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Shampoo, check. Conditioner, check. Shaving creme, check. Toblerone, check. And, the National Express bus arrived, on time, to Cheltenham. I told myself I wasn't going to cry or anything, but I couldn't hold back, I was the happiest girl on earth the moment they stepped off the bus.
Mom, Sarah, Lauren and I went to their hotel to check in. Their room wouldn't be ready for a few more hours, so we grabbed lunch at Pizza Hut then sat in the lobby watching all of the race guests check-in. Speaking of which, my lovely family chose to come and visit me the same week of The Cheltenham Gold Cup. It's only the biggest horse race week in England. So, there were a million more people here and everything was twice as expensive. But, we saw some very interesting outfits and characters whilst we waited on their room. The rest of their stay is almost like a blur, but here's my best attempt as to what happened.
On Monday the weather was really nice, so I showed them around a bit and we walked through Pittville Park. There were a ton of families out, which is very different from our experience with parks at home, so we sat on a bench for hours. It was very relaxing and we just chatted. I took them to a pub called Spectre for dinner where meals were only 2.50 and dessert was buy two for the price of one. Tuesday morning I had the troop up and on a University bus by 7:40AM. I still had class, so we went to Gloucester for the day. We went into town and shopped a bit then spent a few hours in a pub eating lunch and watching the races. After my last class, we headed back to Cheltenham and spent the rest of the evening in my flat. It varied depending on the night and next day's plans as to where I spent the night. I did love me some hotel though, spending quality time with my family at night. But, my sister loved being up at Pittville. My flatmates were absolutely wonderful and got along well with her. We made meals up here, had a night full of painting each others fingernails, and just sat around talking. Mom enjoyed asking questions about England and spending quality time with me :) Wednesday and Thursday we walked around other parts of Cheltenham and did some more shopping. I showed them Park Campus and the area up there. We had lunch at a pub called Weatherspoons, and the girls failed to order an alcoholic beverage. Most of the week in Chelts was spent just relaxing and enjoying the area. We walked to the racecourse one day - what a disaster. There were a million people and we just happened to be walked the opposite way! Bad idea.
The second weekend we went to London. We were booked to stay in a nice, family hostel - lies. We got there and had to pay all these extra unknown fees. The elevator wasn't made for luggage, so we had to cart it down two flights of stairs. Yeah, our room was in the second basement, I don't know how that makes sense. But, the room was disgusting, the window was about as big as my head. Not to mention, NOTHING was provided, but yet the website said it would be. Anyway, we dropped our stuff and went hotel shopping. Just around the corner we found this way-to-fancy hotel for only 100 pounds more, total. Ridiculous. So, we checked out of the hostel, got our money back, and went to the hotel. Dinner that night was from the local gas station. The rest of the weekend went great! We woke up and bought an open bus tour for three days. We could get on and off wherever we wanted, and do as we pleased. The weather was wet and cold, but we had a lot of fun! We saw all of the major tourist attractions and ended up people watching in the park (our specialty).
During our bus tour, there was another bus in front of us doing the same thing. At one point, I was taking a picture and noticed a little boy in the bottom of it. He was peering over the front bus. I thought he'd turn around eventually, nope. He stared at me the whole time. So, I attempted to take pictures of him. He kept ducking down, and then his dad turned around and looked at me. The rest of our bus was catching on and kept watching him as well. We all had our cameras up hoping to catch him the next time he peered over. The next time he peered over - HE HAD A CAMERA! We all died laughing. His dad turned around and was cracking up as well. After a whole round, they got off and was waving like crazy to us. Way too funny. Then, we were waiting on a bench for our bus and noticed it was at the next stop. We all start running to catch it, make it, and mom turns and goes, "I don't have my jacket." So, I play English Frogger in the traffic in search of mom's coat. This wouldn't have been a big deal if there weren't a ton of cars, and the whole bus watching this happen. But, the bus driver was very nice and his helper stopped traffic for us to cross the road. Then, on the last day, we were sitting in traffic and the bus driver HIT a taxi. The taxi ended up following us and they were yelling our their windows. Such an eventful bus ride.
A family vacation is never complete without fighting, especially if you travel with Lauren. :) She got hot-headed while we were in London and decided to storm off. On her way, she hit the souvenir bag filled with shot glasses against a pole and broke one of them. Then, she thought she could cross the road whenever she pleased and almost got hit. All of the people waiting to cross were in shock!
Basically, I was so excited to see my family. We had a lot of fun and made lots of memories! I wish more of you could have come over and visited, but no worries - I'll be home soon. (If I come home).
Love && Miss You.
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