Cheers from Across the Pond

We made it!! We are here in Bristol, finally. It feels weird to be here now.

The journey here went pretty smoothly, especially compared to the extremely stressful and busy days prior to our leaving. We both made our flights (we had to fly separately), both flights went very well, we got through customs well, and were able to meet up at Heathrow without any trouble (we landed in different terminals).

Jasmine wanted to come on the trip with us, but we told her she was better off at Michelle's.

We rented a car at Heathrow and drove it to Bristol. Gavin quite enjoyed driving on the left side of the road.

I didn't enjoy his driving so much.

Please excuse how awful I look. I was going on 24 hours with no sleep. :)

It was pretty crazy to drive on the left side. We keep thinking cars are going to hit us. It wasn't so bad on the "motorway", but on the city streets, it's pretty intense.

We are staying at a hotel while we are out here. Just call me Eloise! Out hotel room comes with tea and biscuits.

Here is the view of the city from our hotel room.

A crazy intersection. There aren't a lot of street lights, but there are a lot of round-abouts. Sometimes, the round-abouts are so big, there are street lights within them.

We ate at a place called Giraffe, for Gavin. The food was really good.

The taxi cabs here are so cute. They are all the same type of car.

This is the St. Mary Redcliife church. It was built around the medieval times. When we walked by, it was playing church bells to call people to church.

This was in the city center area.

This was an old church in Castle Park. It was bombed during a war in the 1940s, I think.

Inside the church.

So far, we really like it out here. We spent some time figuring out exactly where Gavin will be working and how best to get there. We found some missionaries while we were walking around and found out where church is.

Some odd things we've discovered:

The escalators, as in which side goes up and which side goes down, is switched, just like driving on the roads. We keep trying to get on the wrong escalator.

Everyone we talk to does a little double take as soon as we start speaking. We've been asked if we are from the states several times already.

We stare blankly for a second when we ask how much something is while we try and figure out how many dollars it is.

The money looks and feels fake, but the coins are pretty cool.

The stores close around 6:00 here because most people spend the evening in a pub.

A yield sign is "give way"

The speed limit is just a number posted on the side of the road. Took us a little bit to figure out what the numbers on the side meant.

There are some weird commercials here. Some really weird ones.

It's a really smart idea to pack some clothes you will need in your carry on. Gavin forgot to pack most of his dress shirts in in suit cases, but has a couple that he put in his carry on just in case his luggage got lost.

That's all for now. Gavin starts work tomorrow, so send him some good luck vibes! He'll do great, I have no doubt.