All in all, Karen and I had an uneventful trip across the big pond. We both had to work before heading out. I also had to visit the chiro for more one adjustment (that was three this week alone!) and then home to ice the back. Conrad picked Karen up and then me. We weren't able to web check in so we had to do it at the airport. We found out that air Canada couldn't check us through but we did manage to secure a seat on the earlier flight across to Vancouver. Once there, we headed straight to the KLM boarding gate. You see, I had a seat and Karen didn't. KLM actually had her on standby. We did secure a seat for her but not one together. She was one row back. I spent the whole time waiting lying on the floor alternating between relaxing and doing my back exercises. The flight from Vancouver to Amsterdam was uneventful and I managed to sleep for about three hours. We went over the pole and it was light the whole time although we did have to pull the shades after dinner. I entertained myself with listening to music and praying my back didn't get too mad at me. I had a window seat so I was only able to get up and stretch twice but I did stand up for quite awhile each time.

We landed in Amsterdam at 10 am local time to pouring rain and decided we were too tired to head out to the city. We wasted our six hour layover in the airport; we checked out the museum, some comfy lounge chairs, the mediation room, had tea in a teacup and waited and waited. The last hour seemed to stretch on forever....and ever. We were both taking turns walking to stay awake. A note about the mediation room....it was a life saver and we should have spent longer there. It was a quiet sanctuary with great natural light. We did our yoga beside Muslims saying their mid day prayers.

We waited for our Bristol flight in the bowels of the airport. Really it was a hole and we went down way too early. There were no decent chairs and the floor was dirty tile. My back had started to complain by this time. I tried to walk as much as possible but it was a small place and it was more like pacing. There was no place for me to lie down.

After boarding the plane, Karen immediately fell asleep. No such luck for me. The plane sat on the tarmac 25 minutes waiting for one late passenger. She must have been coming from another flight. On two occasions, I smelt smoke. I knew I wasn't the only one. Although I couldn't understand the couple speaking Dutch in front of me, I did catch a word that sure sounded like smoke. Luckily the flight was fine and we arrived in Bristol to a warm welcome from Mandy, Karen's sister. We had a little trouble finding our way out of the car park; somehow Mandy had gotten into the bus area. Mandy and Karen had a good giggle over the whole thing.

We made it home, had a quick tour and a lovely dinner. Sam, Mandy's son, joined us. Karen and I managed to stay up until 10:00 pm. I thought we were doing excellent.

My first impression of the UK is brilliant green and rock walls.