July 10th finally arrived. After packing 20--yes 20 bags of stuff, and mailing four more boxes--we had to live out of our bags for over 6 weeks--we loaded up my dad's white truck and he took us up to the Salt Lake International Airport. My emotions were pretty mixed. I was excited about our new adventures living abroad, but also sad about leaving my family, my friends, and my country behind, not knowing when I would return.
The flight from SLC to Denver was uneventful, and the kids traveled pretty well, except Roger did not like the lift off. He held my hand tightly and kept saying, "I wanna get down, I wanna get down." This is the kid, who just weeks earlier flew in a little 4-seater plane and LOVED it. He didn't seem to like the bigger planes.
We arrived in Denver, ate some airport food (blah!), and waited for our red-eye flight to London. We boarded the plane, but a sudden thunderstorm arose, and we had to sit on the runway for 90 minutes. I thought they were going to cancel the plane. Finally, as the storm moved away, the plane took off. Roger and Stuart were pretty much asleep by the time we took off, but I think everyone else on the plane was wide awake. The turbulance was so horrible. The plane shook as if it were going to be torn asunder. The plane dipped and rose, so as to give us all "tummy tickles," but the only one laughing was Brooke. She kept looking over at me, laughing and saying, "This is fun. Right, mom?" I tried to reassure her as best I could. Even one of the overhead compartments kept flying open because the plane was shaking so violently. I was just waiting for the oxygen masks to come down. I think there were a lot of prayers on that flight.
We went through turbulance for what seemed like most of the flight, and by the time we reached London, I was so happy to walk on solid ground, I didn't care where I was! Our plane arrived a couple hours late the following day (Saturday, July 11th), and our shuttle ride to RAF Lakenheath was already waiting. Customs was a breeze. No problems. We got ALL of our luggage into the shuttle, and drove 2 hours to our new temporary home--The TLF (Temporary Lodging Facility).
Our TLF was like a small, 2-bedroom apartment. It had a small kitchen, living room, and two bedrooms. We were fortunate to be on the main level, and to have a playground right in front of our building. That night we walked over to the Base Exchange (it's a large store, like Walmart) and had dinner. We also bought some milk and a few other groceries at the small convenient store near the BX. We had no car and knew no one. It was a little bit lonely, but we were safe, and we were together.
The next morning was Sunday, and instead of sitting in the lonely TLF all day, we paid a taxi $40 to take us clear into Thetford to take us to church. The taxi was a little late picking us up, and we got there just as the meeting started. Before I sat down, three people introduced themselves to me. I couldn't believe how friendly everyone was. After a great meeting, we got rides home from people in the ward, thus saving us $40 to get a taxi back to the TLF.
The next couple of days were crazy. Sam had a lot of in-processing to do, and I had to try to orient myself, and keep the kids entertained. We did a lot of walking around base. We found the library right away and got a library card. We couldn't get a car until Tuesday, so we were pretty much stuck on base. I was going crazy. I wanted to get out and start looking for a place to live.
We finally got a rental car. Thank goodness it was an automatic. I requested one, because I didn't think I could drive with the stick on the left side. Driving on the left side of the road with the steering wheel on the right was crazy enough. Driving on the left side of the road--that was an adventure. Quite scary, at first. I had to really concentrate. I had a GPS to get me where I needed to go, but at first, I missed my turn-off and it took me down a narrow farm road, and when I reached the end of it, where I was to turn back on to the main road, there was a closed gate, so I had to back down this narrow road until I could turn around. Once I got back on the road, I was okay. Now that we had a car, it was time to find a house. . . To be continued. . .
July 10th finally arrived. After packing 20--yes 20 bags of stuff, and mailing four more boxes--we had to live out of our bags for over 6 weeks--we loaded up my dad's white truck and he took us up to the Salt Lake International Airport. My emotions were pretty mixed. I was excited about our new adventures living abroad, but also sad about leaving my family, my friends, and my country behind, not knowing when I would return.
The flight from SLC to Denver was uneventful, and the kids traveled pretty well, except Roger did not like the lift off. He held my hand tightly and kept saying, "I wanna get down, I wanna get down." This is the kid, who just weeks earlier flew in a little 4-seater plane and LOVED it. He didn't seem to like the bigger planes.
We arrived in Denver, ate some airport food (blah!), and waited for our red-eye flight to London. We boarded the plane, but a sudden thunderstorm arose, and we had to sit on the runway for 90 minutes. I thought they were going to cancel the plane. Finally, as the storm moved away, the plane took off. Roger and Stuart were pretty much asleep by the time we took off, but I think everyone else on the plane was wide awake. The turbulance was so horrible. The plane shook as if it were going to be torn asunder. The plane dipped and rose, so as to give us all "tummy tickles," but the only one laughing was Brooke. She kept looking over at me, laughing and saying, "This is fun. Right, mom?" I tried to reassure her as best I could. Even one of the overhead compartments kept flying open because the plane was shaking so violently. I was just waiting for the oxygen masks to come down. I think there were a lot of prayers on that flight.
We went through turbulance for what seemed like most of the flight, and by the time we reached London, I was so happy to walk on solid ground, I didn't care where I was! Our plane arrived a couple hours late the following day (Saturday, July 11th), and our shuttle ride to RAF Lakenheath was already waiting. Customs was a breeze. No problems. We got ALL of our luggage into the shuttle, and drove 2 hours to our new temporary home--The TLF (Temporary Lodging Facility).
Our TLF was like a small, 2-bedroom apartment. It had a small kitchen, living room, and two bedrooms. We were fortunate to be on the main level, and to have a playground right in front of our building. That night we walked over to the Base Exchange (it's a large store, like Walmart) and had dinner. We also bought some milk and a few other groceries at the small convenient store near the BX. We had no car and knew no one. It was a little bit lonely, but we were safe, and we were together.
The next morning was Sunday, and instead of sitting in the lonely TLF all day, we paid a taxi $40 to take us clear into Thetford to take us to church. The taxi was a little late picking us up, and we got there just as the meeting started. Before I sat down, three people introduced themselves to me. I couldn't believe how friendly everyone was. After a great meeting, we got rides home from people in the ward, thus saving us $40 to get a taxi back to the TLF.
The next couple of days were crazy. Sam had a lot of in-processing to do, and I had to try to orient myself, and keep the kids entertained. We did a lot of walking around base. We found the library right away and got a library card. We couldn't get a car until Tuesday, so we were pretty much stuck on base. I was going crazy. I wanted to get out and start looking for a place to live.
We finally got a rental car. Thank goodness it was an automatic. I requested one, because I didn't think I could drive with the stick on the left side. Driving on the left side of the road with the steering wheel on the right was crazy enough. Driving on the left side of the road--that was an adventure. Quite scary, at first. I had to really concentrate. I had a GPS to get me where I needed to go, but at first, I missed my turn-off and it took me down a narrow farm road, and when I reached the end of it, where I was to turn back on to the main road, there was a closed gate, so I had to back down this narrow road until I could turn around. Once I got back on the road, I was okay. Now that we had a car, it was time to find a house. . . To be continued. . .
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