January 27, 2007

Americans

We're back from an unbelievably eventful and unforgettable experience, and without further ado, I present to you England: Craig & Kristin's International Adventure.

January 18, 2007: We spent the day at the office wrapping up loose miscellaneous work ends before leaving for a week. A co-worker drove us in New York's first light snow of the Winter of '06-'07 to Kennedy International Airport, where we were dropped extremely early for our 9.10 p.m. flight. I called Alison, a new friend of ours who was getting ready to board with her husband Scott to leave New York at 6.45. We had arranged to meet them at Heathrow upon our arrival in London two hours following their arrival; in other words, they would land at Heathrow at 7.00 a.m. the next day and wait for us to land a little after 9 a.m. Alison informed me when I phoned her that the security line there at Kennedy was a breeze, and maybe we should try to jump on the earlier flight to depart with them? And so we did. We even arrived at Alison and Scott's gate 20 minutes prior to boarding. American Airlines boarded the small handful of people onto the enormous jumbo international jet and we managed to find 4 open seats together in the bulkhead area of the plane (bulkhead - I still have no idea what that is but that's what Alison, Craig and Scott kept calling the space where we found seats!) There we sat, for an hour. Then another. The pilot informed us each half hour of the "continued mechanical problem experienced below" which was constantly "almost resolved". A little after 9, too late to re-book us on the 9 p.m., the pilot announced that our flight had been cancelled. (The comic relief at that point was the adorable blonde toddler who ran down the aisle waving her arms calling, "Everybody off the plane!") Needless to say, we were all worked up, and we darted off the plane quickly and broke into mad dashes for the ticket counter. One last flight would depart New York for London at 11.45 p.m. and we would not miss that flight. Alison took smart charge and shoved all 4 of our boarding passes at the woman and insisted we be seated together. Flooded with relief of being ticketed for that flight, we found some fast food and a couple of cocktails by our new gate. We boarded our new plane a little after 11 and proceeded to wait an hour. And another. And another. It was near 2 a.m. before our plane finally pushed back from the gate. And thus began our international adventure.

January 19, 2007: We arrived at London Heathrow a little before 1 p.m. We had each managed to sleep on and off through the flight, but nothing could have prepared me for the thick fog of jet lag I would experience as we climbed off the plane, found our bags, went through customs and hurried to the Heathrow Express. We took the Heathrow Express to the Paddington Underground Station, where we switched to the tube. Even though we're 4 savvy New York subway riders, we looked like dumb Americans surrounded by huge suitcases peering up at tube maps, trying to figure out, in the midst of disrupted line service, how to get to the Liverpool Street Station. Alison and Scott are not new to international travel, so they were helpful, but we were all still wrecked from lack of good sleep and extensive delays. Finally we made it to the Liverpool Street Station, where we switched to yet a new train, the One, I believe it's called, which would deposit us in Norwich (pronounced Nor-itch). On this train, Craig turned to Alison and said, "Well, I will give you guys the address for the lodge, if you don't have it, so that when you get in a cab you know how to get there." Alison looked up, haggard and pale and said in response, "Aren't we coming with you?" as if, We've come this far and now you're ditching us?? It was funny and a misunderstanding (Craig didn't expect the 4 of us to all fit into one cab with all of the aforementioned luggage, is all). We arrived at the Norwich train station by 5.30, deboarded it and luckily managed to stuff ourselves into one cab. We announced to the Brit, "Beeches Lodge." Then we proceeded to sit in gridlocked traffic. If I haven't mentioned it, we were supposed to arrive 6 or 7 hours earlier in England. Here we were, nearing 6 p.m. and the shuttle for the rehearsal dinner for Dustin and Fiona would be leaving Beeches Lodge at 6.30. Somehow the cabbie wound the car out of the mess and delivered us to the Beeches Lodge at 6.10. Needless to say, Craig and I had not showered since the previous morning. I've got too much more to say to do the math but that's a long time without a shower. We jumped from the cab, spotted a collection of Craig's friends at the corner and they called, "You have twenty minutes to get ready." And so unfolded the fastest freshening up Craig or I have ever pulled off in the history of ourselves as individuals or as a couple. I think the same might have applied to Alison and Scott!*The rehearsal dinner was nice - it took place at a small establishment called The Last Wine Bar, where we ate and drank and swayed a bit in our jet lagged glory. The rest of the night consisted, of course, of drinking, friends, et cetera. There we were, our feet on English soil.

January 20, 2007: Alison and I both managed to miss our hair appointments which Dustin had scheduled at Fiona's hair studio for 9 a.m. I could barely lift myself from the bed, much less imagine stumbling alongside Alison to have my hair curled and sprayed, and it turned out to be alright because frankly, my hair is so fine and thin that the gusts of wind in Norwich that day would have blown it all right out. So we packed up our bags and headed down to meet the group: Djay, Diana, John, Liz, Corey, Brooke, Chris, Scott, Alison, Dave, another Allison, Dustin and Djay's father Doug and Dustin. The majority of us walked through Norwich to a Moose Lodge pub where we ate unfortunately unsavory lunches (well, Craig and I made the grave mistakes of ordering burgers in England) and then it was time to retrieve our bags and travel to Suffolk outside of Norwich for the wedding. The beautiful sprawling grounds where the Elms Barn is located consists of groupings of cottages and a larger 17th century barn which is where the ceremony would be held. We didn't have an alarm clock so napping was out of the question (note: when next time traveling to England, we will purchase a travel clock because it should never be assumed that one will be provided in lodgings there). So we instead walked the length of a long road to where the others' cabins/cottages were comfortably tucked (ours was situated closer to the actual Elms Barn) and had English tea, then a beer while the Indiana natives played Euchre for a while. Then it was time to return to the cottage to shower and dress for the wedding. I still felt as though I were operating through a cloud but it was fine. Dustin and Fiona's ceremony was performed by a woman who belongs to an organization that Craig recalls only performs legal and recognized ceremonies in Scotland and possibly Ireland, therefore the ceremony wasn't legal there in the United Kingdom (Dusty and Fi are legalizing their marriage in the states later). It was beautiful and touching, as is their love story. We were instructed not to shoot photographs during the wedding, so I actually don't even have a decent photograph of the bride and groom (but I can surely find one from a friend soon). After the wedding, there were cocktails in a tent adjacent to the barn, and following that the reception was held back in the barn itself, where a rocking British 80's cover band performed all night, guests drank and danced and ate the finger foods offered buffet style. Cheers and many, many beautiful future memories to Dustin and Fi. When she gets settled here in the states with Dustin, I hope we can have them to visit. With this, I want to conclude Part I. of the adventure so that I can accomplish a few other things tonight - but stay tuned for the continuation of our return to London where we would spend the next three and a half days in the splendor that is London, England.





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