Saturday April 7, 2001-raining Of course it's raining today, we are going to Alton Towers (another theme park) Alton Towers is amazing. It's so much better than Drayton Manor. It has a lot more rides and a lot better rides. The only problem was that is was continually raining and cold. Oh well, it was still a lot of fun. We stayed there the whole day. We came back to Dean & Cheryl's and changed into some dry clothes then we all went out for Chinese food. It was a very nice restaurant and really good food. After that we came back to the house and watched TV, chatted, and went to bed.

Sunday April 8, 2001-cloudy and light rain in the afternoon We were supposed to go back up to Blackpool today, but Wayne & I were having too much fun with Dean & Cheryl so we just stayed with them instead. Plus we figured it's be cold and raining there too and we were done with theme parks in the cold rain. We went to a pub for Sunday lunch and had a huge meal. After the meal it began to rain a bit and didn't clear up for the rest of the day. We went back to Dean & Cheryl's and we were all lazy for the rest of the day. Just watched TV and talked. All four of us napped a bit too. When we were all awake Cheryl went and got Fish & Chips for us all for dinner. We watched Jerry Springer while we ate and made fun of the people on that, then went to bed.

Monday April 9, 2001-Yay! Some sun is coming through the clouds!! We got up and packed up all of our dirty clothes, and I discovered that I didn't pack enough shirts so I guess we'll have to buy one for me to wear tomorrow. Cheryl had to go into work this morning, but Dean is travelling out to South Africa tonight for work, so he's still here at the moment. We headed back down to Coventry to sort out all of our luggage. Craig stopped by to say Good-bye to us. After saying good-bye to everyone we headed down to London. We've decided to stay in a hotel right by the airport tonight so we don't have to get up really early to catch out flight tomorrow morning. After a 2 hour drive, we get to our hotel. It's right across the street from Heathrow. The room is huge and quite lavish. I guess it's because they cater to business travellers and they want them to feel comfortable. After freshening up, we got a cab to Richmond which is where Wayne used to work. We wandered around and I bought a shirt from Marks & Spencer which is like a smaller version of Macy's plus a grocery store added on. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant that was good, but not as good as the one in Blackpool. After dinner we walked a block or two down to the River Thames which has really risen due to all the rain that England has had over the winter and spring. We strolled along the river for a while then caught a cab back to the hotel and just relaxed for the rest of the night.

Tuesday April 10, 2001-some clouds We got up at 7:30 am and took the car back to the rental place, then went to the airport and checked in. Did a bit of shopping at the airport shops then went into the Admiral's Club to wait for our flight. About an hour later we boarded the plane and set off on our journey. We were served lunch and hour into the flight, the only problem was that 2 of the 5 menu choices were unavailable and they were the only 2 I was interested in. Anyway I had the salmon which was ok but not great, then we had a huge scoop of ice cream for dessert. Then Wayne & I both took a little nap and watched some of the movies on our little TVs. We were given a snack of tuna salad, which was really good, about an hour before landing in Los Angeles. We were late landing due to a strong headwind during the entire flight. We got into LAX at 2:30pm and our connection to San Jose was at 3:50pm. I'm sure we won't make it. We go through immigration without too much hassle, then we wait for our luggage to come off the carousel so we can then go through customs. We wait....and wait.....and wait. A beagle from the USDA Beagle Brigade came around and was sniffing all of our carry ons for contraband, and then it was back to waiting. Finally the bags start to come down the ramp, but ours doesn't come down for 20 minutes. Then we go through customs and have to race to the American Airlines counter to get checked in. We're too late, the flight has left the gate. Luckily the LA to San Jose route is popular and there was another flight just 40 minutes later so we were booked onto that one. I called my mom to let her know we missed the flight and gave her the new flight number so she'd be at the right gate to pick us up. The flight was very short, less than an hour, and then we were in San Jose. My mom and Tom were waiting for us at the gate and they drove us back to my mom's house to drop off our bags. Then we went out to dinner, but Wayne & I were exhausted because 7pm San Jose time was 3am England time. We ate dinner and chatted with my parents, then I drove us home. I was so glad to be home. We left all of the luggage in the car and walked up the stairs like zombies. We collapsed into bed and soon fell asleep.

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