I started a new adventure on Saturday when I left Memphis International for a month-long excursion across the pond.

After a quick layover in Atlanta, I was headed to Heathrow onboard a packed Delta flight… at least that’s what they kept saying, but my fellow row mate and I were lucky with no one seated in between us. The conversation flowed for a bit… she was a teacher and a widow and headed to London to visit her niece and family, Americans working in the ancient land of Britannia.

For airline food, dinner was simply amazing! A nice vegetable ravioli and a tasty salad. It was almost gourmet, hot, and most satisfying. Eight hours later with little to no sleep, they were bringing out breakfast…a stuff croissant from Turkey… and then we were landing at Heathrow, 20 minutes early. An easy jaunt through passport control and after a quick walk through customs, I settled down to wait for my aunt and uncle who were arriving 60 minutes later from Florida.

After my aunt and uncle arrived, we got a right-sided steering wheel rental car – a sporty Peugeot with a racing steering wheel – which none of us had ever driven before, and we took off with my uncle Don driving on the opposite side of the rode, while I played navigator and my aunt Carol in the role of back-seat driver. We made our way to our hotel, the Alton House Hotel in Alton, England, and checked into our rooms. Upstairs, downstairs and upstairs again… it was like a maze. And definitely a workout, especially after traveling for 13 hours. I’m only traveling with a backpack so there was no unpacking for me and after a quick splash of water on the face, I was ready to head downstairs.

Coming down the stairs, I met my cousin Lynda Butler for the first time with her announcing she’d know me from anywhere ‘cause I’m Facebook famous. Lynda lives in Alton, so it was a wonderful stop for the start of our adventures to meet her and her family. Lynda is the daughter of my great-grandmother’s younger brother, making her my first cousin twice removed. I also met her wonderful husband Joe, her daughters, Christine and Debbie, my second cousins once removed, and their sons, Joseph, 18, and Isaac, 9, my second cousins twice removed.

Dinner was onion encrusted ribs at a wonderful pub and great conversations. It was so wonderful to get to know new family members, separated by distance. Young Isaac was stunned that he had American cousins! It was family picture time after dinner and a short drive back to Lynda and Ron’s home for a cup of tea… with milk and more conversations!

A nightcap back at the hotel, reminded all of us that we hadn’t had any real sleep in over 24 hours and we were exhausted. We said our goodbyes and climbed the maze of stairs back to our rooms for a well-deserved and needed sleep. The morning would be here quickly to really start EUROADVEN 2025 and my Aunt is an early bird!