We slept in 35 different beds. From our flat in Pontygwaith where we lived 4 months, to B&B's and summer homes and hotels and visits with family. A lot of different beds!
We drove 20,343 km [12,641 miles] in 2 different Peugeot Rifter cars. The first car we picked up at Heathrow when we arrived in April and then returned when we left the UK in September. The second car which almost identical, just a year newer, we picked up in Amsterdam when we flew over in September and then returned just before we flew back to London. The cars were leased through AutoEurope which we highly recommend. We were given brand new cars with insurance included. The rates were cheaper than the conventional rental companies and we had very great cars! I miss our Peugeots!
I was congratulating myself on driving so many kilometers without getting any tickets when yesterday we received in our mailbox a bill for a ticket that indicated I was caught on camera driving 8 km over the speed limit of 50 kmh in The Hague just 2 days before we turned in the car! What a bummer! So now I will pay the € 43 and my "no ticket" record has been broken. So sad! But we were accident free!
It was dark at 3:30 AM on 31 December when the car service picked us up to take us to the Heathrow Airport. After seeing our family everyday for 10 days it was hard to say "good bye". London which has terrible traffic was relatively quiet as we drove along. Our driver, about our age, engaged us in conversation and we learned more about the Brexit situation and how it will affect England. He gave an interesting perspective and helped us understand better many of the issues involved. Having real and meaningful conversations with so many people has been one of the highlights of our journey.
What a blessing it was for us to have a wheel chair assistance available to help Steve negotiate the long walks to our gates. I am sure that our walk in Heathrow was at least a mile long! The last few weeks of our travel took its toll on Steve making it difficult for him to walk very far. Our flight to Amsterdam was short and uneventful. Of course it was a longer flight to Salt Lake City - just over 10 hours. But we were able to sleep a little along the way which was helpful. Air travel is still a miracle to me. I know there is a scientific explanation but it still incredible to me that it is possible to put so many people and so much luggage onto such large carrier to be transported thousands of miles over land and sea in the air in a matter of a few hours.
All of our luggage made it home safely with us! And we had a lot of luggage! We began our journey with 2 large suitcases, 2 spinner carry ons and 2 back packs. We returned with 2 additional large suitcases. We had previously mailed home two large boxes of souvenirs, books and clothes not to mention books we had purchased at the Hay Cinema Bookstore in Hay-on-Wye which we had shipped home. It was fun to see a blue Royal Mail bag which contained two extremely well wrapped packages of our books waiting for us. That is the most amazing bookstore!
It did not seem like we had purchased so much stuff but the proof was there in what we brought home. And nothing broke! I was so happy to see my lovely vases make it without even a crack.
There were many lovely things we saw in shops and markets during our travels but in most cases I would see things I loved, try to figure where I could put them in our house and not know where so I did not buy them. We even left a lot of things behind like bedding we had purchased for use in some of the places we stayed or we would have been over weight. Thank goodness for a luggage scale that helped us stay within the correct weight.
What a delight it was for us to come out of customs, etc with all of our luggage to be greeted by most of our Utah family! It is impossible to describe my emotions! So many beautiful faces and so many hugs and so nice to feel loved. It just made me feel like all was right with the world. Our son and his wife hosted a gathering in their home where we could visit for a little while before we and our luggage were shuttled home. Another son and his wife stopped by the grocery store to buy a few basic groceries to tide us over until we could get there ourselves. And then we were home in our house! Wow!
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| Most of our Utah family came to greet us!! Just look at all the beautiful faces! |
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| Our view as we came out of Customs! What joy! |
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| We are Home! Can you tell Steve is happy to be home? |
Our car was safely in our garage but the battery had died from inactivity so a new one had to be purchased. We had to get our car registered here in Utah since our Washington registration and plates had expired. Our home was in good shape and it was nice that our grandson and his bride could live in it for a time while we were gone. We have most of our suitcases unpacked now, however hardly anything has been put properly away.
We had only lived in our new house for 2 months before we began our trip. When we moved in last February with all of our stuff from our Washington home that had been in storage while we served our mission in Australia, we pretty much stuffed everything into the correct rooms and then left on our journey. But we downsized and our new house is about 1/3 smaller so now we are faced with the daunting prospect of sorting and discarding all the things we no longer need and making this new house our home.
I am excited to put things in order and to prepare to live our "retired life" whatever that will be. It will be fun to discover!
Since we are part of planned community our yard is not yet completed. We have to wait for progress on the houses near us to have all our fencing put up and our yard defined. It will be a VERY small yard with minimal yard work. But there will be room to plant some rhubarb, asparagus and some flowers. I look forward to planning that small space.
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| It snowed and here is Steve out shoveling. Before long a neighbor came and helped him along. Most of the snow is melted by now but more is forecast. |
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| Our yard/garden. If you can see the little dark marks on the fence - that is where the rest of the fence will be attached in the spring. Our yard will be very small. But in the future you will see what we have done with our space. |
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| Looking west from our front door. There will be more fences and things will soon look much different. |
We have had "tuneups" with our doctor and will see eye doctors this week and then there are dental checkups to be had and so it goes. Still waiting to learn exactly what is causing Steve's difficulty in walking.
The last 2 1/2 months of our travels have not yet been documented in this blog. But they will be. There are just too many amazing memories to leave them out. There will be several posts to come but they will come as I am able to do them.
We are forever changed from our experiences. We saw incredible sights, ate really great food, and actually did make some progress on our family history research but it will take some time to sort all of that out. However, the very best part of this trip was the interaction we were able to have with so many wonderful people. We met family we had not previously met, we renewed past friendships with friends and family, we had wonderful discussions with many people from different walks of life. I loved that we had REAL conversations and did not have to worry about being politically correct and uncomfortable. We enjoyed hearing different opinions about many things and learning history that we did not know. Everywhere we were made to feel welcome. We felt the Lord's blessings and influence throughout our journey! We are so grateful that we have been safe and basically healthy throughout despite Steve's walking issues. What an incredible blessing this trip has been!
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| This is a morning view from our bedroom window looking north. We love that we get to see the mountains every single day! |
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| And here is the sunrise from my desk in the our office. I love to sit here day or night and just enjoy the view!. We wish you all a very Happy New Year. May the Lord bless you and yours. And we are mindful of Australia and the terrible fires. We hope and pray good things for 2020. |
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