22/12
Sitting in an airport hotel signifies that my time in England is at an end.
I caught up with a couple of friends, former colleagues, for lunch on Wednesday. We caught up on all the ‘gossip’. It was hard to believe that it was two years since we last had lunch together. There was lots of laughter as we tried to take photos, especially when the young lad on the next table tried to ‘photo bomb’ the picture. His mum then offered to take a photo of the three of us and then the story of why we having lunch was told. It was lovely to see that we were all ‘weathering’ well.
With temperatures hovering around 0C at the start of the week 12C felt almost tropical and I even discarded my down jacket! Unfortunately the warmer weather meant that it was quite misty. The changeable weather didn’t stop our nightly dip in the hot tub, mulled wine or bubbles in hand, an the stars were spectacular on the clear nights, we even spotted a couple of satellites whizzing through the sky.
Yesterday we visited a National Trust house – Hanbury Hall – stately home built in early 18th century in Worcestershire. This year the decorations were from the 70s & 80s. The Christmas number 1 records were playing and the mention that Babycham, CherryB and Snowballs were the tipple of the time set our teeth on edge! We also visited a craft centre and watched as glass decorations were blown.
After leisurely breakfast I headed south unfortunately it wasn’t the leisurely drive I had hoped for. Road works started a 30 minute crawl which would normally have taken 5 minutes. Heading down the motorway we were forced to go across country when an accident had closed it between two junctions. A journey which should have taken a maximum of two hours ended up taking four! I was very pleased to return the rental car without a scratch – had a few close calls!
An early flight -6:30 am take off- takes me to Frankfurt and then on to Chicago. Early night for me!
23/12
Out of the hotel at 4:15 to catch the shuttle to terminal. Luckily I started early as it was very busy but it gave me time for breakfast. Flight to Frankfurt was packed! It was a quick flight but as we were parked in the back of beyond and then had to wait for buses catching the connection was a rush. Sods law then dictated that the flight was delayed so the rush was for nothing!
9:30 flight passed relatively quickly with Snoozing, movies ,food and reading. Great surprise at O’Hare airport – so much easier and quicker to get into the country with automatic machines. I was soon through and Justin was there to meet me.😊 We headed to the hotel in the city, where I was staying for a couple of days. After a quick meal together I had an early night – not that I slept terrible well!
Down to breakfast was when I noticed that it had started to snow – it continued non-stop for about 6 hours! I met Justin and family at the aquarium. It was so great to see them all. Ivy is as cute as ever and seemed to remember me but Benny was rather shy – it’s so strange to see him walking. I headed back to my hotel ploughing through the snow, hard to see at times as the snow was hitting you in the face. I was treading carefully as the last thing I wanted to do was end up A over T and do some damage to myself. It wax a long hike back but after all the sitting on planes it was good to be in the fresh air.
Sitting in an airport hotel signifies that my time in England is at an end.
I caught up with a couple of friends, former colleagues, for lunch on Wednesday. We caught up on all the ‘gossip’. It was hard to believe that it was two years since we last had lunch together. There was lots of laughter as we tried to take photos, especially when the young lad on the next table tried to ‘photo bomb’ the picture. His mum then offered to take a photo of the three of us and then the story of why we having lunch was told. It was lovely to see that we were all ‘weathering’ well.
With temperatures hovering around 0C at the start of the week 12C felt almost tropical and I even discarded my down jacket! Unfortunately the warmer weather meant that it was quite misty. The changeable weather didn’t stop our nightly dip in the hot tub, mulled wine or bubbles in hand, an the stars were spectacular on the clear nights, we even spotted a couple of satellites whizzing through the sky.
Yesterday we visited a National Trust house – Hanbury Hall – stately home built in early 18th century in Worcestershire. This year the decorations were from the 70s & 80s. The Christmas number 1 records were playing and the mention that Babycham, CherryB and Snowballs were the tipple of the time set our teeth on edge! We also visited a craft centre and watched as glass decorations were blown.
After leisurely breakfast I headed south unfortunately it wasn’t the leisurely drive I had hoped for. Road works started a 30 minute crawl which would normally have taken 5 minutes. Heading down the motorway we were forced to go across country when an accident had closed it between two junctions. A journey which should have taken a maximum of two hours ended up taking four! I was very pleased to return the rental car without a scratch – had a few close calls!
An early flight -6:30 am take off- takes me to Frankfurt and then on to Chicago. Early night for me!
23/12
Out of the hotel at 4:15 to catch the shuttle to terminal. Luckily I started early as it was very busy but it gave me time for breakfast. Flight to Frankfurt was packed! It was a quick flight but as we were parked in the back of beyond and then had to wait for buses catching the connection was a rush. Sods law then dictated that the flight was delayed so the rush was for nothing!
9:30 flight passed relatively quickly with Snoozing, movies ,food and reading. Great surprise at O’Hare airport – so much easier and quicker to get into the country with automatic machines. I was soon through and Justin was there to meet me.😊 We headed to the hotel in the city, where I was staying for a couple of days. After a quick meal together I had an early night – not that I slept terrible well!
Down to breakfast was when I noticed that it had started to snow – it continued non-stop for about 6 hours! I met Justin and family at the aquarium. It was so great to see them all. Ivy is as cute as ever and seemed to remember me but Benny was rather shy – it’s so strange to see him walking. I headed back to my hotel ploughing through the snow, hard to see at times as the snow was hitting you in the face. I was treading carefully as the last thing I wanted to do was end up A over T and do some damage to myself. It wax a long hike back but after all the sitting on planes it was good to be in the fresh air.
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