Day 222

I think we got about 3 hours sleep last night before hastening to Gatwick to try and ensure that we get a good seat on the flight over to Atlanta. This means that we arrive an hour before the check in opens at all. We get very nice bulkhead seats, but in return get charged $25 for having a bag which is too heavy. [Delta, oddly, allow each passenger 2 bags weighing up to 23.5kg each - a pretty generous allowance, but woe betide you if you spread your 47kg by putting more than 23.5kg in one bag.]

Then begins the long haul over to the other side of the pond. Getting to Atlanta isn't too bad and we even have fun with the security guys there, who won't let us take an unopened bottle of water onto our connecting flight, but who insist we drink some of it there and then so it doesn't all go to waste. I guess they were not to know it was the third bottle of a '3 for the price of 2' promotion.

We then made the short hop over to Goth Girl's home town, in the company of possibly the world's campest and funniest flight attendant. Goth Girl's in-flight nerves are calmed by being made to read Laurence Booth's very funny cricket glossary "Arm Ball to Zooter" - not that I was trying to cling desperately to thoughts of home, or anything.

At the airport we are met by Mere and Pere GG, fresh from losing money at the racecourse and clearly delighted to have their little girl back home again. It is her last visit before the wedding and the itinerary left by our bed leaves us in no doubt that it is going to be a busy one. To compensate, they have also bought us an owl toy to play with. Nice people, these Americans.