Exchange rate

Not much to report but whooooo, quite happy with the old exchange rate at the moment and getting very excited about the big trip. In the meantime, found this article on long haul travel which might come in handy for a quick read before we head to the airport. I have another big load of stuff up on eBay so I'm hoping that I can transfer any extra cash into dollars while the going's so good.

In a change of plans, thanks to BA withdrawing their flights from Birmingham to Madrid, Jo is now flying via Amsterdam and we'll be meeting up at JFK. Wish us luck! Jo gets in just after me so I think I'm going to have to get one of those signs (and find out which terminal she gets in to, must put that on my list of things to do...)

Jetpacks!

Okay, so I'm only a part time student, but I like the look of these things. We've been wondering how we were going to organise a phone while we were away and this looks like the perfect answer.

After my first trial run in the new car to Tesco yesterday, I'm a little concerned about the 'other side' of the road. A bit more practice on the 'right side' of the road before the start of July and I should be right as rain.

Fingers crossed...

We've booked almost everything

Over the sunny weekend in Birmingham, we managed to finalise almost all our bookings for our trip. We reserved our cabin, we booked tickets for the Grand Ole Opry, we booked our internal flights and car hire and also our stay at the Burn b'n'b.

You never know who is going to be onstage at the Opry when you book. We're going on a Tuesday night, and going on the recent form, some of the bigger stars tend to play on a Friday or Saturday (like Vince McGill, Reba McIntyre) but that's not to say that we won't still enjoy soaking up the atmosphere and taking in some traditional entertainment. You can listen in online, too, here.

We're also delighted with our cabin and looking forward to firing up the BBQ and relaxing in the hot tub. We're also quite curious about what the local supermarkets will be like, and while we're on the subject of shopping, I hear there's a craft community in nearby Gatlinburg where we can browse quilts and wall-hangings to our hearts' content. I have a feeling we'll want to take a little bit of country style back with us.