A blog post about the trip we thought would never happen. Justin was born and raised in England and for many years, we have been saying once we have a bit more savings, we will travel there. Well, after a couple tragedies occurring this year, we decided this is the year of no more stalling. Life is too short! Unfortunately, it took a stroke in the family and a death of friend to wake us up, get off our ass, and book the trip. We are so grateful for the help of our family and friends who it made it possible. We had accommodations provided everywhere we needed to be. Studio60 (and daughters) took on cities, towns, farms, cottages and seasides!
With this year being Justin's 20 year reunion to his beloved England, he made out a daily agenda for each and every one of our 17 days. This was the first vacation we had been on that didn't include an All-Inclusive option on a white sandy beach so we needed something to go by. I was a bit skeptical on how well this trip would end up...I left all the planning to Justin! hahaha... It's not something he's use to having complete control over but with England being his territory and all his memories (being born and raised there) it was only right to have him cram as much site seeing for all his memories he wanted.
This trip included meeting family members he didn't know he had, introduce his family to everyone he grew up with, driving for the first time in England (since he left before he could), spending quality time with everyone (especially Nanny Hawksby), and climb steep & dangerous hills/cliffs with an 8 & 2 year old to get the perfect picture.
We felt so welcome from everyone. We loved every minute of it and can not wait to return. To all our family and friends that helped us make this vacation possible...Thank you.
We took over 6,000 photos so bare with us. This is Part One to our albums. The first half of our trip was in Bristol, England where Justin was born and raised.
Having fun with our new cousin, Jack. Awesome parks in Bristol. Nothing like we have locally.
The Bristol Museum. The foyer was breath taking. There were lots to see and we took so many photos, but I felt it very important to make note of this cool scene of Gromit in a jail cell. We are huge Wallace & Gromit fans!
QEH School for Boys, Justin's boarding school. His House Master met us there and gave us a personal tour. We loved it, thank you!
The House Master himself (right picture)!
The court yard. A big open space. Our girls loved running around here.
Justin's old bedroom (left picture). It is now a classroom, but back in the day it use to sleep 8 boys. In the hallway (right picture), Justin is doing his old punishment routine the older boys use to make them do. hahaha... He can still do it!
No elevators in these historic buildings. Plenty of winding staircases and little hallways.