CHAPTER ONE

 

                                                                                           “A Vacation In England”

 

 

     Summer was fast approaching and Bianca and Alyssa’s family still had not made any plans for their vacation.  It seemed as though everybody in the Rodriguez family had a different idea about where they should go and what they should do. 

     Bianca wanted to return to Hawaii and spend their two weeks at the beach surfing.  Alyssa wanted to go to their grandmother’s farm in Missouri and ride horses.  Their mother said she wanted to go to Disney World in Florida, and their father - well their father kept quiet.  He didn’t really care where they went.  He was willing to go wherever the girls decided.

     At every opportunity Bianca reminded her sister and mother about how much fun they had in Hawaii surfing with their friend Kaimi.  Alyssa reminded them of what fun it was riding horses with their friend Todd Baker while they stayed at their grandma’s farm in Missouri.  Their mother’s reason for wanting to go to Disney World was because they had never been there before, and also that there were lots of other fun and exciting places to visit in the area.

     Then one week before the end of the school year their mother received a letter from Mary Dunsmoor.  She was surprised to see that the envelope had English stamps on it. That letter was to put an end to the discussion about where to go for their vacation.   

     Mary had been her closest friend while they were in college, but she hadn’t heard from her since shortly after graduation.   She anxiously opened the letter to read what her friend was up to after so many years. 

     She read the letter quickly the first time and then slowly read it again to make sure she understood exactly what it said.  She smiled and thought, “What a wonderful surprise!” as she carefully folded the letter and put it back in the envelope. 

     Later that afternoon as she was driving the girls home from school she told them about the letter.  “Girls, I have a very big surprise for you.” 

     “What is it Mom?” asked Bianca. 

     “Yeah, Mom, what is the surprise?” Alyssa echoed anxiously.  She loved surprises.

     “Today I received a letter from my friend Mary and she has invited our whole family to spend two weeks with her in England!” the mother answered.

     “Who’s Mary?” both girls asked at the same time.

     “Mary Dunsmoor and I were best friends when we were in college.  We haven’t talked to each other in years, but today I received a letter from her,” their mother said. “The letter said that she recently inherited a large manor in England and she has invited us there for a visit,” she added.

     “What’s a manor?” Alyssa asked.

     “It’s like a big castle, isn’t it?” asked Bianca.

     “Wow!” “A real castle, can we go Mom?” Alyssa asked.

     “Yeah, Mom, can we please?” pleaded Bianca, “we’ve never been in a real castle before.”

     “Well, we’ll have to see what your father says about it, but I sure would like to go and see my friend Mary again,” their mother responded. 

     “Can we ask Daddy when he gets home?” Alyssa asked. 

     “Yes, you girls ask him, and I will try to convince him that a vacation in England will be lots of fun,” replied their mother.

     That evening when their father got home from work the first thing the girls did was run up to him and give him a big hug and a kiss, and then they both sprung the question!

     “Daddy, can we all go to England for our vacation this summer?” they asked in unison.    

     Their father was very surprised.  “England?” he asked, “whatever made you girls think of going to England?” 

     Just then their mother entered the living room.  “Honey, I got a letter today from my old friend, Mary Dunsmoor, and she has invited us all over to England for two weeks to stay at her manor,” she told him.

     Their father looked puzzled.  “Who in the world is Mary Dunsmoor, and how come I haven’t heard of her before if she is your friend?” he asked. 

     “Mary and I were very good friends in college, but we haven’t been in touch with each other since we graduated,” she told her husband.  “Today I got a letter from her saying that she inherited a real English manor and she wants us to go visit her,” she added.

     “Well, I don’t know.   It will cost a lot of money for us all to fly over to England,” he replied. 

     “Yes, but since we will be staying with my friend Mary we won’t have to pay for a hotel room,” she replied.  “All we have to pay for is our plane fare and the food we eat while we are there.”

     Bianca chimed in, “And none of us has ever been to England before Daddy.”

     “And there are just tons of old castles over there for us to visit,” added Alyssa.

     “Well, it would be fun for all of us to see England together,” he replied.  “Let me check on how much the airfare is to London, and we’ll talk about it later,” he replied.  “But right now, let’s eat dinner, I’m famished,” he added. 

     As the family was eating dinner the two girls kept talking about how cool it would be to go to England.  All the time they were talking their father kept quiet.  When they had finished eating he said, “I can see right now that you girls are not going to give me a minute of rest until I agree to go to England, so I guess I’ll have to say - Yes!” 

     “Really Daddy?” asked Bianca. “You’re not kidding?” asked Alyssa.  “Honey, can we really go?” asked their mother.

     “Yes, we can really go, and no I am not kidding,” he replied smiling.  “I think a vacation in England would be great!” “We all have to get passports, so tomorrow go to the post office and pick up the forms we need for that,” he added.

