Our Trip to England PART ONE (Arriving in London and Teignmouth)

I'd never flown internationally before. We flew to Atlanta and met my mom there, then we all got on a nine-hour flight to London. I was impressed with the amount of food we were served--so many snack/drink services; a dinner of pasta, salad, bread & butter, and brownie; and even breakfast the next morning (but was it really breakfast or a midnight snack?? It was 3 am our time/10 am England time). I watched a movie on the plane, Rabbit Hole, which I cried through from 1 to 3 am when I couldn’t sleep any longer because it was so uncomfortable to still be sitting and Portia was sprawled on top of me while she did sleep.

We rented a Ford wagon (lots of Fords there really) and had quite a fun time watching Eric drive from the right side of the car on the left-side of the road. It was even harder driving a stick-shift with the left hand (I'll try not to mention the stalls). I refused to drive. Too scary. It was about a three-hour drive to the coast, and we stopped along the way to see Stonehenge and for a late lunch at Gisson’s.

We arrived at Yannon Towers in Teignmouth. Portia and Bianca chose a double room on the third floor and Mom chose the room next to theirs, with one of the best views in the house. Eric and I picked an octagonal room on the second floor. We all fell asleep in the family room after we unpacked down in the family room (the time-change and loss of a night was so difficult on us). The woodwork in the castle was beautiful (look below at the ceiling of the family room!).