Planning trip

We've been planning the trip for weeks now, starting with booking the airlines.  That was quite a chore, using various websites to find the best deal, can be confusing at times with conflicting info on the same flights.  We found best deal on Expedia, $962 RT each from Sacramento.  There are no direct flights from our little town, unfortunately, but going to SF is too much additional time and expense.  The end result was a one stop flight each way with short layovers.  On the journey out, we fly to Houston (three hours), change planes and then direct to London (nine hours).  We leave Thursday the 13th of March 2014 at 12:25 PM and arrive Houston at 6 PM their time, leave Houston 7:15PM and arrive Heathrow at 9:40 AM the next day (they are 8 or 9 hours ahead of us depending on Daylight Savings Time status). Evelyn booked us a room at a nice hotel near Hyde Park with the fancy title of  "Grand Royale Hyde Park". 

We're still not sure about the size of suitcase to bring!  Evelyn thought "small" at the beginning, try not to bring too much since we can do laundry there and can wear the same outfits without anyone noticing!  But then she started picking out clothes and found that she might want to have more options!  We only need to dress up twice, as we've booked shows at the Royal Albert Hall (more later) and comfort is paramount.  We've been checking the weather in London, and it's colder, getting into the upper 30's at night, so we are convinced we each need a coat which we'll wear going and coming so it doesn't need to fit in the luggage.  I've loaded up my iPod and tablet with music so I can listen during the trips.

Only Evie will have phone service.  We both have T-Mobile, but different plans; Evie provides her with Global access but mine apparently does NOT!  So on the expert advice of a friend, Larry, who flies planes around the world, I'm going to try SKYPE using the hotel's Wi-fi to see if I can access my voice mail and make calls home.

I will be posting lots of pictures and maybe even videos is it's supported to keep you completely up to date!