Just Got Home

Chris and I just got home tonight, it was about 6.5 hours, no turbulence at all. Everything was just about on time. I want to thank everyone I met in England, you all treated me extremely well. Thanks to Chris's parents for finally getting my butt out over the Atlantic, Nanny and Granny for their endless support throughout our trip. Thank you Peter and Denise, that was definitely one of the best home cooked meals I've ever had, and you guys were just amazing company, I hope to see you again soon! Jon, thank you for taking us out to Kingston, it was great catching up with you. And last but definitely not least, Robert, Amy, Lauren, Nicole, Jake, and yea, Fabian too, thank you all so much for having us and doing everything that you did for us while we were there. I can't thank everybody enough, on a scale of 1 to 10, the trip was about a 20. I had an amazing time in England, and I definitely know I got a one of a kind trip, but, hopefully it's the first of many. This post is the conclusion of this blog, I love you all and will miss you! Please please please keep in touch and let me know whenever you are in town, you are all welcome anytime! Take care and thanks for following!
-Steve

Good Morning

We just got to Nanny's house now, packing up a few extra things before we leave. We will be heading out to the airport around 5pm and our flight leaves at 8:25pm (London time). We should be landing in Newark airport around 11:05pm eastern time. Hopefully we'll be home by 2am or so. I'll post when we get home to let you all know we've made it safely.

SURPRISE!

Look at this, a special mid-day post for you guys. This morning we went to Harrods in London (saw 5 Ferrari's) and did a little shopping before we leave tomorrow. After that, we met up with Granny and walked over to Carluchios (I'm just taking a guess on the spelling) for a nice big lunch, which consisted of grilled garlic bread and a seasoned and fried flattened chicken breast. Once we finished lunch we walked up to the bus stops, but on the way we stopped at a couple places to pick up some miscellaneous items for our trip back home. We are now sitting at Granny's just relaxing right now. I don't believe we have any plans, some reading and a small nap may be in order though. Hope everyone at home is doing well!

Relaxing with the Dodds Family

Today was just spent relaxing, all day long. I definitely needed it. We spent the day at Chris's Uncle's and Aunt's house, who provided us with a nice fried chicken lunch. The girls had some of their friends over. While Chris and friends played PS3, I stayed outside in the nice weather and claimed my spot on a lawn chair and just relaxed the entire day. We just hung out all day, had a brief video chat with Luisa, watched some TV and ordered Chinese. Tomorrow we are heading to London again to stop at a shop and pick up some last minute things to bring back home. Afterward, we have a nice lunch planned for the grandmothers. Other than that, we pretty much have a somewhat open schedule tomorrow.

Wings and Wheels in Guildford

Chris and I were out the door at 8:30am this morning and headed out to Guildford for the airshow. We took a train to Guildford and a cab to the airport. Unfortunately, we were racking up quite a cab bill due to really heavy traffic. Luckily, at the rate we were moving, walking was actualy faster and cheaper. So we walked the last 2 miles. When we got to the gate, we knew it was going to be a great show. I think it was due to a Ferrari F50 driving by us as we walked in that gave us the hint. It started to cloud up a bit when we got there, but luckily, nothing was canceled. When we got in, there were groups of nice cars. Caterham's, Lotus's, Ferrari's, and even some Fords. While we were looking around, we caught the first part of the airshow. It started off highlighting the planes of WWI and WWII, along with a demonstration of the newest European fighter, the Euro Fighter Typhoon. I can't even begin to explain how loud that jet was. It literally sounded like the air was being ripped apart. We even got to see it come close to the sound barrier while he was making a low pass. After watching this, we got to see a huge selection of cars make passes down a huge runway, some of the cars clearly hitting over 170mph. Once the cars were done taking turns down the runway, we got to see some more plane action. We watched an aerobatic team called "The Blades" do some pretty amazing stunts. After their performance, the Red Arrows arrived at the airport for their performance. They came in with an amazing formation. But once The Blades were done performing, we headed out. Our feet were hurting and the weather was starting to get a little too chilly for our shorts and t-shirts. So from there we called it a day, and took the train back to Granny's for some nice omelets. All we have planned now is a good night's sleep.

