London Layover: Day 9, Friday

Home Sweet Home! This morning we awoke about midnight NC time to begin getting ready and packing our bags so we could finish our journey home! We got to the airport about 3 1/2 hours early in order to check in and make sure that we could get our seats together. Amazingly enough, without our asking, they gave us seats in the bulk head. Emma had a HORRIBLE time at take off. Screaming, crying, yelling. Josh and I just wanted to leave her there and sink down as low as we could. Embarrassing! I felt like we had a bulls eye on our back the whole time. The screaming and crying lasted at least 30 minutes...at least. It lasted from the beginning of take off until we were at the appropriate height for the seat belt sign to be turned off. Once I was able to take her to the bathroom she was fine and qucikly went to sleep once she was back in her seat. They fed us alot on the plane and it was decent food. I think we all enjoyed the food coming home much more than the food going over. When we got home, our friends, the Harris' picked us up from the aiport. They brought a sign from Emma's preschool class. SO SWEET! She/we loved it! It was great! They also brought a cupcake from her friends birthday party at school. Emma was THRILLED! They brought us home to get cleaned up and then took us to Mexican. YUM!!! I have missed my mexican (and chinese) food. So...thankfully today our London Layover ended and we are home. Home Sweet Home!!! I LOVE my home no matter how messy it is! :)

London Layover: Day 8, Thursday

We have been here A WEEK!!!! Oh my...what a loooong and emotional week this has been. Tomorrow we will get on a plane and fly home. Cannot wait! We began our morning with breakfast at the hotel and packing our bags to move back to the Radisson for our last night. Once we got all our things packed up we checked out and lugged our "junk" to the bus station. After about an hour we arrived at the Radisson, gave the conceirge our bags and hopped back on the bus to meet Mayuri at the park. She met us at the park and bought Josh and I drinks and Emma ice cream to enjoy. Josh and Emma played while I enjoyed talking to Mayuri and learning about her and her family. After her lunch hour was up we agreed to keep in touch and say our goodbyes. I am so thankful to have met her and hope to one day see her again. :) We then went to a little cafe at the park, at lunch and then went back to the shopping center to walk around some before getting back on the bus to head back to the Radisson. Once there, we checked ourselves in, got settled and then went to McDonalds for our last dinner in London. :) Josh got to try the Cadbury Creme Egg McFlurry. He and Emma thorougly enjoyed it. Now we are getting things organized and ready for our flight back tomorrow. Can't wait to be home!!! :)

London Layover: Day 7, Wednesday

Today, we slept in and stayed around Slough. We missed breakfast so for lunch we had PBJ, Pringles and Coke. We then found a park for Emma to run around and play at. It is a newer park and is really great. She had a great time. While we were there I met a lady, Mayuri, who was enjoying her lunch hour at the park. We began chatting and she invited me to Yoga with her tonight. We then ventured into some shopping centeres around Slough, walked around and ate some ice cream before heading back to the hotel to call AA one more time. I had planned on going with Mayuri until I got busy calling AA again. When I called they were able to find us three seats on a flight home on FRIDAY!!! Thank you, Lord!!!! It took me a while to get all the arrangements worked out, switch our hotel and talk to my parents. Because I was unable to go to Yoga with her we agreed to meet at the park tomorrow. For dinner tonight, we tried Indian food. I must admit it was pretty good. We even got free strawberry ice cream. YUM! When Emma and I found out we were going home on Friday we started jumping up and down and screaming. What a great feeling! The end is in sight!!! There is light at the end of the tunnel. :)

London Layover: Day 6, Tuesday

Today has been A DAY. After lots of looking and checking and calling American Airlines about 10 times (no kidding) we have found out that our plane has been canceled ONCE AGAIN! :( We began our day in with a quick train ride to Windsor to walk around and see the castle. We met a single lady here on business that has been stranded and talked with her a while. We walked around Windsor and the little shops. We ate lunch at a yummy little burger joint. Emma had "chicken on a stick" (kabobs), I had a delicious chicken burger with guacomole and Josh had a bacon cheeseburger. YUM! After lunch Josh bought me another "charm" for my Pandora bracelet to remember our "London Layover" by...a money bag. Since all our money is flowing out the window so quickly! :) HA! Once we got back to the hotel I began searching for flights, about flights, etc. Now the earliest flight that we can get on is MONDAY morning. :( I didn't even have tears to cry, they are all dried up. I'm just in disbelief. For dinner Emma and I walked across the street to Tesco to get wings, we ordered "chips" at the hotel and drank the coke that we had. This was a cheap meal! :)

