Well It has been a rather long and interesting trip. as my luck with everything else, there was a few issues with this trip. But all worked well in the end making me appreciate things in a whole new level. I feel that God was testing me, and now looking back at everything that has happened since the day Stuart left and we began plans, I think God wanted to see just how much I was willing to do and go for this. Normally I would have given up at least 10 times by now, but I pushed through. God gave me the strength and endurance to press on.
Okay so here was my trip on Tuesday. Sandy and the boys got to the house a little later than we had originally planned (but we had planned that lol). Soon as she got here, we loaded up the van, I said my last goodbye to my girls (Rosey, Yuri and Mariah aka Mia). Looked around my room making sure I had everything, checking my purse making sure I had my wallet, passport, cards (debit). All the important things checked in, so off we went. Had to go to the bank to deposit a few checks, and then we went to Hugger Muggers in New Castle for breakfast. I had a lot of fun and enjoyed myself as we sat around talking while we waited for our food. The food was very good, and not as expensive as I had anticipated for the amount of food we got. Which was good, as I was the one who wanted to pay, and did. I could not eat all my food, as the butterflies took up a lot of space in my stomach. Then we finished and off we went again.
We made it to the airport in ample time. We proceeded through the checkin and ticketing, I tried to get my family in with me, but no luck. Only if I were military and being deployed do they allow it, or had a handicap at which point I would be allowed one family member. Ah well. I wasnt sure how long security was going to take so I very tearfully gave each one of my family members a great big hug and kiss, and a birthday kiss for James who will be 3 on the 20th, Ben who will be 1 on Nov 8th and my Madre who will be having a birthday on November 9th.
So they were on their way out the door, and I was on my way out of the country. I went through security and all that went perfectly well and headed straight for my gate. Of course it had to be the furthest down the hall (I guess preparing me for all the exersize I will be getting on this trip). I was one of the first people at the gate because I was very early, but rather be early than late. I began making phone calls to my close friends and family letting them know that my journey was on its way. Boarding was to begin at 2:20pm. and as it neared 2:18 and still saw no plane, or anyone I began to slightly panic. I turned to a gentlemen behind me and asked if our plane had been delayed after checking the sign that said ''On time'' He informed me that our flight was going to be delayed. Now knowing that my layover in JFK was only an hour and 20 minutes I began to really panic. Luckily there was a young girl, which I wish I got her name so I could send her a thank you for her help, apparently this has happened to her before so she was ''pro'' She took me up to the desk, which the man at the desk was just waiting for me to come up to reroute my entire trip, he gave me the few options to which he was able to do, gave me his advise and opinion, and we had chosen to have an almost 4 hour layover at JFK (to help insure that my bag be there at the end with me) having me leave at 9:55pm getting me into Amsterdam around 10am. (that includes the 6 hour time difference from home and here) having me leave Amsterdam at 1230pm (Amsterdam's time 1 hour difference from Stuarts) then arriving at Bristol at 1255pm (just a little over an hour). They retagged my bags. I had recalled Madre, Sandy, and got ahold of Stuart for the time changes and everything worked out okay.
So I finally got boarded from PIT and was on my way to JFK. The flight went well though I did get a little frightened when we hit a few spots where it was windy and we bounced around quite a bit more than prepared for. spilling my drink all over me (and it was NON alcoholic lol). Arriving in JFK was okay, I had to change terminals tho, no big deal, I wandered around for awhile trying to figure this airport out and having plenty of time to kill. I went to an information booth and the nice lady there had explained what to do. get on the AIRTRAN and go to terminal 4 (as I was in 8) okay not an issue. I followed her directions to the AIRTRAN and I was not sure what to do, so I got on the very first one that came (not knowing there are 3 of them, one going left out of the terminals, one going right back to the terminals and then one that stays between the terminals). I got on the first one, and it was the one to leave the terminals. Having found this out, got off at the next stop and waited for the one going back the opposite direction. Got on it, and off at the right terminal, Horray!
I was then informed that I had to go through security again, I asked why this was, and it was explained to me that I am before checkpoint and in a terminal that people are just starting out at, so to them, I am just starting out on my journey. If I had not had to leave my terminal where I was let off already past the security stage then I would not have had to do it again. Oh well, no big deal, so I went through security again. This time they had to check my purse (my coin bag was in question on the xray thing) again no big deal, so that was done and taken care of. I found my gate and sat and waited.. then becoming a little hungry and not wanting to sit for 3.5 hours at this point I went over to the only place you could eat past security, Shannon's. I had a corona while waiting for the cook to return from break and had a personal pepperoni pizza. which was very good. then went back to my gate and listened to my MP3 player.
