Travel Day

Friday, August 10 to Saturday, August 11

Our team began our day of travel with prayer at the church then we loaded our luggage and ourselves into a mini-van and an F-150 truck to drive to Atlanta.  The cost savings for flying from Atlanta instead of Charlotte was substantial enough to take the extra time to drive there.  We picked up Diane in Gastonia (along with breakfast for some of our hungry people) and were on our way.

The minivan and its occupants had trouble with the directions they used to get to the international terminal in Atlanta, but eventually, we all gathered at our departure gate to wait.  We were early, but the extra time helped to prepare us for the eight hour overnight flight.  All I will say about the flight is that it was as expected, and it brought us to our destination.  It was 24 hours (almost to the minute) from the time we left the church parking lot at Sovereign Grace to the time we arrived at the church parking lot in Solihull.

Our travel from Heathrow to Solihull consisted of packing twelve people and lots of luggage into two small Citroen C4 Picassos which they say seat 7 people each, but not people with luggage!  We had an adventure just getting all of us in and every time we got out, some of the luggage had to come out with us (because it was on our laps).

When we stepped out of the London airport the sun was shining and it was a beautiful morning.  As we headed to Solihull, it got a little cooler.  By the evening we were experiencing proper English weather with a light rain.  But we are enjoying the cooler weather.

We met our hosts for the week at the church after enjoying lunch at one of Rob's favorite restaurants, Toby Carvery.  Five separate people/families are showing us the hospitality of a warm bed and breakfast for the ten days we are here.   We divided up to see where we will stay and to take a nap or get to know our hosts better.  The pastor and his wife invited everyone for dinner after a rest in the afternoon.  Stephen and Susan Dancer live less than a mile from the church and have a gift for hospitality; they brought in Indian take-away and we enjoyed a delicious meal as we visited with our new friends.  By 9:30 everyone was ready to go back with their hosts to try to get a good night's sleep before church the next day.