We are here in the UK and all is well!!!
Our flight to the UK was split up into two parts. Boston to Reykjavik, a two hour layover, and then Iceland to Manchester. We have to thank Olafur who works at Icelandair in Boston for his help in getting us exit-row seats on both of our flights. Thank you Olafur for a very comfortable ride!
The first half of the flight was 5ish hours long and we slept through it fine. On our two hour stop over in Reykjavik we actually got stamps in our passports for entering Iceland ... we had a cappuccino and croissant... then had to go through security again and get another stamp in our passports for exiting the country! We were legally in Iceland for a half an hour!!! But hey, two more stamps in our already very full passports. The customs agents kept having to search through the pages to find a clear spot to stamp.
Iceland seems so incredibly beautiful. We exited the plane in Iceland straight onto the tarmac so we could breathe some fresh Icelandic air. We both have agreed that the next time we fly over to Europe we will definitely have to stop for a few days and really get to see that wonderful country. We were disappointed, however, because we tried to get a GPS ping in Iceland and couldn’t get the little contraption to configure the satellites. So no little GPS point on our map… :( But we have passport stamps to prove that we were actually there :) so all is well...
The second flight was much shorter, only 2ish hours long. We arrived this morning at 11:30am UK time (so early US time I don’t want to think about it). Bruce's dad picked us up at Manchester airport after the easiest customs visit ever. We were in and out of the airport and through customs and baggage claim in less than a half hour and Bruce now has a UK stamp in his American passport... which is ironic and very cool... It is a sunny/rainy/sunny day here in Macclesfield (you can zoom in and see where we are on the GPS map).
For Andrea, the UK is a whole new experience. Today was the first time she has ever driven in a car with the steering wheel on the opposite side. Andrea met Bruce’s brother Gavin for the first time. AND…. This was also her first time at a “chip shop” where she actually had fish and chips!
We are staying here with Bruce’s parents for the weekend. Thank you John and Freda for all of your support and encouragement… and tea. We will go and pick up the BBB on Monday. We are trying to stay awake until night time tonight so we can knock out any jetlag possibilities. But we will see.
The adventures have now begun… This week we will be in the UK dealing with the BBB and visiting friends and family and then July 23 we are off…Wish us luck… We will keep you posted along the way.
As always… VIVA MONGOLIA!!!