Hello, London!

This is the plane that brought us all the way to London.  It was a calm, peaceful flight that seemed to go by pretty fast. Praise God, I wasn't even scared. I guess I got all my panic out the other day...and the prayers worked! Thanks friends!

Goodbye, United States....

Hey, who are those two crazy kids? One thing I learned about myself on this plane trip is that I amthe high maintenance lady that won't stop fidgeting and the people in back of me are probably wondering what I will do next. :-) Except for a little cat nap, I didn't sit still.

I wasn't keen at first on sitting so near the engine that seemed as big as twenty SUVs put together, but by the time we were flag over Ireland, I considered it a friend. After all, it (and its mate) carried us 5,000 miles in one piece. The pilot was great, too, but he lost points when he referred to all us passengers as being watered and fed as if we were cattle or...dogs! ;-)

So now that we are in London we are experiencing a bit of culture shock. Driving on the wrong side of  the road and all that, you know. Against all the advice NOT to rent a car (or 'hire a car' as they say here), we did. Mike was the first of us to drive and I forgot exactly what it is he said about that particular experience so far and he is currently trying to catch up on some sleep...BUT I can say that he is not a fan and I think we both might have already developed ulcers just from the drive from Heathrow to our B & B in Dulwich which (haha wich, which) is on the outskirts of London. 

P.S. Pat and Tina Merg, we are forever in debt for lending us your GPS...what a life savor that turned it to be!!!

And our sweet innkeeper left out a tea tray for us including gluten free biscuits for me. Yay!

But this is all I can handle for now and until I recover from lack of sleep, this is where you'll find me....

Take Charge!

Just wanted to quickly share a little find of mine from a few years back. We have a lot of devices that we take along that require charging. All those cords! I used to use a Ziplock bag or a cosmetic bag, but I found this great little bag just for cords, I think at Ross or Marshall's. The benefits of shopping at discount stores. :-)

It has four separate compartments. We also just got a Mophie juice pack so we can charge anything with a USB cord without plugging into a wall socket. I am interested to see how that works out. I actually asked the Verizon guy if is was dangerous to our health!! LOL

Tracking & Packing

Mike just taught me that anyone can track a flight online! You can see the map with the route the plane will fly and the location of the plane at the moment you are tracking it. As well as other information like estimated time of arrival and the actual time the airplane departed. Pretty cool, huh? Thanks, Mike!

Just go to Flightaware.com, enter the airline and flight number and voila! Track away!

Drum roll, please.........

Big fail on the carry-on challenge! I just couldn't do it. I joked to my friend, Alysa, that maybe it is because I wear L/XL and therefore have more fabric to deal with! I was sooooooo close, but oh well! It felt good to finally surrender to that mid-size suitcase. :-) I must say, it IS an improvement. 

The Fear Not Journal is all ready to go, as well...

And let me tell you, after a night of panic and tears (I know! Already!) I was more than ready to delve into some comforting words...

Just love it! And not surprisingly, after more prayer and asking for prayer, I am actually more excited than scared. Yay! Bring on the adventure!

Fear Not!

Robin, here. First-person this time. I felt a little bit like I was writing those Dick and Jane books. Isn't that what they were called? "See Jane run. Run Jane run. Go Spot go!" :-)

So everyone and their mother probably knows that somehow in the last few years I have developed a pretty significant fear of flying. Don't know exactly why. Maybe 9/11. Maybe because I got married and there's a lot of cool stuff to enjoy with him around and I'd hate to miss that. Maybe I just change fears every seven years like my grandma says our taste buds do.

Whatever the reason, the fear is there and it's got a stronghold on me. If you know me well, we've discussed this. And you have given me remedies, ideas to distract myself, encouraging words, reassurances, and offers of prayer for a safe flight.

And I thank you for that. I really, really do from the bottom of my heart. Thank you.

As I am preparing for our trip (I know you are all holding your breath to see whether or not I get all my stuff into that carry on suitcase), I find myself thinking over and over "fear not". And those two words have me remembering something that Beth Moore shared in one of her bible study videos. I don't remember the reason she needed one, but she had a "Fear Not" journal. Nothing fancy, just regular paper printed out from her printer and put into one of those simple report covers. And on the front she wrote in GIGANTIC letters "FEAR NOT!!!".  She said she pulled it out and read the verses inside from God's Word that had to do with NOT being afraid when she needed it most.

I think I shall do the same.

So I just wanted to share, if there is something you fear or are anxious about---maybe it's not flying, maybe it's something else altogether....maybe you'd want to make a "fear not" journal, too.

Not having a lot of time left to delve into my concordance on my own, I found this website as a reference to get me started.  It is 52 Bible Verses About Fear and Anxiety. The version of the Bible they use is ESV. I don't even know what that is, so I will probably look it up in the NKJ version I am used to. But it's a quick reference, if nothing else.

Packing 101: Pass or Fail?

By the title alone you're probably thinking, "That Robin, she needn't worry about packing! Just throw some stuff in and go have fun!" Well, ordinarily she would.  However, she has become tired of being so bogged down by bags and time after time realizing she has overpacked, yet again. The last straw was having packed the largest suitcase in their set for a single night in a bed and breakfast not THAT far from Hollister and being rescued by a Texan guest who carried her luggage down the stairs for her because it was so heavy.

Never. Again.

So this time, Robin has done her homework! (Mike apparently doesn't need to do homework on how to pack, which many of you can also relate to...BUT if you are like Robin and need a little help in this area, what she found might help you, as well!)

The first idea came to her in the middle of the night a few weeks ago. While she wasn't exactly going backpacking through Europe she always liked the idea of carrying only the basic necessities and why not try to travel that way this time? They'll be gone a long while, changing locations half a dozen times...wouldn't it be nice to pack light? So she decided to try to get everything she needed in one carry-on suitcase and one backpack.

Mike laughed. He said "No way, uh uh, you know by the time we leave you'll be rolling out the door with the biggest suitcase."

Oh, now it is on, Robin thought as she smiled pleasantly in the face of her husband's teasing. You just watch. 

But then, she started to wonder....could she do it? She had to prove Mike wrong!

So she began her research.

First, she found the famous traveler guru, Rick Steves' suggested packing list. Rick Steves always packed only a carry on! Surely so could she! She mostly studied the packing list for women from his website.

Then she found some helpful videos on YouTube. [Robin likes "How to Pack for 2 Weeks in a Carry On" by TheShinyPigeon or "How to Pack A Carry On Suitcase" by Melissa Maker for clothes and things like that and "What's In My Carry On Bag?" by aleexandraxxo, a very well-spoken teen, for more of the backpack-type contents. What does Mike like? Mike can't believe Robin is watching videos about how to pack.]

Finally, she gathered all her things on the list and.....well, she's still not done packing. A little bit of panic set in. 

Why, you ask? 

Well, you see, she's needing to rethink her 3-1-1 liquids bag for airport security. 

She's having a little bit of trouble closing it.

And she doesn't really want to forego her favorite find...

The inflatable foot rest! (What will the other passenger's think? Will they be thinking she's high-maintenance or will they be wanting one, too?)

And what about her all-important sleep mask?

Any bit of light on the plane = no sleep!!! 

DECISIONS, DECISIONS. 

So the big question is....WILL she be able to do it? 

Dunh, Dunh, DUNH!!!!!

4 1/2 Days Until Departure...

...and of course, Mike is all packed.

And Robin?

Robin is convinced she will fit all she needs in a single carry on. Oh and a backpack. But more on that later!