DAY 1 - THE ADVENTURE BEGINS

As much as we travel and cruise, we look forward to each adventure,  as if it was our first, with great anticipation, and this journey is no exception.  We hope to make memories that we can carry with us for the rest of our lives.

Unlike some trips where we are picked up at the crack of dawn, this time we were picked up shortly before Noon.   We were driven to our regional airport in a SUV.    

The driver, Blake was professional and a terrific conversationalist,  the SUV was roomy, and the drive took about one hour which was a great start to the trip.  

Over the years, we have met many interesting drivers between  Keith's extensive business travel, and our pleasure trips.  Blake was one of the finest we have ever had.  He actually just started doing driving about three months ago on a part-time basis.    It is always interesting to hear about careers and interests  of others and today was no exception.   He started a business twenty five years ago, after five years in the field that manufactures high end dental bridges and crowns.  However,  more and more  of this is now being done in-house in dental practices, with newer equipment now available on the market, so according to Blake the number of companies doing this line work has declined dramatically by around 33% in the past three years alone.  Since he has lost some of his business so he is doing driving and getting ready to start a new business in a totally different field.   His wife is a Dental Hygienist and yes he met her through his business.  We talked about this, our own dental experiences, and travel.  It made the time go by in a blink of an eye.  We were so impressed with him, that we have requested him for our return trip.

Since we left on a Sunday, traffic was relatively light.  Before the vehicle arrived to our home, we could actually track the vehicle so we knew when the driver was.  We thought that was a nice feature and wish more and more businesses would do this. 

Our airport has very few international flights so we were very fortunate to be able to not only take a direct flight to London Heathrow but also to secure business class tickets using frequent flyer miles.  We arrived to the airport early which is always our preference and had a light lunch, checked in at the ticket counter, and then made our way through security.  The airport was not very busy either   After a brief stop to pick up some items to read, we relaxed at the airline lounge and like the airport, there were very few people at the lounge and we were told that it had been a very slow day.

We will end now since we have a long day ahead of us between the travel and our first day in London.  

More tomorrow.

Keith & Anne Marie