Stories From Our Suitcase

While in Michigan, I got to spend a lot of time with my family, especially Melissa and her adorable little girls.  Lyla is 2 1/2 years old and is a ball of energy and sass.  She got her daddy's looks and her mommy's personality, with my sass thrown in.  Yes, I influenced her personality! ;)  She is adorable and so much fun to be around.  I love her to death and enjoy spending time reading books, giggling and spoiling her rotten when Melissa isn't looking! Amelia (Jeff and I's goddaughter) is 7 1/2 months old.  I can see both of her parents in her looks, but her personality (I know, she is only 7 months) is pretty relaxed like her dad.  She is a drooling baby, so you should make sure to have an extra shirt around before holding her.  Honestly, I don't really mind though. ;) She is getting so big already, and I can't wait until I can see her again.  She will probably be walking by then!

Friday, September 16th:  I woke up at 3:00am to be ready for my taxi by 4:00am.  Since I was going to the airport alone, I opted for not walking around Central London at 3am by myself to take a train or bus.  I got to the airport by 5am and got checked in.  After sitting around for awhile, we started boarding my plane. Once everyone was boarded  and ready to go, they announced that the pilot had found an issue with the engine and they needed to check it out.  Come to find out, someone driving a piece of ground transportation hit one of the engines.  Not good!  So after sitting on the plane for 30 minutes, they deplaned us and told us to wait in the gate area for announcements.  Then about 30 minutes later they informed us that our flight was canceled and we needed to go to another gate to get re-booked.  After standing in line for another 15 minutes, they told us that we had to go back out of security and get our bags and then go to t...

Sunday, September 11th:  We arrived into Heathrow Airport around 6:30am and were picked up by a car sent from Latham (Jeff's job).  It was my first time having my name on a sign.  Well, it said 'Boerneke, J', but it was still part of my name. ;) It was a special moment!  We were driven to our temporary accommodation, which was a one bedroom apartment with a washer/dryer, living room and large bedroom.  It was really nice!  As soon as we arrived, I started the hunt for an apartment.  Unfortunately, we didn't have our laptop yet, so we were doing all of our searching on Jeff's i-touch.  Since I only had four days to find a place and sign on it, I had a lot of work to do.  This is our temporary housing.  I was open to just staying here and foregoing the trouble of searching.  Jeff said No. Although I had been doing research on apartments and locations since the time we got the offer, I had NO IDEA what I was in for.  I...

Once in Port Elizabeth, we drove straight to our hostel "King's Lodge Backbackers".  We got settled in and then went in search of groceries for dinner.  At our hostel, we met a group of Danish students who were studying in Cape Town.  They were pretty funny!  Since we had an early start the next day, we headed to bed early. Friday, September 9th:  We left the hostel by 6:20am to head north toward Johannesburg.  Our flight to London was on Saturday at 8:00pm, so we had about a day and a half to get there.  We decided to do one last "vacation" thing before our two days of driving, so we stopped at Addo Elephant Park for some final animal sightings.  We didn't see as many animals as we were used to, but we saw some elephants, giraffe, antelope, etc.  Unfortunately, we didn't see any predators.  The park was so green and the foliage was so thick that it made it very difficult to spot animals, unless they were right by the road.  We l...

Tuesday, September 6th:  Today was another early start at 6:30am.  We were awoken by the hostel's obnoxious phone ringing non-stop.  After breakfast, we headed east towards George and Port Elizabeth along the N2, which gives access to southern coastal towns.  We made a stop at Moussel Bay and ate lunch.  We looked like a bunch of hillbillies making grilled ham & cheese sandwiches with our one burner contraption while sitting on a bench by the ocean.  Oh well! It was delicious and a nice way to spend lunch!  We continued driving until we stumbled upon a trail that went past a cave and along the water by a lighthouse.  We saw several dolphins swimming and surfing in the waves.  It was pretty entertaining! Afterward, we headed to Victoria Bay and walked along the water.  It led us past a bunch of cute bed & breakfasts.  There were a few people surfing and body boarding in the waves.  We continued driving towards Wil...