Expect the Unexpected

If there is one thing I've learned from traveling, it's to always expect the unexpected.

For example: flight times.
It seems I'm the only one in the family who has this problem. The first time to England I came by myself at Christmas, I didn't have any problems. We left on time, arrived on time (if not a little early), and everything was fine. When my family has flown to and from England, they don't have problems (knock on wood). But when I came with Justin for spring break, we had 2 gate changes and 3 plane changes, pushing our departure time from 8:45 pm to 1 am. lovely. The streak continued when I got on the plane to come this time, got all settled in my seat, was watching an episode of Big Bang Theory on the TV monitor, and was thinking "I'm almost home!"...and then the pilot interrupted this thought 30 minutes into the flight by announcing that they discovered some problems with the plane's air system that absolutely had to be fixed in order to make the trip across the Atlantic Ocean, meaning we were going BACK to Atlanta. It wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't been in the mindset of "almost home" and if we weren't already up in the air, but of course...expect the unexpected. I am definitely thankful that we came back because first of all, they had another, well-working plane immediately ready for us and second, because the air system problems included not being able to de-ice the plane, which basically means we could've had serious problems over the ocean. no big deal. God was watching out for us and keeping us safe, and for that I am grateful. Plus, I still made it here in one piece so the extra 5 hours really didn't make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things.

Another example: weather.
I have been mentally preparing myself for weeks for England weather. Gloomy. Rainy. Cold. Wintry. And then I get here and it's 70 degrees and sunny. ...wait, what? expect the unexpected. I enjoyed a walk with Mom and Dad yesterday after we got back to the house and am typing this while sitting in the conservatory (basically a sun room), enjoying the warmth of the sun coming through the windows. God is so good.

It feels strange to think that I'm finally here for long enough to adjust to the time difference and not worry about turning around and flying back at the end of the week. Two and a half months to spend in complete relaxation with my family, with some adventures along the way = pure joy.

Since most of the summer will include days where I have to entertain myself in the house, I'll add a note at the bottom of my posts about the book(s) I'm currently reading, and I have a rather long reading list that I hope to go through so we'll see how that goes.

Currently reading: Sherlock Holmes - A Study in Scarlet. I have two volumes of the complete novels and stories of Sherlock Holmes, and the first volume is well over a thousand pages, so I'm planning to finish the first story, A Study in Scarlet, and then maybe read some other books before coming back to read some more of Sherlock. So far, I am loving this story. It's definitely a classic that I would recommend for mystery lovers and English nerds, like myself.

I'll continue to post about my adventures, as little as a day spent at home reading or taking a walk to as big as a day spent touring Rome.

Grace and Peace.