Up at 3:30 am, full of pre-travel energy. Long, sad farewells to Cody. Last minute checks and re-checks. The taxi arrives. The driver's (PJ) nails were insanely long and multi-colored. Five minutes later we arrive at Arizona Shuttle, where we gathered with several members of the Sojourners, a group of church members (Christ Community Church) on their way to Ft. Lauderdale for a weeklong cruise to the Bahamas. We enjoyed visiting with Jim and his wife, and after an easy, smooth 2-hour ride, found ourselves at the Delta International departure gate at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. Check-in was easy and we passed through security surprisingly quickly.

We have accumulated so many frequent-flyer miles that we were able to upgrade to first-class and already we have been able to bypass several queues as if we truly are special. Nice way to start this first leg of our journey which takes us from Phoenix to Atlanta, where we have a two-hour layover before the flight to London.

We boarded the Delta 767, flight 222, and eased into our spacious seats, eagerly looking forward to becoming airborne towards Atlanta and then onto London. However, due to a thunderstorm in Atlanta, our great steel-winged bus sat on the hot Phoenix tarmac for over an hour. My bride of ten years and I ordered bloody Mary's and toasted to adventures to come.

We could not believe the legroom in first class. There was at least 5 or 6 feet between our seats and those in front of us or behind us. The service is exactly as we had expected in the stratosphere of first class – we were pampered the whole 4,233 miles from Atlanta to London.

I find it difficult to sleep on planes, especially with massive amounts of trip adrenaline rushing through my veins. The only people awake through the night and the wee hours of the morning were me, the flight attendants and, hopefully, the pilots.

The 767 cruised peacefully 36,000 feet above the Atlantic. This is a familiar flight path for us having made this trip several times over the past few years. Although we have usually flown via Continental, Carol had trouble booking our departure on that airline (though we used Continental miles) so we flew Delta instead. We have no complaints.

I enjoyed following our flight statistics and progress via the onboard GPS system displayed on larger screens through the plane as well as on our private entertainment centers. There is absolutely nothing wrong with going first-class. What could be wrong with being pampered for 8 hours with all sorts of delicious food, drink and hot, moist, scented towels.

After a short rest/catch-up in the hotel lobby, we walked past the Bloomsbury Park Hotel where we stayed in '99 and around the corner to the Swan, an historic pub we visited on that trip. We sat and had a pint of Guinness while we spoke with Peter, the barkeep, a student from Poland. Peter was charming and gave us some tips on Prague, Poland and Turkey. He was in Poland working on his PhD on the economic impact of national civil war but suddenly his professor died and his work is now on ‘hold”. We wished him good luck, then walked across busy Southampton Row into Bloomsbury Park, with its wonderful rainbow-colored flower gardens and impressive central fountain.

To start our dinner, we ordered Belgian beer – this is a Belgian restaurant, and when in Rome... Carol ordered the Thai Mussels and I had the “Classique” dish in cream and garlic. Mine were superb but Carol's were outstanding. The French fries with mayonnaise were delicious and we ordered bread ($3) to sop up the broth. Dinner was delicious and cost $75, which we determined was about double what the cost would have been stateside. Worth every pence, though.

After dinner we did more window shopping and then made our way to crowded, lively Covent Garden Market. A young fellow played some fairly amazing finger tapping on an electric guitar that appeared to have been fitted with a special “stick” type pickup. He was very talented and we put some coins into his guitar case.

Next we located the webcam that we have been watching online for months. It is located in the southeast corner of the square, behind glass, facing the bench marked with the round museum sign. We waved to no on in particular and took a self-portrait.

It was now 8pm (12:00 noon Tucson time) and we decided to get some sleep after a long, full, fun first day of travel. A short 30-minute walk found us back at the hotel where we literally crashed into bed...

Next Day