Jackie and I have talked about making a trip to London and/or Paris for years.  Of course, it’s a big deal financially so it’s mostly been something to talk about while not really expecting to do it.  A few months ago we talked about it a bit more seriously.  We know that retirement may not be real soon, but it is lurking out there.  We know we won’t be able to afford such a trip as retirees so, in some ways it is now or never.

I’ve kept an eye on airfares and they were always too high.  We’d pretty much given up on the trip for this year, hoping airfares would drop before our eventual retirement.  Still, I’ve kept an eye on fares, and a few months ago, I happened to think of it and checked.  To my surprise they had dropped by quite a bit.  It was still hard to commit to such a trip, but, after thinking about it a few days we decided to go for it.  The next day, the airfares went right back up and never came down again.

Our friends cheered us on – I especially appreciate the support from the good church I pastor.

So, on Sunday afternoon we headed for IAH for a 9 hour flight to London Heathrow.  We flew British Airways – economy class.  It wasn’t bad, although it would, of course, be nice to sit up front in one of the fancy seats.  The flight leaves at 4:20pm Houston time, but it’s already 10:20pm in London.  If the traveler can trick their body into sleeping on the flight it’s a very good thing.  Both Jackie and I got some sleep – or at least we dozed a bit.  Still when the flight arrived at 7:00am local time, our bodies thought it was 1:00am.  A six hour time difference is nothing to sneeze at!

Sleeping on the flight would have been a bit easier had it not been for a church tour group on the flight.  They were headed for Athens and in a festive mood.  As we tried to sleep a group gathered around the seat right behind us for good natured chatter.

Still, it wasn’t too bad.  We had already planned to take it easy the first couple of days anyway.  It took about 2 hours to clear UK immigration and then another hour of riding on the famous London Tube to our destination – a nifty studio apartment near Canary Wharf.