Just Another Stroll in London

We were in London by 11:15am this morning to try and witness the changing of the guards at the Buckingham Palace. We weren't too successful. When we got there, there were loads of people standing around and filling up the sidewalks. The streets were also blocked off. A parade came by, with a marching band and guards following, but we were so far away and at a bad angle that we could not see anything, so we decided to cut that short and head over to Park Lane to d some car spotting. We walked, and walked, and walked, and got a fair share of exotic cars. We also browsed through a couple parking garages to see what we could find there. We didn't really see much out of the ordinary, just a few Ferrari's, Lamborghini's, and tons of Bentley's. But, we did catch one bog fish today. While we were walking, Chris managed to spot, from about a block away, a Bugatti Veyron sitting behind another car. I have no idea how, but I guess his senses were tingling and he could smell it in the air. We also saw a couple Audi R8's, a Lotus 7, and a couple Lotus Elise's and Exige's. And tons of Aston Martins, they were everywhere. After we did this, we stopped at Mulligan's for lunch, but we did not eat there. They were closed unfortunately, but we did find another pub called "The King's Head". We both had an amazing club sandwich, it was huge and delicious. After lunch, we went and checked out a small dealership that had a Mclaren GTR, and a couple Formula 1 cars for sale. We then headed to the science museum to see a new exhibit that explains how technology invented in Formula 1 has been used in other field such as the military, medicine, and other sports such as cycling. After the museum we went over to the Tower of London, which was an awesome site. It was just amazing. To see how well they have kept some of the artifacts from the 1600's were really great to see, which included many things from Henry VIII's collection of armor and various weapons, even guns. The Tower of London is also home to the Crown Jewels of England. They had jewels as early as the 1600's, all the way into the 1930's. The amazing thing was the quality everything was kept at. Unless someone told you their age, you would think it was all relatively young jewelery and dishes. After the Tower of London, we went on a little walking tour that followed the murders of Jack the Ripper. We had a great guide, he really got into the characters of their time and was good at painting the picture of what happened during that time. By the time we finished the tour, the sun was already going down. We came back to a nice stir fry dinner and we are tired. We both have been on our feet all day, but tomorrow will be another long day. We'll be going to an airshow that is held at the facility "Top Gear" is filmed at. We'll hopefully get to see some car demonstrations and some aerobatic performances by the Red Arrows.

Finally, SLEEP!!!

Today was a day of rest for Chris and I. We slept in until about 11am this morning. Once we mustered up the energy to get out of bed we visited Chris' Grandfather's grave then took a bus to visit some shops in Putney. We grabbed some lunch to take back with us from M&S and headed back to Granny's flat. But once we got the chance to lay down, we both fell asleep, fast. It wasn't a light sleep either, this was a deep sleep. I guess we didn't realize how busy we have been until we actually sat down and stopped. We both slept for about two hours before we were woken up to have dinner. Chris's Uncle Robert and Aunt Amy picked up Chris, Granny, and I and we ate at a nice italian restaurant in Wimbledon. Chris and I got a pizza, which tasted great. It was a very relaxed dinner with just the right setting. We then went back to Granny's flat, but on the way Amy was nice enough to drive us back making sure we passed the tennis courts in Wimbledon. We got back, had a nice little conversation with Chris's Aunt and Uncle, and are now retiring for the night. Tomorrow we'll be up around 9am and heading to London by 10am. We'll be watching the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, running up and down Park Lane doing some car spotting, having lunch at Mulligans (English Pub), and a bunch of other stuff. Museums, dealerships, etc...I'm sure everyone will hear about it tomorrow. Other than that, good night to you all, I will talk to you tomorrow.