First few days . . . .

On Friday, December 18th we arrived in London to a rare winter snow storm. Our sponsor was kind enough to pick us up from the airport so we wouldn't have to worry about maneuvering all of our luggage on the train or pay for an expensive taxi ride. Too bad the little bit of snow caused such a problem. A normal 2 hour drive took him 4 and a half hours! With all of our luggage we pilled in to his car and made the drive back to Mildenhall. The base looks much different than Fairchild. The buildings are all older and smaller. The flight line is much more visible and we were able to see a few KC-10's and a C-5 that were here on top of the C-130's and KC-135's that are stationed at this base.

The weather has not warmed up since we have been here. If anything it has gotten colder. It snowed again on Saturday, which reduced the speed limit on base to 5mph. Saturday we had the opportunity to look at 3 different homes in the town of Red Lodge. Everyone says the homes here are small, but you don't realize how small they are until you actually see them. There is no storage at all. We pretty much need an extra room that we could store things in! Out of the three we saw there were two that we liked okay. We are hoping to find some more homes to look at this week before we make a decision.

Saturday we rented a car. That has been an interesting experience! Tyler has been doing all the driving so far :) It is a strange feeling getting used to sitting in the opposite side of the car and driving on the opposite side of the street. There are very few stop lights, instead there are roundabouts used in more of the major intersections.

Sunday we spent the day in London. We found out that it is much cheaper (15GBP vs. 80GBP) to drive to our nearest tube stop and take the tube in, than it was to take the train in to the city. It took about an hour to drive to the tube stop and then an hour by tube to get to our destination in the city. For the cost savings it was worth it! We walked through Hyde park admiring the Bavarian themed Christmas market. There was a variety of traditional German foods served, an ice skating rink and amusement park rides. We also got to see the last bit of Speakers Corner. There is a designated section of the park that people gather on Sunday mornings to share their thoughts/concerns about whatever topic they choose. It can be entertaining to listen to depending on what people are talking about. From Hyde Park we walked to Oxford Street and checked out some of the shops and Christmas decorations. It is sure nice to see all of the decorations on the street and the store fronts. Really makes it feel like Christmas! We also visited, Picadilly Circus, Leichster Square and Trafalgar Square. The last thing we did was visit the school Andrea attended and the flat she lived in when she was here in 2001.

Overall things are going well so far. We are adapting to the differences and accepting the changes our everyday lives will have these next few years. Hope you enjoy hearing about our journey as much as we enjoy sharing it with you.

Tyler and Andrea