting from under bridge to under bridge, or overhand to overhang, then went for dinner at a fine enough pub.

It was a slow and easy start to the trip, just unfortunate weather. So let’s see…. Well, you know how it goes…