I then was called to go to the desk at the gate with my passport. I went up a little nervous and handed my passport after confirming I was Donna Heathcote. The man looked at me and said I recieved email that you are not able to go.... I was like WHAT ARE YOU SERIOUS... No Im just teasing, I DID get an email saying to trick you tho... (IF I find out that Stuart had ANYTHING to do with this.... lol) so that all checked out okay. went and sat back down and waited.
The plane arrived on time, boarded well, WOW it was huge, (Will attach photos of all the planes I took). I was soooo exhausted and tired, I fell asleep almost before we even took off. at this point my laptop was dead (it was pronounced dead as soon as I got to PIT) and my portable dvd player was dead too having watched it on the way to JFK (thought it would have had a little more life expentancy) luckily my MP3 player held out for me. my sleep was broken up a few times, they offered me food. It was not the worst I have ever had, but not my preference either. I had a bite of each thing, and it did not agree with me, so I didnt eat. I had still been very full from the pizza.
We arrived at AMS early I guess, but not much. It was a much smaller airport than JFK, having a little over an hour layover I began to walk around looking for my gate D06. I followed the sign that said gate D and I thought it was pointing to a HUGE line for security, now I thought I dont think I need to go through again, but I was proved that was wrong thinking before so I stood there for a few minutes, and wondering if I would make my flight on time... so I dared and wandered some more and it turned out great, because it turned out that was not to my gate, not sure what it was to, but I did have to go through another security to get into D06. I thought it was just going to be a single gate, but apparently there was gate D06 A-M I was in C which I found very easily with the sign that said Bristol. Horray! so I waited and then went through and we were all loaded up on a little bus that took us to our plane that we boarded on the outside. I thought this was kinda neat as I had always seen it in movies but thought it wasnt done anymore. so I got to experience this. Got on and was on our way. I talked a little for the first time to someone who sat next to me. She was on her way to Bristol as well, she is going to school there. she is from the USA, and came to Bristol for school and met her husband there and everything. I am not sure whether her husband was in USA or Bristol. She helped me to fill out a card that said I was from USA and I had not had ''all'' the information, but I didnt think this would cause a huge problem.
Now I was at the UK Border Control, where they check your passport and you go. takes 5 seconds on average. I am however NOT average. now because I am not from the UK they had to ask me a few questions. and I was not prepared for this. and I have to admit that guy was VERY intimidating. and I did not have all my information handy (Stuarts full address, I had put parts that I remembered off hand, not good enough) and the fact that I was staying for 3 months with not enough money to survive on in his mind even though I tried to explain the situation, that it is basically just spending money and Stuart was going to take care of all my living expenses, housing, food ect. So after about 15 minutes of questioning, he had me sit off to the side for further investigation. at this point I am ready to collapse into tears. I made it THIS far and now this stuff is going to happen. I began to pray once again for the millionth time this trip (God knew me very well.. its me again.. ). Then I was called into a little room for further interrogation. He wanted to see what was in my bags so I showed him everything inside my purse and bookbag and he took what he felt was important for my case (not sure if he was on my side wanting me in or not, was getting negative feelings tho) When he saw my medication he simply asked what it was for, I said I am bi polar. he asked me if I had any other medications I said no. Now he wanted to see my baggage so we went to claim it and it wasnt there, so went to the little office that gathers the unclaimed baggage and it was not there either. so we filed a report and such, the man wanted to know how long I was going to be in the country.. I said 3 months, the man who was interrogating me said, that is undecided at this point. the man behind the desk said, at least a few days? for her bags to arrive? again the man said that is undetermined.. this scared me very very much. He had phoned Stuart (but hadnt told me, I gave him Stuarts number.. but I didnt know at this point that he had actually already called) so now I was sitting back at the seat, with my bags (minus my missing baggage) thinking, how am I going to let Stuart know what is going on. I cant get to a phone, and mine has no network signal. I began to cry a little not knowing if I was ever gonna get to see Stuart again. I wasnt sure if they would send me home, that day, or if I had to wait another day, would they put me up in a motel or something near the airport, or what.. Finally the man came back and said someone else is going to take over your case, I am off shift.
