Countdown to England Trip in progress

Well, Sara & Jeremiah left yesterday afternoon (May 2nd) for England, and soon enough I'll be leaving for my own tour of England with Gretchen. The excitement is definitely starting to set in.
=)
We're down to just 10 more days until we leave! Yes, that's right, 10 days! Wow!
(We leave on Tuesday, May 13th from LAX around mid afternoon).
Looking back, it seems that the time has just flown by since we first started talking about this trip about 2 yrs ago.

Lately, I've been busy making sure I've got lots of the little details taken care of...like making sure my prescriptions are all up to date (including eyewear) and that I have a copy of my prescriptions with me for traveling. (Hence my recent eye exam and visits to the pharmacy, etc.)

Plus I'm really jazzed that I get to borrow my folks' new Garmin Nuvi 270 (a Satellite Navigation system). I already tried it out here, and it worked pretty well. (Unfortunately here in CA I can't use the suction cup attachment to have it on the windshield, but oh well.) I used it for my drive to work one morning, and it almost gave me exactly the same route that I normally take to work. One little drawback with this system is that I can use it to pre-plan out a route. I have to actually be driving the route for it to give me the turn-by-turn directions, or else I can just have it on while I drive and it shows my car on a map (no directions given since I haven't programed in a destination). But overall, this is a nifty little device that is sure to come in handy. (It already has North America & Europe maps).

Part of me is nervous, since while this will be my 2nd trip out of country, it will also be my first without any 'grownups'. ( You know what I mean. =) It's just me and a friend my own age this time. And its going to be a LOT longer than my last trip to England...and we're renting a car so we can drive around and really get a chance to see a bit of the Island. (Well, as much as our time restrictions allow, anyways.)

I am definitely excited by our Itinerary. I'm SO looking forward to 'seeing the sites'.


Here's our itinerary:
5/14 (Wed) - arrive in England. Get Rental Car & Drive driving from LHR to Beckington (a town outside of Bath) where we'll stay the night.
5/15 (Thurs) - explore Bath.
5/16 (Fri) - Drive to Liverpool, but will stop at Shrewsburry for a few hours (after all, the Cadfael series is based out of that town!).

5/17 (Sat) - explore Liverpool (and surrounding area?). Most likely do a Beatles tour (like the "Magical Mystery Tour".)
5/18 (Sun) - drive to Lake District (stay in B&B in Keswick)
5/19 (Mon) - explore Keswick & surrounding area, meet up with Sara & Jeremiah

5/20 (Tues) - explore Lake District (& or go to a coastal town) or day trip to Scotland

5/21 (Wed) - explore Lake District (& or go to a coastal town) or day trip to Scotland

5/22 (Thur) - check out of B&B, stop in "Yorkshire Dales" to explore, and continue on to York. While in York, walk around town, see the sites, and take Tea. Staying in Tadcaster (outside of York).
5/23 (Friday) - Turn in rental car at LHR, arrive London
5/24 (Saturday) - London
5/25 (Sunday) - London
5/26 (Monday) - London
5/27 (Monday) - check out of lodgings, take a shuttle to LHR, & fly back to the States (to LAX).

Well, that's our trip in a nutshell (or at least what we're planning on doing/seeing).
=)

-=-Becky

p.s. - also super excited that I get to borrow my Dad's camera for the trip. It's an awesome digital camera (a Sony SureShot) and it takes great pictures. Expect to see a bunch from my trip! =)