Our British adventure: The big move.

This is the first email Ben sent to his parents after our arrival:

We made it into the country just fine. Sweet Pea was not so lucky. So, she is in the customs holding area of the animal reception center at Heathrow. 

Other than that we hit HEAVY traffic getting into california and it took us about 13 hours with about 5 of those being at a crawl. We finally got there, the room in California was nice but was in the ghetto so it was a little bit scary even for a big tough guy like me but it was ok. Pat and Sylvie missed their flight due to the fact that the airline sold pat's seat and by the time they got her a new one the plane was gone. I got stopped by LAPD in the airport
and questioned briefly about what I was doing but was able to weasel my way out of getting cuffed. The good thing about Sylvie and Pat missing their flight was that they were able to hang out with us until our flight left. They watched our luggage while Charlotte and I went to go drop off Sweet Pea, which helped because we would have had to carry all of our luggage somehow onto a taxi and to the World Cargo center. So, the flight went well and we got here a few hours before Pat and Sylvie got in. We found out about Sweet Pea and got the car and took a load to Oxford.

The country is beautiful and the weather is gloomy but nice. Got Pat and Sylvie and went to dominos pizza for dinner. All and all it took up the whole of the day to go to the airport twice. Today, the 17th of August 2011, we went and returned our car then got cell phones so we could start looking for places. Of course the only thing that we could get were some cheap prepaid phones until we open a bank account and build some credit. Went to the bank but can't open an account until we have a real address. We ran a few other errands and got rained on, a common occurrence I hear around these parts. The guest house here is nice and they give us a full-english breakfast each morning (just think of anything that will give you a heart attack and put it together on a plate). So, we just heard from the customs people and they basically said that we have no choice in the matter that Sweet Pea cannot be released until the correct test is done and the correct undisclosed amount of time has passed. So, basically we can't have our bird back and the queen wants more money. I can really understand why we got rid of these red coats back in 1776. We are still upbeat despite the setbacks thus far and are excited to be here. We are going to call the Bishop here tonight and keep looking for a permanent place to live. We are grateful to be here in this beautiful country and Oxford is even better than london. Driving was a unique experience that both Charlotte and I will never forget (nor will a few unfortunate drivers in a couple of those roundabouts). We thank you for your support and prayers and will talk to you later.

Ben

A bit of a nightmare really! But I am glad we made it.