Ruth & Friends get Ready for Take-Off

What?!  Try Again!!!

Contributed by Ruth Richter

Ruth, the Intrepid Traveler, had in her mind exactly the clothes she wanted to take on the trip to Great Britain and proceeded at a leisurely pace the day before, February 28th, to pack in a “new” suitcase from Granny’s Closet. Of course she made a quick run into Granny’s to deliver something and in the process of driving there, began to rethink the packing, and came home and unloaded everything and started all over again with different luggage, tried and true.  So much for new and inspiring ideas!

A phone call to Ken and Marla, fellow travelers, made Ruth realize that her admonishments that we should plan to travel light were falling on deaf ears – her own!  It would seem Ken and Marla were checking a bag as well as their carry ons and Ruth had to admit this was working with her ideas as well.  The repacking revealed that the bag she was now using was about two inches larger than the allowable and since Ruth is a longtime United customer with Mileage Plus and Silver Wings Plus (which no one even knows what it means, but she’s a lifer for that program so she’s going to use it as her trump card when needed!),  her slightly larger bag which is considerably less  than the maximum weight would probably be allowed through, but knowing that Ken and Marla are checking a bag adds to her comfort zone!

Printing our boarding passes also isn’t allowed since our passports have to be closely examined.  Ruth has a brand new one good until 2023 – seems very much in the distant future, but she’s missing all the lovely little stamps and seals from her last 10 years of travel to distant places.  Oh, the places she’s gone!

Ken, it seems, was in need of a day-before-departure male bonding situation, so he headed into Boise for some kind of a basketball tournament.  You know, those three nagging women may be weighing heavily on him at this point!  And Ruth has yet to share with him the fact that her family has a motto:  “You packed it, you carry it” developed back when we had teenage daughters, so Ken is surely envisioning trucking around a whole lot of luggage!

All the reservations are made and a rental car will await us as we walk out of Heathrow Airport, London.  We are staying mostly in housekeeping or guest cottages with a couple of B&Bs thrown in on occasion.  In these little cottages, often very historical with some rather “wonky” features, we have more space to spread out, will stay in each one for multiple nights and then venture out each day to explore the area we’re in.  This is a very economical way to travel especially with four people sharing the expenses.

While no more writings will be forthcoming from Ruth while they’re gone, you can be sure she’ll share lots of our experiences once we’ve returned.  Let the great adventure begin!