abandonment issues

so no, i did not abandon this blog project when we landed in the UK nor am i ignoring you. at least not yet.

we have been besieged with technical snafus left & right since arriving tuesday afternoon. all i can say is that all is well after 3 visits to 2 different celly stores, the purchase of a new UK cellphone & a wireless dongle. no, not some kinky english thing - a USB plug-in fob that is kinda like wireless but slow like dial-up (& the brits even call it dial-up) but nonetheless, it works better than the flat wireless whose signal has been MIA since we touched down.
but that is a rant for another blog & i am now as joe says, "plugged into the matrix".

so as you already have read we had great luck checking in with air new zealand & the rep was able to get our luggage count down to 10 pcs instead of the 10 we came in with & damn the weight posting on their website. she made it her personal mission to make sure we did not pay ANY overages. and we did not. LOVE her.

the flight rocked: the kiwis really have the customer service thing down pat. as soon as we boarded, the kids & i were swept up by an attendant who helped the kids upstairs (yes, this plane had an upstairs) & showed us to our seats where the kids got goodie bags & we got champagne (we got goodie bags too with awesome kiwi lip balm that you know i will be purloining from the kids as they don't go in for lip balm yet). each seat had it's own video screen so the kids got hooked up with sleeping beauty & beverly hills chihuhua - at 30,000 feet you will allow your children to watch ANYTHING to keep them quiet. got to watch the hangover, fast & furious (so yes, i finally got my paul walker fix, charlie), night at the museum:battle for the smithsonian. the food was probably the best airline food i have ever eaten - salmon with pesto & baby tomatoes on pasta with chilled shrimp avocado & mango salad, warm garlic bread, cheese plate & orange cheesecake. hungry yet? breakfast: apple crepes with fresh (& i do mean fresh) fruit, yogurt, warm croissants, cereal & fruit smoothies.
i was like damn, air new zealand, way to make me feel like i flew first class.

getting through customs was a whole 'nother matter & took almost an hour. other guests in line were entertained by my children who used such words as "surrounded" & "enormous" whilst taking to rolling around on the floor despite my harsh warnings that this was NOT the time or place to do such a thing. ah, the naivete of children.

the car picked us up from heathrow & the rainy weather put us all to sleep while our driver, peter piloted us to bristol.

to be continued . . . .