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The work week has finally ended after a stressful 3 days! Today I booked tickets on Virgin Atlantic arriving Heathrow 7:30 AM on Saturday October 6, leaving at 2:30 PM on Sunday October 14. Several ads for cheap tickets proved misleading once the fees were added. This ticket was cheaper than anything else I saw by about $300, so going to Manchester wasn't an option. Oddly this ticket also gave me direct flights and the best arrival & departure times allowing me to work a full day Friday and then leaving England mid-afternoon. (The last departures for the US are circa 3:30 PM.)
Next step is probably to book a car, but first I'll ask Bryce if he wants to book it and keep it after I leave. Otherwise, I'll book it myself for the days I'm in the UK. Looks like it won't be too expensive, especially if we share costs. Other things to do are to decide where to go. I'm not sure of Bryce's interests, but on my list of possible places to visit are Viginia Woolf's Monk's House and Jane Austen's house, both south of London. However, these are only suggestions and since I can revisit at any time (and aussie Bryce cannot), I'm happy to fit in with him. England is a small country so it's only a day's drive (traffic permitting) to go from the south to the north.

More on Aruba ... I have to say the place is expensive, especially if you eat out for all meals. The hotel strip is a bit of a tourist trap, with all the restaurants being quite expensive. I didn't actually buy anything to take home. Madeline bought some small presents for her friends and Gail bought virtually nothing. Madeline and I spent quite a bit of time playing arcade games. My favourite being the Suzuka 8 hour motorcycle race. I managed to work it out and get some good lap times by the end of the week. However, basically our days were spent between the hotel beach and pool. Hiring the Jeep for 2 days was stressful as it was such a shonky operation that I feared being hit with bogus rental expenses, although it did allow us to explore the island to some degree. But outside the tourist area, it appears to be a little dangerous, and this was confirmed by a co-worker who used to live in Caracas (about 20 miles from Aruba). One highlight was the hotel bird collection - parrots, macaws and several cockatoos. Madeline loved this most of all. Gail liked Aruba, found it relaxing. That's it for Aruba. Future posts will be mainly about preparations for my UK visit.