Flying Away!!

It's a done deal. The plane tickets were purchased today. We should receive our e-mail confirmation tomorrow morning and our flight leaves on Saturday. Family will be in and out of our house, with some out-of-town members staying here from time to time. I have a tremendous amount of cleaning to get done, and a little more packing, but I'll be ready to go when the time comes.

Don is really struggling with the cultural differences. He's never traveled abroad and the only time he's been out of the country was when I took him to visit my family in Canada a few years ago.

His complaints run the gammet from the paper being too small, the plates being too small, and the cars being too small to they only put one sheet on his bed, there are no washcloths provided in the hotel, and it's impossible to find a blanket. He says the food is expensive and "Believe me, honey, you will definately lose weight over here. The portions are barely enough to survive on."

Laundry service at the hotel costs $3.00 PER sock (the other items are outrageous, as well - they didn't stop with the sock price). Don's boss e-mailed him and said he was really concerned about Don not having clean underwear ;) and that his college age son says it's not necessary to wash underwear, just invest in a bottle of Febreeze. I can already tell there'll be quite a pile of wash waiting for me when I arrive on Sunday.

I'm sure we're going to have lots of adjustments. But I'm quite impressed with my husband who's already reading a bus schedule like a pro. I plan on getting to know the employee at the train ticket window real fast. I expect I'll be seeing him/her quite often.

They signed the Lease on our apartment today. It's a 2-story, 3 bedroom with a garden shed in the back. It's in a cul-de-sac and I'm hoping we can rent bicycles for myself and the children. The one downer is that there's no fireplace. Don said they have a wooden frame on the wall in the "lounge" (their word for living room) and he thinks they're going to put a picture or mural of a fireplace under the fake mantle. My questions is, do I have to clean out the fireplace after each use?

The apartment is being renovated and won't be finished until 11/27, so we'll be staying in a hotel for the first week. But I couldn't care less. We'll be together - in England. It's hard to imagine much more glorious.

We're praying for a white Christmas. But before than, we need to get through the trip.

I doubt I'll have time to write tomorrow. If I can remember my password, I'll try and post occasionally from across the pond. If not, check for me in February.