Return of the Newlyweds


We boarded the plane last night at approximately 8:05, after having just enough time to swig down one last Keith's beer. It was hard for me to say goodbye to Mom and Stacy at the airport, and I know they were feeling the same. I was experiencing some trepidation as I was not sure if they would let us bring our very large portfolio case avec artwork we were given for the wedding. We made it through check-in, security and then on to the plane with it and breathed a sigh of relief - only to be told by a female flight attendant at the back of our section that we could not keep it on board as it was too large to fit anywhere safely. Andy was very annoyed when he had to turn it over to the First Attendant.

(I'd noticed when we were boarded we were to have some very friendly, very camp male attendants in our premium seating section, which always makes a flight more enjoyable.)

I only had two questions when we were informed that it would have to be sent down to cargo. I tearfully asked the Chief Attendant if I could at least get my two smaller pictures out of the case, and would they please, please mark it as fragile before packing it off to cargo. He told me to go forward and get the smaller pictures from another attendant who was obviously very moved by my pleas to take care of my 'very fragile wedding gift', as a few minutes later I was informed by the chief Attendant that they were going to break the law for us and put it in the emergency stores closet. I turned to see the other attendant giving me the thumbs up from the front of the plane. My tears quickly turned to a very grateful smile.

The flight was uneventful and the time passed quickly. I was a bit nervous to be going back through Gatwick Immigration but had no worries as the Immigration Officer was apparently very bored with the whole process and basically waved me through, now that I am officially married to Andy.

We then collected our large amount of luggage and headed for the car rental agencies. Luck was not with us as we had a little wait for a car, only to be told that Andy couldn't drive as he didn't have the 'paper' portion of his license with him (another quirk about British law - he had his actual plastic license with him afterall). Next thing I know, I'm turning over my license and credit card (they will only take the CC of the driver) and was given the keys to the rental. I was a little curious as to why they would give a driver with a non-British license the keys so easily, but hey who am I to try and figure out these very different laws.

I was a little tired and wasn't expecting to drive, but hey, we needed to get home and at that point we just weren't up to lugging everything to the train station. Walking with Andy to the car I was thinking of how it was going to be strange to drive an automatic again as that's usually what you get with a rental, but wait, I'm in England now, and you have to special request and automatic. Leaving Gatwick I was very pleased with myself for having made myself learn to drive a standard so long ago.

The drive home seemed to pass very quickly as well - we only stopped for one break and made it here to the house by 1:00 p.m. our time. We've had a nap today and the jet lag isn't so bad.

I intend to spend this week preparing my resumes for work and giving you all a full report of our trip home to NS for our wedding. So stay tuned.....