After the contract announcement, there was tons of rushing around while we all tried to get things in order to leave a job, start a job,and move... Since I had to come over to Scotland for the kick-off, Bo asked if there was anything he could do to help me and I said, it would be great if you could make our travel arrangements for mobilization the first of January.
Typical Bo style he said, no problem.
I flew off to Scotland and got a couple of emails about the trip and I said, just take care of it; it'll be fine. I also got an e-mail from my fabulous secretary that said something like, you need to check this - I very breezily said I am sure it's fine; ticket it.
So, we left on Wednesday the 4th of January and travelled from Pasco to Seattle. Jason had decided to fly with us, so he had gotten up early and flown from Idaho Falls to Salt Lake City to Seattle to join us. Flights were fine, and we got on our plane from Seattle to Amsterdam. I used my foolproof champagne - ambian - wine method and slept through the flight. Bo took an ambian and 3 Tylenol PMs and didn't sleep a wink. Who knows what Jason was doing up there in the bulkhead.
We arrived in Amsterdam as scheduled and went on to our flight London - again no problems, shortish layover that allowed us to go to the lounge for coffee - all the while Bo is talking a mile a minute (much of it confusing gibberish).
We landed in London in terminal 2, I think. We collect our luggage - and there is a lot of it. I have checked 2 bags and carried on a bag and have my handbag. Bo has checked 3 bags - all heavy and Jason has checked 2 bags - one that you could easily put 2 children in. Well, we have so much baggage that we cannot use the train to get to terminal 5. So, after about an hour talking about it and dragging our bags around, we decide to take a taxi. We have so much luggage, we have to take 2 taxis. Jason hops in the 1st one with his bags and 2 of my bags. Bo and I get in the next one with the rest - we were supposed to go to the hotel at terminal 5. Bo gave the same directions to both drivers.
Bo and I arrived at the hotel and check in. We wait and wait and wait. Minutes turn into an hour, and there is no Jason. Bo decides to go look for him - I know, but I couldn't stop him. Jason has no phone so we just give in and go to our rooms after an hour and a half. Jason calls about 20 minutes later - taxi took him to the terminal, not the hotel. We get checked in and head into London and pick up our phones and computers at the office.
We also end up taking 176 stairs out of the covent garden tube station, which gets me to wheezing a little bit, then we get lost a couple of times and then we find my favorite Thai place and eat until we nearly pop.
Bo announces that he must have slept on the plane and didn't know it.
We head back to the hotel for a good nights sleep. The next day we get up and wait around for our flight at 1545 - in the afternoon. We check in, which is complicated by our luggage, and we all have to pay extra Jason and Bo especially. Then we fly from London to Manchester. Best part of the flight was watching Jason talk to this young couple sitting next to him - you could tell he was like thank goodness someone else to talk to...
We arrive in Manchester and all end up missing the turn and having to go back through security, which is fine because we have a 3 hour layover - dinner is eaten. We then fly from Manchester to Inverness and arrive around 10. Luggage wrangling, 3 rental cars are found and packed, and we drive over to the Holiday Inn and check in for the night.
The next day we all wake up, do a little shopping and then Bo and I caravan to Thurso - it takes about 2.5 hours and I arrive 1 hour before my dogs arrive.
Bo smiles and says, perfect timing.
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