So a little lady came and pulled me into another little room and had me sit, and she said she had read over things, saw that I was bi polar so she was going to try to word things so that I may not get as upset. She stated that she wanted to ask me some questions and to confirm what I had said to the first man. She then asked me more about the relationship of me and Stuart and I explained it to her. She seemed much more pleased with my responses than the first man. She mentioned how well I was handling it thus far, and I explained to her that I was trying very hard to stay calm and collected. and that I feared if I acted the way I was feeling I would be detained. so I felt that cooperation was in my best interest.
Basically what had alarmed them was the issue with how much money I had and for the duration of my stay was not going to add up. when she found out that Stuart was going to accomodate my needs and when she learned that I did not have intention of trying to seek work on ''illegal'' principles, things went a lot smoother. She told me that before she left me she would let me know what her recommendation would be, whether to send me back or let me land and go in. but even with her recommendation that would not be the guarentee. After we talked for about a half hour forty five minutes she informed me that she felt that my visit was genuine, and good, and she recommended that I land. my heart leaped with hearing this, but I also remembered she said it was not a guarentee as she had to clear it with the Chief guy. so back to the chair I went and sat.. awaiting what was to happen next. about 10-15 minutes (tho felt like an eternity) she came back and went into the booth and called me up. explaining to me that I was in!!!!!!!!!!... I was SOOO happy, and I told her I wanted to give her a hug lol. she said Oh please dont, I would have to blush! hehe. She said that she had not phoned Stuart yet tho, but she wanted to go out with me and explain to him the ''rules'' of my visit, because she said that I might forget having this been a VERY stressful event though she admitted a few more times at how proud she was at my handling this. She was soo kind to me, and I just wanted to cooperate. it worked! so we went to see if my bag had turned up somewhere along the lines of my ''interrogation''
My bag had been tracked and found, it had somehow got stuck at JFK and the guy said that it made itself to AMS and was going to be on the next flight to BRS. where I was, he said it should be arriving here at 10pm. So we walked out to find Stuart. I spotted him quite off the bat after looking in a circle one time.
He was sitting there reading a newspaper, and I slowly and calmly walked and stood in front of him. It took just a few seconds for him to realize someone was standing in front of him and he looked up, saw me and we embraced a HUGE HUG I never wanted to let go.. EVER! I didnt think a half hour ago that I was ever going to see him again. He hugged me and then realized that someone was with me. His first thought having seen this lady with me was that they were letting me see him before taking me off to sit in a detain cell until my flight back home. But she assured Stuart that things are okay now and what my rules are. I am not allowed to seek a job while visiting, I am allowed to stay up to the date of Dec 10th as my plane ticket is already bought, I can go sooner of course, but I am not allowed to stay longer (for this trip), I am not allowed to collect any benefits from the country (welfare type stuff) if I need medical it would have to be emergency or I would have to pay out of pocket unless the dr I go to agrees to accept my medicare that I have back home. I am however allowed to look for a job as in for a future stay with a work visa because in order to obtain a work visa you must have a job offer. So she said look around and you can put in applications that is fine, but I can not work during this visit. That was all agreed upon and straight, and she shook his hand and my hand and again I wanted to give her a MEGA hug. and me and Stuart decided to head off.
Apparently when he got there, he had parked in short term parking and when they phoned him and told him of the complications he ran out to the car and moved it to long term (which was ideal it was nearly 4 hours later).. and when he parked the car and ran back into the airport in such a state that he somehow forgot where the heck he parked. Needless to say we got a grand tour of all the parking lots, and after about a half hour 45 minutes of searching we found it. we loaded my things in the back seat, and I tried to drive... not on purpose but in England you drive on the right side of the car on the left side of the road... this took a few minutes of driving around thinking we are gonna get hit before I was somewhat settled.
Also not used to the fact of how narrow the roads are, Stuart said that is because the roads were built for horse and carriage not cars, its only been the last 100 or so years that cars have been popular.
This is a few pictures of the Gorge from on top of the hill that we climbed up the stairs.
This was totally amazing place to be, and the day was great. It was sorta cloudy but no rain and it was pretty sunny as well. I learned a lot about these stones because like Wookie Hole you go around and you take a "walkie talkie" type thing and you push a button that corresponds to what you are looking at. It describes the history, stories, myths, whatever. Each one is about 5-10 minutes long, so it is kinda like having a personal tour that you can go at your own pace. You can learn all sorts of things this way, and you do not have to listen to any of them or all of them. 
This is the River Avon on our way into town.
