Arriving in England!

On September 28th, Tyler and Shelly dropped us off at the airport in Baltimore. We flew to Chicago where we had a four hour layover prior to boarding for London. (Thank you Air Force for making sure the cheapest ticket was also the longest travel time.) We put the boys together near the window and they did outstanding! They would have stayed awake the whole (like Cynthia and I did) except I finally switched seats with Jordan and we made them each lay down half on their seat and half on our laps. They slept for about 2 hours just prior to us touching down in London at 5:30 am (London time). So, from the time we arrived at the airport in Baltimore until the time we deplaned in London, we'd logged about 20 hours.

We were allowed to skip the line at immigration... probably saving us a couple of hours! We then got all our luggage without delay and only waited about 25 minutes until my sponsor actually picked us up. Most people have to transfer to another terminal to catch a bus to the base. My sponsor was conveniently already at the airport to drop off his wife and kids who were returning to the States during his upcoming deployment. Fortunately, he brought his "MINIvan" (extra emphasis on the mini-), but we were all able to fit. It took about an hour and a half to get back to Mildenhall where he dropped us off at billeting to check in and catch a few hours of sleep. Later that afternoon, he picked us up and showed us around the base and local area and helped me get hooked up with a rental car, cell phone, and Sterling bank account. Unfortunately, he had to leave the next day for his deployment but other friends in the squadron that I met in previous assignments have helped fill in for him. Next up on the list... finding a house and a car! Stay tuned...




















So long America!


















The boys enjoyed sitting together watching movies,
playing DS, and of course... eating!



















Safe in England... and exhausted after we had to fly
from DC to Chicago, and then to London.















Dan's first time driving on the wrong side of the road.

















Look what we found! Despite the slight variance (TK Maxx),
Cynthia was quite content to start shopping right away. Josh
definitely did not concur.