...and back again.

All good things must come to an end...or so they say. On Friday, June 19th, we took a Picadilly Line Underground train to Heathrow airport, where we boarded a plane bound for the United States of America. Yes, after nine months of travel, it was time to return home. On the days leading up to our return, we both expressed sadness about the end of our adventure, while also feeling excited to see family and friends.

When we checked in for our flight, Alan's "Charlie Brown Vortex" struck again, and we were flagged for extra security. They went through our limited carry-on bags and gave our passports a good examination, and decided we were safe to allow on board.

The flight over the pond wasn't the greatest. We traded seats to get two seats on the aisle, only we weren't told that they were in the absolute back row of the plane. Nothing like trying to sleep while the flight attendants chit chat and the toilet flushes all night. Thankfully, though, it was a fairly smooth flight, and we landed safely at JFK. This is when the fun began.

I was flagged for a special line when going through immigration, while Gracyn breezed through and went to get our bags. When I reached the immigration officer, he scanned my passport and then asked me to follow him to a different room, where he put my passport in a file and told me to wait for the next available officer. After waiting for five minutes or so, I was called forward and then spent the next 30 minutes answering questions, standing the entire time. As you can imagine, I didn't have the best answers.

"Where do you work?"
     "I don't work anywhere right now. I've been traveling for nine months."
"Oh. Well, what's your profession?"
     "Clergy. I'm a Presbyterian minister."
"Hmmm."

I was ready to give the Sansburys' address, so at least that wasn't a problem.

"What's the address for the Presbyterians?"
     "You mean, like, in Louisville?" (remember, I've basically been up all night)
"Is that where you last worked?"
     "Well, no. I worked in Nashville."
"Give me the address of the church where you last worked."
     "I didn't work for a church. I worked on a college campus. Do you want that address."
"That will do."

At the end of our interview, I was asked if I had any military training and whether I had ever fired a weapon. I answered "no" to both questions.

Finally, he gave me my passport, and I was escorted to the exit to baggage claim. So, you might ask, on your entire journey, what was the hardest country to enter? That's right, the United States of America, the one place where I'm a citizen. Go figure.

Gracyn was waiting patiently with our bags, so we put on our backpacks and made our way to the exit, where Wes Goldsberry was waiting to greet us back to the country. Yes, Wes came to the airport at 11:00 pm to pick us up and entertain us while we waited for our 6:30 am flight the next day.

We spent the night visiting some of Wes's favorite haunts in and around Brooklyn, and even got to visit his apartment. He's a great friend, and we're so grateful for his hospitality upon our return. Then, at 5:00 AM, we returned to JFK to catch our flight to Atlanta.

This time, when we went through security, we received an extra security check that included fairly comprehensive body patdowns. Good times with the TSA. There's probably a joke to be made here about being part of the 5%.

Our flight to Atlanta was uneventful, and we made our requisite stop at Caribou Coffee, as we did on the way out of the country. Here are the before and after photos.

With campfire mochas in hand, we were joyfully reunited with Gracyn's parents around 9:00 AM on June 20th. As you can imagine, tears were shed, and huge smiles ensued. More to come on re-entry. For now, here's photo evidence of our first meal back in the country...and yes, we requested it.

London Calling

For our last two days, we were in the city of London. On Thursday morning (June 18), we returned to the British Museum to get some more time around its vast exhibits. What I had managed to miss on our first visit was a huge hall with artifacts from Egypt and Greece, including the Rosetta Stone.

After exploring this hall, we met a volunteer guide for a tour around the Africa exhibit. This was incredibly interesting, perhaps because we haven't really learned anything about Africa on this trip. In one African country, there had been a program to buy back guns from citizens, which were then turned into art.

This was the first museum I have visited where existing exhibits, because they have been in p
lace for some time, have inspired modern artists. For instance, this mask. Does this look like a Picasso painting?

We spent the afternoon in Regent's Park, wandering around the Regent's Canal, the Camden Markets, the tree-lined Broad Walk (maybe used in The King's Speech), and Queen Mary's Garden. There were so many beautiful colors of flowers here, especially the blue.

