So, there we were. Sitting around the ranch one day about 8-10 months ago when a text popped through on our (texas) fantasy football group thread.
“Guess who is getting married?”
“Who?” We all said, legitimately having no clue.
“We are!” Said Pete and Mandy.
“For real?” We all said.
You see, they’ve been dating for ever. Like….15 years? No one had a clue marriage was even a consideration. And then one day - boom.
Next question came.
“Who wants to come to Cadiz, Spain for the wedding?”
Less than .0001 seconds later Jason and I both reply, “me.”
I mean, duh. Obvs. We’re ALWAYS IN FOR THE ADVENTURE, YO.
So, a few details changed during the planning. One being, it wasn’t going to be Cadiz. It was going to be Antibes, France. We were a bit bummed because we’d recently been to Cadiz and it is completely rad. But, it also feels super dumb and incredibly entitled to have an attitude of being annoyed at going to the south of France in the summer so we got over it.
Once the actual date of the wedding was announced, we had another issue. We were supposed to be on a cruise to Iceland with our cruising buddies then. Dang it. It sucks having too many awesome things to do at one time, you know? But, we realized that you can’t say no to a wedding 15+ years in the making that you never knew would even happen.
So, we could have simply flown over to Antibes, through the Nice International airport, but our mantra is never say no to the fun for a reason. We chatted with our cruising buddies and decided we could all spend a week in London together first. BAM! Doesn’t that sound great?
Jason and I left San Luis Obispo, changed planes in Phoenix at midnight, and took the red eye to Philly. We had one night’s stay and then took another red eye from Philly on British Airways to London Heathrow. Business class - like a boss! Lay flat seats are always the right call. We arrived Sunday morning around 6 am.
Mike and Diana left their place in Virginia, changed planes in Detroit, and also landed just about the same time. We hoped we’d see them in baggage claim but alas, we did not.
Rich and Ginny flew in days before and popped over to Dublin for some shenanigans there first. They arrived in London the day after the rest of us.
As a reminder - we all met originally on sabbatical #2 when we did the 36 night cruise across the Atlantic into the Mediterranean. We’re all wine drinkers and met in the Vines wine bar which became our nightly meeting place. At the end of the cruise, we all ended up quarantined in Barcelona - except Ginny who was healthy and headed home lest she come down with Covid later and ended up extended their quarantine into the 4+ week range. Whew!
Then, we met again a year later - same ship, same Vines wine bar, but this time for a tour of the Caribbean. And this time, no Covid!
So, now here we are in London. I should have been keeping track of the number of countries we’ve all been to together by now!! I’ll add them up in a bit.
Stay tuned for the stories of the week and more as we head to France later tonight. There’s been a ton of laughing, lots of catching up, some very unexpected surprises, and lots of walking!
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