England 1996

I can highly recommend British Airways for long-distance travel. Their food was wonderful, the service prompt, and the cabin stewards friendly. Even though it seems like I traveled for a day, the flight was only a little over 8 hours in length. But, since I traveled to the east, I “gained” 6 hours in the process. So, my arrival time at London Gatwick airport was 7:00 am on Sunday morning. After spending what seemed like an eternity in the incoming immigration line, I get the luggage and (perfect timing!) find Julian.

We pile all of the luggage (lots!) into the van with John, Marianne, Julian, and Mark Edwards. The van just does hold us all!!! So, we start the 2 hour ride to the Stratford area.

We unload at the hotel, The King’s Court, just outside of Alcester (pronounced “Ulster” for all of you non-English types!). After dropping off all of the luggage in the room, we re-convene at the pub (The Twisted Boot) in the hotel for tea! It’s my first exposure to British “tea time”, and to tell you the truth, the concept of hot tea with milk in it was never appealing to me before. But now I’m hooked!

After tea, I return to the room for a brief nap to help catch up on the jet lag, since John has arranged for a nice family dinner at the hotel restaurant with everyone and his parents and brother for later.

Dinner was wonderful, as were all of the meals we had during my stay. I had a great time during dinner, talking and getting to know everyone better. After dinner, we retire again to The Twisted Boot for a pint of the local ale.

Contrary to popular misconception, the beers in England are not served warm. They were nice and cool, and every pub we visited had a local brew to offer. We spent several more hours talking in front of the fire before retiring for the evening.

As I get back to the room and unpack my luggage, I check out of the window — it’s snowing!!!!!! Unfortunately (or maybe not?) it doesn’t really snow again (a few flakes here and there, but nothing serious) for the rest of the trip.