Georgia - 6/20/2013

The adventure begins. We are getting on the airplane for a nine hour flight to London tonight. Neither Anne or I have been to the U.K. and are really looking forward to it. As usual with our international trips, part of the allure is not knowing what to expect. However, we do have some general knowledge about how things are going to go.

• We are going to spend a week with great college friends (Manuel, Jane, their daughter Julie, Ken, Wanda, and Marilyn) in London, do lots catching up, and have plenty of laughs.
• Manuel, our host, will have planned a great week. Another words, we will be on the move every day, all day, walk a lot, and leave London having seen almost all that it is possible to see in a week.
• Manuel will purchase plenty of good wine.
• We will consume more alcohol in the next ten days then we do the rest of the year. OK, maybe not Anne, but I have no doubt that I will.
• Rules (oldest restaurant in London) next Tuesday night and a Bonnie Raitt concert at Royal Albert Hall on Thursday night - more on these events later.
• Anne and I will rent a car at the tail end of the trip and spend a couple of days in the Cotswolds, about a two hour drive northwest of London. Neither of us are too sure about this move; renting a car that is. Maybe we'll start drinking on the plane. The Cotswolds (small towns, countryside) should be a nice counter point to London (big international city).

Off to the Atlanta airport. Manuel has arranged for a limo service to pick us up at Heathrow on the other end.