That evening, we treated ourselves to a performance of The Phantom of the Opera. This was one of Gracyn's favorites, and it was a lot of fun to see on stage. We both walked home humming the tunes.

On Friday, the last day of the adventure, we visited the Victoria and Albert Museum. We also caught a free tour here, seeing exhibits on artifacts from India, on the changes in fashion from 1790-1910, on Raphael's tapestries, on exquisite jewels donated by lords and ladies, and on paintings. If only pictures had been allowed in the jewelry exhibit... some things would take your breath away! I wouldn't mind having any of those rings or tiaras!

After lunch, we walked around Kensington Gardens, ending up at the Italian Gardens, with four lovely pools of waterlilies and fountains.

Gracyn may have started crying in the park, because, well, here ends the international travels of this adventure.  We have a few more things to tell you about, friends, like the adventure that was our trip home, including Alan being interrogated by the TSA. We are very excited to see you all soon!

Scotland the Brave

On Saturday, June 13, our Trafalgar bus tour left Glasgow to head north into the Scottish Highlands (pronounced "heelands"). We began to have very atmospheric rain and mist, and much furrier cows (pronounced "coos") and sheep in the pasturelands. We took an hour's cruise along Lake Lomond, which is in a popular Scottish song. We also saw the cave where Rob Roy hid from the British, very helpfully labeled.

Our next stop was in the Valley of the Weeping, absolutely beautiful.

In the afternoon, we visited a working sheep farm to see a demonstration of sheep herding with border collies. The shepherd has 18 dogs, and is training a 10 week old pup was hanging on his master's every word. The dogs went out to get the sheep, and brought them to us, so that we could see various commands like "left," "right," "lie down," or "slow down." Each command was given in words  and whistles. There was even a blind dog who could perform perfectly well with only his hearing and his sniffer.

After the demonstration, we were allowed to bottle feed the spring lambs, and hold the 5 week old puppies, who were shivering in the cold away from their mama inside.

The next day, our main stop was St. Andrews, on the east coast. Obviously, Alan was thrilled to make the "pilgrimage" to the birthplace of golf. We walked around the 18th hole to take pictures. Gracyn was more interested in St. Andrews as the location of the events that inspired Chariots of Fire. So we went out onto the beach to do some re-enacting.

The town of St. Andrews boasts many other historical attractions, including castle ruins and the remains of an abbey abandoned after the Reformation. Plus scones.

Our final day in Scotland was exploring Edinburgh. Again, our first instincts dictated tracking down the locations connected to Harry Potter. So we saw this cafe, where J.K. often wrote, and this gravestone in the next door Greyfriars churchyard, which may have had some role in inspiration.

After that, we made our way the rest of the way up the Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle. It was not bombed during WWII, and remains quite breath-takingly perched on the top of the rock edifice. We took audio tours, and wandered the structures from various different periods. For me, the references to Mary Queen of Scots' time in the castle was very interesting, including a visit to the room where she gave birth to her son, James.

We enjoyed shopping as we walked back down the Royal Mile, and took a walk through the Princes Street gardens, where one can get the best view up towards the Castle.

That evening, we elected to go on one of Trafalgar's "optional" expeditions, to an evening "Taste of Scotland" dinner and a show. We started off with a delicious meal, including a plate of haggis. I had no intention of tasting this item (if you don't know what it is... Google it), but when our host proclaimed that "if you have eaten chicken nuggets or hotdogs, you have had worse," I had to agree. It was very tasty.

Now the show portion of the evening was traditional Scottish music and dancing. It started off feeling overproduced, with a very loud sound system, lots of swirling lights, and a slide show of pictures in the stage. It was probably very popular with the octagenarians present, but not quite what we expected. That being said, it toned down a bit, and we were enjoying ourselves, along with the rest of our table. During a portion where they taught a Scottish dance, Alan was pulled to the dance floor to do the reel in front of the whole crowd.

Well we had a few more days in the bus, through York and Stratfor-upon-Avon, and then two days in London. Our final London activities will be the subject of the next post!