Bristol - Jet Lag - The Road to Bath - and...The Late Game

Ahhhh, finally...the vacation begins!

Well, after a week of practically working myself to death, vacation time had arrived. This seems so very long ago now, May 22nd, to be exact!

I did TRY to pack early and efficiently (yes, early for me is the day before as opposed to the morning of!). The last few days in the States was a flurry of booking European flights, trying to reach my travel buddy Jenny to collaborate, working to prepare everything while I was gone, and spend a few choice minutes with the kiddo's! Needless to say, when Mom dropped me at the airport, I was exhausted...and, for the first time since I can remember, without a cell phone! Yikes! What would I do! I reached for it every 5 minutes until I convinced myself, well, even though I might need it (and I did need it right THEN!) I didn't HAVE it. Tough luck.

As my life goes on a regular basis, my flight to Newark was delayed. And delayed, and delayed some more. But I was on vacation, no worries! WAIT! I HAD A CONNECTION TO MAKE! And so began the game of running to catch the next mode of transportation - now I fondly refer to this as... The Late Game!

I was to meet Jenny in the Newark airport. She was flying from Rochester and we were flying from there to Bristol together - time to catch up with each other and just talk adult girl talk! We would have plenty of time to relax. RIGHT! I arrived in Newark with barely enough time to run to my gate! Jenny had just arrived late on her flight also and we spent a precious few minutes on last-minute phone calls, reorganizing bags, and taking pictures - the first of MANY to come!

The trip to Bristol was easy - we caught up on life (Jenny's Boston Marathon (woo-HOO), my kids, work, stuff, you know!) and then we caught some much needed sleep - no movies necessary! We landed at 10 AM local time - the flight was only about 6 1/2 hours - and I got to see England from the air - a lush beauty of green and rolling hills.

Jenny's colleague Justyn was there to pick us up, which was wonderful as I adjusted to riding on the opposite side of the car - and the road! Strangely, it seemed very normal for a while. Until we had to make a major turn. WHOA BABY. Then, it was fine until I started to question the logic. Justyn told me a story about the reasoning - due to jousting back in the day. Hmmm. Still doesn't satisfy my logical mind, how could the rest of the world have gone mad?

On the road to Bath and the day couldn't decide if it was going to be rainy or not. I fought the jet lag as much as I possibly could. My eyes would droop and I would pinch myself to stay awake! The rain and windshield wiper rhythm about put me out for good! But I was excited to breathe "new air" - experience a different world - but I just couldn't get over the bushes that were so tall and beautiful and flanking all of the roads (back roads, that is...). I really was so focused on them and trying to figure out how to accomplish this back home - maybe I could become the next Johnny Appleseed...daydreaming this, Justyn interrupted and told me that once, these hills were so full of trees that squirrels never had to set foot on the ground, there had been so many trees here...WAIT, that is something I heard in 6th grade about Ohio! How they could come from NYC all the way down to the Ohio Valley and never touch the ground! Strange the similarities, humph. I don't WANT similarities! I am overseas! Abroad! AWAY from HOME!!!

So then, we found parking in Bath and the pictures - the adventure - and, The Late Game were to begin!!!