almost ready to head to the airport

We are spending these last few hours before we head out to the airport to make sure we haven't forgotten anything, I am meaning mostly the M's (money and medication) and P's (Passport and pocket books) and the two big C's (computer and camera) and making sure we know where we put everything  for when we go thru security. We have a list we have been adding to and crossing off as we go along. We are planning to get to the airport Really early so that we can minimize any problems or glitches that may come up, especially with Nancy's disability and special needs she has.
We got up early yesterday and today to get us a little acclimatised to the time in Britain which is 5 hours ahead of us in Ontario - 11 am here and 4pm there - but we still will have to work at getting our bodies to change to UK time.
We both are surprised that we are not really "excited" about our trip yet, although we are both nervous. My next post may well be from Bristol UK unless I can get online at the airport while we wait

1 or 2 days to go

Wed night, and 1 more day of work and then off to the airport on Friday that is why I say 1 or 2 days to go.We are both getting excitedly nervous, very excited and very nervous.
Got the airplane problem worked out ( not sure if taking an economy airline is a good idea when everything you want like choosing your seat costs more). We are hoping that we don't need coins to operate the washrooms. We could update to Club class but that would cost at least $200.00 to $300.00 more EACH!!
Now looking into the last few things, like Park & Fly and last minute packing and deciding what camera to take (this is a tough decision for the photographer in me)

Just when we thought we were all ready

Well we thought we checked and double checked everything and then double checked everything we could think of again for our trip, then I got a comment on my blog from our daughter Shannan, who just got back from Edinburgh, saying we should be very careful with the weight of our carry on bags. I knew Nancys would be overweight but felt mine would be okay.... Nancy's bag was way overweight but then uh-oh so was mine!! (but not by as much as Nancys ha-ha). I was trying to avoid the baggage carousel hassle and use only carry ons but it could not be done (could be done with the size, but the weight restriction to UK is very restrictive! 5 Kilos or 11 pounds). I think Nancys bag with the wheels weighs half of that empty!! So we just finished a serious repack using one of the big cases we had for our cruise. In truth it is only slightly larger than a carry on bag. We will use the big one for both of us and my carry on will have most of my stuff and a change of clothes for Nancy in case the big suitcase ends up in Dubai, and we will use a small back pack as Nancy's carry on that will hold the other stuff we need including my laptop, the chargers for everything, cameras and medications etc. -- why does this have to be so difficult?? Why can't we just spend a lot of money and go visit a place that is hurting for money so we can spend a lot more money to help their economy without so much red tape and roadblocks?? Oh well

all packed -- almost

6:30 pm and all packed, well almost...just the last little things like this computer and medications etc. but all in all we can say that we are 95% ready to go! Now we can sit back and dream about our trip, and worry about what we may have forgotten and to get more and more nervous as we get closer to our Friday night flight. I was on Google maps and was looking at Brighton and Bristol...fun how you can go right onto street scenes. Also watching the weather which so far looks pretty good.
We have a fun thing to do, we got a small stuffed animal from Madi and put a Canada/US flag on him and named him Bernard (with the kind permission of both grandchildren) with the idea of getting pictures of him in the various places we will be.Both grandkids are really looking forward to these pictures, and so are we...

5 days to go

Well today is Monday and we leave on Friday!! 5 days to go!! Today is a day to finish all last minute things and pack cases and generally get ready. Nancy is furiously finishing off her costume (yes you heard me right, She who must be obeyed has decreed that we will be wearing costumes on the nights we are staying in the castles...she a damsel and I a knight! should be fun..) meanwhile I have been busy tying up last minute things and giving the house a good clean so that JayJ won't be too disgusted when she comes to feed the cats and bring in the mail. I am also watching the weather so I can get out and cut the grass one more time before we go. These last few days will be hectic and we also have to at least "show up" at work and organise that for each of us being away (the longest we have ever been off work before was 7 or 8 days in a row when we went on a cruise) as this time it will be 16 days.
I just did a practice pack and have lots of room... need to add my computer and a couple of cords for cameras and such and I am done.... now for Nancy....

7 days to go

Well it's the final weekend before our trip, it's 6:30 pm now so exactly one week from now we will be sitting in the boarding area waiting for our flight. I checked today to see what was best, to take the Stratford Airporter bus to the airport or do the Park & Fly, would you believe that the bus would cost us $94.00 each plus $5.00 for Nancy's scooter and that is just 1 way.  Park & Fly would  be a total of $100.00, so let's see, the bus will cost us $186.00 plus $5.00 plus HST times 2 OR a total of $100.00 plus HST plus the cost of gas. Seems like a no brainer to me!! I will book the Park & Fly on Tuesday.
This weekend we have lots to do to get ready but we also have our granddaughter Madi's 9th birthday this weekend too so on Saturday we will be taking her out for lunch and shopping for her present (I think she wants an IPod) and then Sunday we have a birthday lunch at her house and then Grampa is going to Peter Pan with her too. The rest of the weekend though  is dedicated to getting ready for our trip!! I am going to be completely packed by the end of Monday night, house all cleaned, laundry all done, last minute shopping done, Nancy's stuff all set out to pack, cats all organized, all in all ready to go so that all we have are a couple of last minute things to finish off....wait a minute, I need to book the train into London from Stratford upon Avon!! gotta go......

8 days to go!

Today is Thursday night and we fly out next Friday! It is coming quicker than we think!!
I spent the day today making a list of what to do this weekend to get ready and a list of what to pack and another list of what not to forget.
I am hoping this blog will be like the journals I have kept in past trips, but this time I am giving myself the mandate to not only journal our trip including pictures and hopefully video, but also to keep track of our travels with Nancy's scooter, and what pitfalls and successes we have travelling with a disability.Stay tuned!
While I am busy planning the trip I am also dreaming of what we will see. Many items will be the culmination of life long dreams. (Our daughter Shannan did a tour of Europe about 20 years ago and we began thinking about ourselves taking a trip then and now we are finally getting to it!) the top of our lists would be -- Nancy (and I to be honest) is looking forward to staying in the Castles and I  am sooo looking forward to Stonehenge (Nancy too for sure),  there are many more of course but these would be the top of list for both of us.
One of the things I am most concerned about  will be the driving on the "wrong" side of the road, but of more of a concern will be the dreaded "round a bouts" that seem to be all over the roads.
Nancy ordered a Road Atlas of Europe as a surprise for me and that came today, so I will have fun tonight going over it. Nancy will be sorry as I will undoubtedly be pointing out things I have found on the maps to her.
More tomorrow