Summer in Europe

Thanks to my son James and daughter-in-law Crystal, I was able to tag along on their trip to Europe last summer. I was to perform the role of Nanny to my almost-two-year-old grandson, Oliver, so that the kids could experience nightlife without the baby. In exchange for doing this "job," my airfare and lodging were provided for by the kids.

The days we spent in Europe happened to be during a tense period. We were a little nervous to be traveling, so one of my sons, who has access to such things, checked out the projected safety of our different modes of transportation and destinations, and we got an "all clear." I felt like our entire trip was overshadowed by a certain wariness on my part; and on the part of my son, the leader of our journey, there was definitely a certain hyper-awareness of our surroundings.

You have to live your life though. My friend Tom was the latest person to remind me that, "when it's your time to go, it's your time to go." I took heart and forced myself to relax.

I'm going to break away here a little bit and say this: Air travel really is better if you have these two things, namely, Delta Sky Club, and First Class. Speaking as a person who never flew first class in her life, it was so worth having the special treatment during the long flights, and now I'll feel all deprived and uncomfortable when I have to fly normally (which I always will have to fly normally.) And the Sky Club thing is amazing. You get free food, free basic bar (which when you travel with my son, it's all about travel drinking) and you get a place to relax, some quiet time, even showers! Oh wow. Both my son and daughter-in-law used the Skyclub showers during the return journey.

So... I think I'll just start in with our travel diary:

Day 0 -- Friday, August 5, 2016

DELTA, Orlando to Atlanta, 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. EDT

Lunch at Gordon Biersch located in Terminal A in ATL. Then, Sky Club. We hung out in the children's area for Oliver's sake, eating snacks and drinking for "free."

In the Sky Club, waiting for our flight to London

Crystal did some duty-free shopping at Coach, and her purchase was ready for her to take when we boarded the plane.

DELTA, Atlanta to London, 7:20 p.m. EDT to 8:45 a.m. BST

My job was to entertain Oliver and get him to sleep in my lap for the night, so that James and Crystal could get a good night's sleep on the plane. This was especially crucial since James needed to be rested since he would be driving us to Wales.

The kids took this photo of me with Oliver sound asleep in my lap.

Oliver had a good night's sleep and is ready for Europe!

Upon arrival in London Delta provided expedited First Class customs, so we bypassed angry onlookers and walked right into the main airport.

Took a shuttle to the car rental place, rented a Volvo station wagon, and we were soon on our way to Cardiff.