What a great first day in England, jetlag and all.

We had the usual awful red-eye flight, on a totally packed plane with no sleep at all.  I’ll never get used to those dreadful overnight flights to Europe.

After arriving at Heathrow totally bedraggled, we decided to spend our Saturday driving towards Cornwall where we needed to be by Sunday to meet up with family. With frequent breaks and even a catnap in the car at a rest stop, we hit the really pretty part of Dartmoor Forest in Devon and decided to start looking for an Inn to spend the night. Of course, we had no idea that the Olympic Torch had landed at Lands End to the west of us by helicopter from Greece that morning, and was making its way through the area on the very first day of its journey, and ours, on English soil.

After searching in vain all afternoon for any kind of accommodation on the moors or along the southwest coast, we finally made it to Bodmin in Cornwall and found a great little hotel right in town that MBB had discovered online.  Checking in, we mentioned our trials and tribulations of the day because of the torch’s progress.

The gentleman behind the desk said he understood, and added that the flame was arriving in front of this hotel at 6pm with great fanfare.  What luck!  A room and the torch, and a great early supper of curry in the dining room watching the street outside as people gathered for the festivities. You couldn’t ask for a sweeter first day, and we even got some true sunshine by evening.

My Beloved Brit of course took full credit for planning such a wonderful day, although I think there was a bit of luck involved. None-the-less, I love him for turning what could have been day of only frustration into a memorable adventure.