We're here!

The flights were easier than I thought. The only problem we had was that neither of us specified vegetarian meals, so we had nothing much to eat other than the apples, powerbars, and crackers we bought. (I fixed this for the return flight.) The problem with US carriers is that you pay a thousand bucks for a ticket and they give you four bites of lettuce and call it salad. Oh, and they wanted $2 for muffins. My advice is to fly Virgin or BA or any European airline if you're coming out here; you'll get much better service.

The kids all slept a bit, I nodded off twice, but Terry hasn't slept since. I think it has something to do with the two Java Chip Mochas he drank.

So now we're at the in-laws' house just outside of Birmingham. It took about 16 hours to get here: SJ to Chicago was just under 4 hours; Chicago to London was 7.5 hours; London to Birmingham was just over a two-hour drive. Add in some time waiting around, and you get a rather long day--the longest in fact. It's the summer solstice for those paying attention.

We got a larger rental car than we requested. Hertz didn't have our mid-sized ready for us, but they gave us a Vauxhall Vectra "estate" (wagon for those speaking American). It fit all our luggage nicely, although the kids keep arguing over who sits in the middle.

We're all doing fine. More later.