Departure Time

Here we go moms and dads...your little ones are setting off for a tremendous adventure and a tremendous opportunity that you've given them.  They're going to see sights, experience new things, develop deeper friendships and make great strides in growing up - ALL IN 2 WEEKS!  What an adventure.

I'm happy to report we had absolutely no problems, no glitches, no humps...which are GOOD things!  Arrival went smoothly and Mr. Margene met us as always to have a group blessing.  Thank you Mr. Margene.

Our layover in Charlotte went smoothly and we had plenty of time to have dinner and play a bit...then OFF TO LONDON!

 Again, it was one of the smoothest experiences we've had and we were in London Gatwick, through Passport Control, loaded into taxis and arrived at our hotel with WAYYYYY too much luggage, but the Luna and Simone happily accommodated it in their tiny lobby for  10 hours until we got back to actually check in.

We wasted no time at all until we were back at Victoria Station on the Tube to The White Tower to see the crown jewels and all of the various gold scepters and jeweled orbs that every monarch seems to need ;-)

It's been a taxing day with only 4 hours of night time on the plane.  Most of us slept...

But some of us chose not to sleep on the plane and paid the consequences later. ZZzzzzzzzzzz

From the White Tower we embarked on the 2nd half of today's itinerary which was the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studios in Watford Junction.  So back on the tube we went, connected with the train at Euston and onto Watford Junction to load on the Double Decker Harry Potter Bus!

Of course when riding a Double Decker bus the first order of business is to head directly to the upstairs where it's at least 10 degrees hotter than downstairs.  Air-Conditioning you say?  The students have already learned AC is not easily found in London.  Thanks to your faithful prayers we had P-E-R-F-E-C-T sunshiny weather today.  Thank you, God, for not making us slog through rain.  We would have done it cheerfully if that had been required, but we were blessed with blue skies and unseasonably warm weather in the rainiest city in England.

Truthfully - I was not especially excited about this Harry Potter sidetrip, but it actually turned out to be quite exciting of a place to see. 

It has been ONE EXHAUSTING day!  On the train ride back to Euston when it was time for us to get off Mr. Mynatt thought he was going to have to carry poor Jonathan Carroll off the train because it was IMPOSSIBLE to wake him! Poking, nudging, shaking, loudly talking ;-) was just not doing the trick.  Jonathan was down for the night...at 6:30 pm on the London Euston train (OH NO).  As the buzzer was sounding for the doors to close a hint of consciousness was detected in the otherwise fully asleep body.  Thankfully Mr. Mynatt only had to "guide" him half asleep out the door instead of carrying him. 

But this is to be expected on the arrival day from the USA. 6 hours difference and little to no sleep on the plane is no excuse - we've only got 13 days and we have SCHEDULES!!!

Rest assured they all ate well and after room assignments and last minute tucking in by Mrs. Mynatt, Ms. Ketchen and Ms. Armstrong (Mr. Mynatt was busy trying to coherently write something half way intelligible and upload pictures to the blog) the students were fast asleep snug in their beds.

We're meeting at 8:15 in the morning after our "Full English Breakfasts" for a days jaunt to Windsor to see the Queen's Castle.  Who knows, maybe we'll even see the Queen herself.

Anyway good night from London, and rest assured your young adults are having a great time and are safe and sound and probably too zonked to even be dreaming.

More updates tomorrow.