Trip to England: Day 1

William and Kate picked a great day to get married ... the day that we were to head to England! We made our plans before their wedding date was set, thank goodness. Didn't even want to know what the plane ticket fares were for that week!

Words cannot express just how much we loved England. The people, the history and (dare we say) the food were all amazing. It was one of those trips that you know will always hold a special place in your heart. I hope these blog posts can convey a little of why we feel that way.

British Airways decorations at the check-in counter

We left for the airport early in the morning to catch the 8:15 a.m. flight to London. We took British Airways and really enjoyed the trip (except the part where they lost our luggage even after we received a confirmation that the luggage was on our connecting flight). We arrived at the gate in Boston and were greeted with wedding cakes, pastries, teas, coffees and a cardboard cut-out of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge. It was such a great surprise and a wonderful way to start the trip. The flight attendants (who were British) were watching the wedding with us. It was very cool to see their reaction to Catherine's dress and the whole celebration.

Me with the cardboard cut-out of the newlyweds

Luke enjoys some wedding cake at 7 a.m.

This was our first trans-Atlantic flight, so it was interesting flying over the ocean for 5 hours. After landing, we did our best to find our way through London-Heathrow. We had to make a connecting flight to Manchester in a little less than 2 hours. We made it to the gate just in time and it was just a 20-minute flight. Since we didn't have much time in Heathrow, this was our first time hearing mainly British accents. We definitely felt like foreigners.

We arrived in Manchester ahead of schedule and Warren (Luke's friend from college) was there to take us to his and Dawn's (Warren's fiance) place in Ellesmere Port, a cute town just south of Liverpool. Luke and I loved watching Warren drive not only in the passenger seat, but also on the other side of the road. There were a few instances during the trip were I felt like saying, "Look out, you're going against traffic!"

Once we arrived at their place, we grabbed a chicken kabob at a great "take-away" (or fast food) restaurant. I got to pay in pounds and try to understand northern England accents. They had a fun time trying to figure out my pronunciation of "tomato." We spent the rest of the night catching up and watching some good British television. Luke and I eventually passed out around 2 a.m. (9 p.m. Boston time).