Not Just Another Blog

Another adventure -- another blog.  Truly I enjoy writing these blogs because (1) I enjoy writing; (2) they provide a way to share more detail with our children; and, most of all, (3) the written details allow me to relive the adventure over and over again without dependence on my poor memory.  However, this particular blog has yet another purpose -- to capture and chronicle all that I have and will learn during this trip about the death of my Uncle (my dad's older and only brother) in June  1944 when two allied bombers collided over and into the Thames River in England.  My Uncle was a gunner/flight engineer on one of the planes and his body was never recovered, presumably entombed in the wreckage at the bottom of the Thames

BACKGROUND:  Because of the wonderful travel and family experiences which  Deb and I have enjoyed on prior trips to Europe - blogs kept here -  we regularly look for affordable opportunities to return.  The highlight of every prior trip has been the connections we have enjoyed with cousins in Switzerland and The Netherlands -- and Dutch friends who have become like family after a serendipitous in-flight meeting/conversation described here.

So, when our son, a Philosophy Professor at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia , was contracted to teach a summer class at Cambridge University; and, he learned that the contract-provided housing would be large enough to allow us to stay in Cambridge with him, his wife and their 2 year old  (our third grandchild) -- it was an easy decision.  Not only would it be a unique and affordable opportunity to visit England (where we had never been) but it would also allow us to spend some quality time with our son/his wife and our granddaughter.  Of course, it was also easy to begin our planning with the extra focus of trying to add in another trip to nearby Holland.  Initially we also had hoped to add  Switzerland to the itinerary, but quickly decided that the cost (both dollars and time) precluded that.

Our prior trips to Europe have all been off-season -- making it easier to find less expensive flights.  This trip was going to be in highest of high seasons (late July/early August).  So we spent extra hours on travel and airline web sites exploring lots of options and trying to use other web sites to try to forecast  whether the air fares would go up or down.  Eventually we hit upon the affordable option of flying in and out of Brussels, and splitting 25 days between The Netherlands and England.

On July 17, 2013 we began our trip -- with arrangements to spend a few days with our Dutch friends, a few days with each of two Dutch cousins -- fly Ryan Air from Eindhoven, Netherlands to London's Stansted Airport (closest to Cambridge), stay 13 days in Cambridge (with lots of travel plans in and around England and Wales), then return by Eurostar train to Brussels for a flight home on August 10.