As of this writing it has been just 22 hours since our ride-share driver picked us up and we headed to the airport. I could easily begin by writing an entire post about our first ever Lyft/Uber experience. But in all fairness – or maybe should I say grace – I won’t.

The important thing is we made it in good time to begin our vacation/escape in high style, which meant hanging out in the Admiral’s Club before boarding the 777.

This is where I have to reiterate the from the depths of our hearts and really loud “THANK YOU!!!” to the faithful saints of Wake Forest Presbyterian Church for making this possible. The tickets – American Airlines Flagship Business International – were given to us as part of the most amazingly generous collection of gifts imaginable at Rebekah’s retirement last summer.

So we made our way from the Admiral’s Club and into our unbelievable cabin accommodations in the 777 direct to Heathrow with our mouths gaping open like the “would you look at this!” unsophisticates that we are. We didn’t even try to pretend we were even vaguely familiar with the front end of an airplane, and that made it even more fun, because we felt free to gawk and smile and poke fun at ourselves and enjoy the moment.

Fun fact, friends, did you know that the meals a lot better up there?! I’m saving my food pics for a “vacation foodie” post later, but believe me when I tell you it was a whole new experience.

So we arrived in London, having enjoyed the most restful (fully reclining “bed” seats) transatlantic flight ever, and made our way through one of the busiest airport scenes I have ever negotiated, only to find the rental company had upgraded our ride to an Audi SUV. Sweet.

It’s been a very long time since I have driven on the left, and gone clockwise around traffic circles, so we drove cautiously down through the achingly lovely English countryside without being in any kind of a hurry. It was a sunny 62-degrees and my stick-shift Audi responded beautifully.

We occupied our comfortable Airbnb at Camber Sands, by 1:00, went grocery shopping over in Lydd, and had an invigorating walk by the English Channel before relaxing for the balance of the day. (I plan to feature our accommodations in a later post).

Not a bad 22-hour stretch. We are so happy to be here, together, and can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Peace and blessings, in every way – DEREK and REBEKAH