London Layover: Day 5, Monday

Today we were worn out from all the hustle and bustle and moving hotels so we just stayed around our room. I had quite the migraine after breakfast so I laid on the bed and rested while Josh and Emma watched cartoons. About lunchtime, we went over to the Tesco across the street to get some things like Peanut Butter and Jelly, Laundry Detergent, Night Time Pullups and a few other necessities. While we were there we ate lunch at their little deli. Emma found a Peppa Pig shirt that she was excited to have! We haven't seen those in the US. :) We then found a laundromat. It was about a 20 minute walk to get there. We carred all of our dirty clothes in a big suitcase. Two hours Twenty dollars later our luandry was finished and we headed back to the hotel. We were too tired to venture out and find somewhere to eat, didn't want to eat at the hotel again so we started looking at our maps and the advertisments on them. I found where we could buy one pizza and get another free. We ordred one pepperoni, one garlic and cheese (delicious) and Emma a mini ham and pineapple pizza. I was impressed with the yummy pizza. :)

London Layover: Day 4, Sunday

This morning we got up, packed our bags and moved to our new hotel in Slough, about six minutes from Windsor. We met a nice family on the bus, who is also stranded that helped us carry all our bags and find our new hotel. It was quite a little hike from the bus station. Once we got settled in we got on a train and then a subway in order to get to the bus stop we got off at yesterday to resume our tour. We had seen a little pub the day before when we were looking for a bathroom and decided to try it for lunch. Josh had a beef pie with chips and vegetables, I had delicious fish and chips and Emma had yummy mac n cheese. The pub brewed their own coke so we each had a glass of that. It was delicious. This pub was yummy and pretty affordable compared to other places. I highly recommend it. After lunch we hopped back on the tour bus where we saw The Tower Bridge, London Bridge, London Tower, a portion of the Roman Wall, the old "Royal Cruiseliner", St Pauls Cathedral, The London Eye and many other things that I can't remember. Along with our bus tour we were able to ride on a little ferry down Thames River. We learned a little more about our English history. :) After a long day of site seeing we went back to our hotel for dinner. Emma and I shared a delicious Ham and Pineapple Pizza and Josh ate a juicy burger.

London Layover: Day 3, Saturday

This morning we stayed around the hotel to see what was happening with the flights etc. About 3 this afternoon we mosied back into London. We had linner (lunch and dinner) at the first Hard Rock Cafe in the world, did you know that? Emm and I shared some yummy nachos and Josh got some great mac n cheese with grilled chicken. We definitely splurged on this meal but we were thinking it was our last. Josh and I had our engagement dinner at the Hard Rock in Hong Kong on December 17, 2004 so we thought it'd be fun to eat at another Hard Rock on our "anniversary date" - the 17th, since Hong Kong was the last time we ate at one. After our "linner" we decided to get on our tour bus and begin a tour around London. Unfortunately, we only lasted about an hour before sweet girl needed to go to the bathroom. :) After our potty break we took the subway and headed back to our hotel. Since we've returned we've discovered that we will not be leaving tomorrow, Sunday. After a good cry, I called, and rebooked our flights for the THIRD time and found us a THIRD hotel to stay in that is much cheaper. I'm ready for this uncertain and nomadic life to end. We are now booked on a flight to return home on Wednesday, April 21. Praying fervantly that that happens.

London Layover: Day 2, Friday

Today we moved to our new hotel and it is absolutely GLORIOUS and MUCH cheaper!!! Thank you, Lord. Even better we are right next to a McDonalds! Thank you, Lord for cheap food. :) Once we got situated in our new hotel and Josh showered (because our last hotel was so nasty) we took the subway into London. We met some nice guys here on business that we chatted with and hung out with for a while until they decided to eat and we decided to walk around and see the sights. I had to buy a disposable camera because I didn't bring my nice camera with me. I decided to just use Mom and Dad's while we were in Finland, didn't think I would be needing one anywhere else. We saw Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and the London Eye again. It took us a while to figure out where we were but when we finally did we saw Buckingham Palace and waled through two parks, saw the Gate of Wellington and several other monuments. Emma and I shared a Belgian Waffle in the park. Yum! :) Josh enjoyed a coffee. We finished our day out with another meal at McDonalds. :)

London Layover: Day 1, Thursday

Well, today we should have had only a 3 hour layover in the London airport. Instead we are spending the night in a dumpy hotel. It has been a day. Once we got our luggage from the airport and were able to book a hotel and a new flight home, should be tomorrow we decided to venture into London. We had a little amount of cash and used our credit cards. When we were trying to get a ticket at the train station, Josh's card was rejected. Mine had already been rejected earlier in the day. When we arrived back at the hotel, I tried to call out and was unable to make a phone call. After calling the reception several times they told me that they had to swipe my credit card, that my card number being on file with them was not good enough. I told them we had nothing to swipe. I emailed my dad, he called and I gave him the information to get my credit card back on track. After about two hours we finally had my credit card fixed and I was then able to call about Josh's card. This has been an emotional draining and frustrating day. We are so ready to go home. Tonight after booking our flight for tomorrow, I found out that tomorrow's flight had been canceled. So we are now scheduled to arrive home on Sunday. Because tomorrow plane is canceled I have reserved us a hotel room and a much nicer hotel for the next two nights. Looking forward to sleep in a clean place tomorrow! Praying we get out of here soon.