Getting there better not be half the fun . . .

Victoria to Seattle to London!  Quite the day!

Here is Ian enjoying some first class lie down time!

It is not quite sinking in as I sit here in the Victoria departures lounge that I am actually going on a trip!  Partly because the last few days have been filled with the mundane, yet time consuming choirs of daily life in Victoria – plus the added hysteria of getting the windshield wipers on Ian’s car, which died Tuesday evening, paid for, if not quite fixed, and partly because this little laptop of 2.2 pounds slowed to the point of being unusable over the past few days.  Searles’ Automotive took in the Ford yesterday morning, and had it diagnosed and ready to be paid for on the way out to the airport -- $534.75 for the new wiper transmission unit installed (Damn Ian and his love of luxury vehicles) and James completely reformatted my computer and installed everything back on, finishing about 10:30 last evening. 

It might have seemed more like vacation departure day if Ian didn’t do a remote training session at 5:00 this morning, or if I hadn’t spent the earlier part of the day putting laundry away and changing beds, stacking dishes in the dishwasher, and making it seem like the dullest day in recent memory.  However, the really big factor in making this seem so surreal is that of course we didn’t know if this trip was actually going to happen until we arrived at the airport.  Don’t misunderstand, this trip is literally three years in the planning, but Ian is dealing with health issues, as am I, and we were really worried, if we could bear to think about the possibility, that we wouldn’t go at all.    We will have been living on 80% of my income for six years, come September, just so we could take this trip and our trip to Turkey three years ago, while we were able to, health-wise, and it would have been devastating to have made the financial sacrifice and not been able to go.  It was only three weeks ago that our oncologist said that treatment was working, and it was safe for us to depart.  Our trip is therefore a little more expensive from last minute bookings, and a little less ambitious, as hiking and walking, two of our favourites, are not going to be as easy with a few little issues – gout, recovering from pneumonia – which we have decided to share.  Sharing issues with Ian is not as much fun as it sounds.  Last week I was having a lot of nerve pain in my feet, and while rubbing them, found a large lump in my left foot.  Ian said he had a painful lump in his left foot too, so horned in on my trip to the clinic.  Mine is a ganglion – nothing to worry about, while his was first diagnosed as an infection, then as a broken foot, and finally as gout.  A bit of Coltrazine, and his limp is hardly noticeable today, but I never got any sympathy for my painless ganglion.  We are scheduling in some really flexible days so that we can really go after adventure on good days, and live in the Tuscan rain when we are wanting some down time. 

It is supposed to rain all week in Germany, and then rain in Italy.  Who cares?  We don’t mind the rain at all! I am travelling with my best friend and life partner – so lucky to have both in the same wonderful person for more than 35 years!  We are pursuing our passions for seeing wonderful things and meeting new people, and the way that the experience opes us up to so much awe and joy in creation and civilization.  Ah, see, now I am getting excited just by writing about it.  This time tomorrow we will be in London!

Our tentative plan, since our niece Alanna is so busy, is to go to the Greenwich museums, especially the Maritime museum, do a river cruise to get there, see the Cutty Sark and stand in both hemispheres, maybe see the War Rooms, or drag Ian to the Victoria and Albert Museum.  We are kind of hoping to see a play, perhaps The Book of Mormon.

Whatever we do, it should be fun!  It might make up for the current flight delay! 

Seattle:  Well, I didn’t get my boarding pass for the Heathrow flight -- just two copies of my Victoria to Seattle boarding pass.  Then coming in through Customs, the border guard asked me, “How long have you been in contravention of both Canadian and American law?”  I hadn’t signed the signature page, and had to on the spot.  He kep it up for much longer than was kind, especially since Ian was already through and olooking worried beyond the gate where he was ushered -- and he hadn't signed his either! The we couldn’t get into the VIP lounge because I didn’t have a boarding pass, but Ian bought me lunch.  I was planning to stock up on adult beverages.  Then the attendant who just showed up now told me that if I didn’t have a boarding pass I couldn’t go on his plane.  None of this matters, because it has just really hit me that one short flight past, I will be in London, about to begin our adventure.  So when I say I like travelling, I guess getting there isn’t the part I like!

London:  Well, it was great travelling first class, and getting to be horizontal,  I oved the menus, and the service, and the fast-track through Customs.  I got a little motion sick -- it was a turbulent ride -- but what is really making me sick is the idea that I won't be travelling the same way on the way back!