No Pictures to Document the "Amazing Adventure"

Hints of upcoming delights started with not knowing where the stroller was when we disembarked in Iceland.  After considerable inquiry, we were told it had been sent on to Heathrow, where we could pick it up at baggage claim.  So much for using it to get around the airports, either in Iceland or at Heathrow. Consequently we had to carry both boys once we arrived in London.  So let the lines--"queues" in this neck of the woods--begin.  We were merely a third of the way through the queue at customs when an airline employee notices us with the baby and escorted us to the fast lane.  That was about 30 minutes in a line we didn't need to be in, but we were saved the additional likely 60 minutes.  Now it was off to locate Avis, which was involved but not overly so.  Once there, you guessed it, another line, short but time-consuming.  After that consumed-time we were asked, "Do you have a car reserved?"  When told him yes, we were sent off to bus stop 2--without directions.  So why not enjoy more of scenic Heathrow than necessary and, of course, more waiting once we finally found bus stop 2?  At Avis we were persuaded--they are so good at persuading--that the car I had reserved was more fit for seven people and less luggage rather than five people and more luggage.  It was a Volkwagan Tourareg.  Everett recognized immediately that the steering wheel was on the wrong side.  The space for us three adults and two car seats was fine, but the cargo cover was problematic, very problematic.  It prevented us from putting our large suitcases in, was quite difficult to remove, and left us with the dilemma of what to do with it once it was removed.  We ended up putting it right behind the front seats which encumbered Meisha and Everett more.  The stroller--picture large enough for both Aldon (with or without his car seat) and Everett--was another issue.  It took numerous rearrangements before I found one that allowed everything to fit.  So now we think we're ready to tackle the left side of the highway.  Not so fast!  How do you start this thing?  Okay, some more time is lost trying to figure out how to start it.  So NOW we're ready to leave.  Fooled again.  The GPS (what would that be in German) is in German!  Help!  This time fiddling around was insufficient to do us any good.  It took a bit of asking around to find an employee who could Anglicize it for us.  Now we were on the road--finally.  But not so fast.  Even with the GPS, we went around in circles for quite some time before we were heading in the right direction.  Yippee!  You rejoice too soon, my dear one.  Google had indicated that it would take us less than four hours to get to York, but it was after two before we had even left Avis.  Nancy noticed that the Avis office in York closed at 6:00.  Is the picture beginning to focus for you?  Our original plan was to drop the car off at Avis so we would not have to pay for parking, which is difficult to find in York anyway.  So much for that plan.  There was stop and go traffic for almost the entire route. At 7:00, when finally stopped for something to eat, we still had 65 miles to go.  While there we called Laura, the woman who held our apartment key, and explained our situation.  She said, "No problem."  We could stop at a phone booth once we arrived in York.  She was only a ten minute walk from the apartment.  Did I tell you we didn't have any British money yet?  Not to worry.  Phone booths take credit cards over here.  Maybe that's true in the States too, but I haven't used one in many years.  Of course, you know our cell phones don't work here either.  So prepare yourself for the phone booth fiasco.  We stopped on the street at three locations: one was broken, one had no dial tone and the third had no slot for a credit card.  Plan B: We parked in the Clifford's Tower (a Norman castle) parking lot and I walked to find a phone booth.  Too bad Laura had not told me where she was because we were only two or three blocks away.  Instead I wandered, eventually finding a booth on the street behind the apartment and very near to the ATM Meisha and I had used back in 2011.  And to top off my incredible good fortune--hear the irony in my voice?--there was a street vendor right next to the phone booth.  I asked him for change, made the phone call, arranged to have Meisha meet Laura in front of the apartment and took the rest of the crew to find a place to park closer to the apartment.  Then as it would happen we ran into Laura along the way from the car to the apartment.  She let us know that we could park the car over night in a parking area behind the Five Lions, the pub where she worked.  Probably feeling sorry for us, she let us park for free.  Did I tell you she was eight months pregnant?  By the time we were all situated, it was ten o'clock and we were soon all asleep.