Frequent Flyer miles do not have a lot of flexibility. We had to make reservations ten months in advance, because I wasn't sure if I had to fly early to work on the boat I made reservations for the family on Thursday and by Friday when I made reservations there were no seats available to NYC. The family flew Sacramento to Seattle, spent the night, and then flew to Newark and caught a towncar to JFK. I ended up taking a very convoluted route starting in Sacramento then going to LA, staying overnight, then to Cincinnati, then to La Gurdia where I got a taxi to JFK.
We arrived at JFK and met Abuela (Grandma) for the flight to London. From there we rented a car to drive to visit our dear friend Margaret Hunt's children in Yorkshire. (We are all saddened that she had passed away.) When you rent a car in Europe think small. Five people and luggage that included sailing gear does not fit in a five person car. We upgraded to a Mercedes but it was a tight fit.
The Hunts and the Garlands were perfect hosts. We had a great time enjoying Yorkshire. Rebecca and Marina as well as Stephen and Keegan who hadn't seen each other in over ten years were as thick as thieves within an hour or so. After all Stephen had a trampoline and at 6'1" could do back flips on the lawn and doesn't this picture say -- well 1000 words.
Our style of travel is different then most people. We like to share in the lives of the country we visit and do a quick visit of the tourist spots. Thus it fit us well since we were off to the Rugby Club for drinks while Stephen practiced. Sean and I talked about scuba diving and boats and supplied the women with drinks while they talked about -- well whatever it is that woman talk about. We had a lovely dinner at an old chapel that had been converted into a Pizza resturaunt (yes we were in England). I had Shepherd's Pie but the Pizza was good too.
It was a quick tour we arrived on 14 June and departed on 17 June. Guests - like fish - start to smell after three days. We packed a lot into the few days that we were there.
Yvonne, Victoria and her 10 month old son gave us a tour of York.
Ewa and Sean took us to their local Pub along with Yvonne, Abuela, and Will.
Sorry no picture of Yvonne's Brother Will.
We were going to go to the water slides but the web site was unclear as to their hours and we got there an hour before the slides closed. Another night we were supposed to go and watch Adam play cricket but it was rained out. I was disappointed. We went bowling and the kids played blacklight mini golf while we had drinks at the pub. Those of you who know me know I don't drink that often but the word Pub was a recurring theme. It was hard to find the correct ale to drink. I don't care for lager and it seems that each pub we went to had a different ale and I had to drink till I found the correct one. My liver suffered for it.
My favorite time had to be the feast at the beautiful Hunt household. (They built a lovely house on a farm. The codes require that the house have the same dimensions as a barn that had stood there in years past and it was "pulled off" to the 'T'.) Ewa and Sean are lovely hosts. It was the night before we were due to leave. The airlines had changed the flight from a reasonable 1100 to 0740. We really felt the warmth of the Hunts. We bought Chinese "Take Out" food and I had a good laugh because the Chinese owners of the store had a very thick Yorkshire accent. We bought beer and wine. The woman picked up Indian "Take Out." It was a feast. We all sat around eating and talking and drinking. Around Midnight we got ready to leave but it took us about an hour and half to say goodbye. It was evident that we didn't smell like fish. It was also evident that no one wanted to leave.
The next day we were on a plane to Venice. PS maps are better then GPS. We took the shortest route to Leed's airport -- thru the middle of the City on slow roads rather then the motorway bypass.