     “Tomorrow I will also check on the airfares,” said their mother.  She thought for a minute and said, “Better yet, “I’ll go check on them right now on the computer.” 

     The next few weeks were very busy ones for the entire Rodriquez family.  There were so many things they had to do before they could go to England.  They filled out their passport applications, took the required passport photographs, had their fingerprints taken, and then mailed everything to the passport office in Los Angeles.    

     Their mother made their flight reservations and purchased the tickets on the computer.  Their father found a nice “doggy hotel” that could take good care of Rudy while they were gone.  The owner promised Alyssa that he would take Rudy for a walk every day and give him lots of good food.

     And of course there was lots of shopping for the girls and their mother.  After all, they couldn’t go to England on vacation in tacky old clothes!   Of course their dad said that if his tacky old clothes were good enough for America, they were plenty good enough for England.

     For the next two weeks Bianca and Alyssa could talk of nothing else except going to England.  They looked up London in an encyclopedia and made a list of all the places they wanted to visit there.  On their list was: The London Bridge; The Tower of London; Westminster Abby; Big Ben; Windsor Castle; and many other places they thought would be neat to see.      

     By the time the last day of school arrived, the girls had not only memorized their list, but had put them in the order they wanted to visit them.  When they showed the list to their mother she was impressed by all the research they had done on London. 

     “It looks like you girls can be our tour guides in England,” she told them.  “I think you know London as well as any of the guides there!” she added laughing.  

     “As long as the English taxi drivers know where all these place are we can be good tour guides Mom,” Bianca replied.

     The following Monday the entire family went to put their dog Rudy in the doggy hotel.  Alyssa wanted to see the place in person to make sure it was good enough for him. 

     After looking over the entire place, she decided it would be okay to leave Rudy there while they were gone.  Before leaving she told Rudy to be a good dog, and that they would be back home in about two weeks to pick him up.  Rudy wagged his tail and licked her face, as if he understood what she was saying.

    

 

  

CHAPTER TWO

 

“Meeting Mary”

 

 

     The next morning they drove to the San Diego Airport to begin their journey to England.  Just before leaving the house their mother called her friend Mary and told her the flight number and the time they would be arriving in London.  Mary said she would be waiting there to pick them up.

     As always there were lots of people at the airport trying to get on their flights.  After standing in a long line to check in their baggage and get their boarding passes they were finally ready to go. 

     Before boarding the plane they went to a store in the airport and bought several books and magazines to read during the flight.  Bianca and Alyssa also got some potato chips and candy.  It was going to be a long flight and they wanted to make sure they were prepared.

     At last a woman on a loudspeaker announced that their flight was now boarding at Gate number seven.  Soon they were all seated in the plane, had their seatbelts fastened, and were ready to go to England.

     As the pilot was revving up the planes engines for takeoff, Alyssa asked, “Mom, what time are we going to get to London?”

     “Well, it’s an eight hour flight so we should arrive in London at about noon,” her mother answered.

     “But it’s ten o’clock in the morning now.  Is it only going to take us two hours to fly to England?” Alyssa asked.

     “No, it’s going to be an eight hour flight, but remember that London time is eight hours ahead of San Diego time,” their mother replied.

     Alyssa tried to figure out what that meant, but it seemed very complicated to her.  Rather than try to do the addition and subtraction she just said, “Oh, I see.”

     Soon the plane was speeding down the runway and lifted into the air.  When the plane was a few hundred feet in the air the girls heard that now familiar sound of the wheels being retracted. 

     As they turned out over the Pacific Ocean to head east the girls looked out the window at the beaches below.  Bianca said, “Alyssa, look, there’s Coronado Beach where we always go swimming,” Bianca said.     

     “I wonder if they have good beaches like that in England,” her sister answered. 

     “I don’t think so, at least I’ve never heard of any famous beaches in England,” Bianca replied.

     “The only famous beach I’ve ever heard of in England is Brighton Beach, but I’m sure there must be others,” their dad told them.

     “I’ll bet it’s not as nice as Coronado Beach,” answered Alyssa.

     “You’re probably right,” replied dad, “I don’t think the weather is as good.”

     Soon the girls and their mother were absorbed in looking at the magazines they had bought at the airport.  Their dad spent his time looking out the window at the ground for as long as he could still see it.  When the plane got so high he could no longer see the ground he closed his eyes for a short nap. 

     Eight hours, three meals, and several hours of sleep later the pilot announced they would be landing at London’s Heathrow Airport shortly.  The seat belt light came on and everyone fastened their belts again.  As the plane began descending for the landing the girls grew more and more excited. 

     “Just think Mom, in just a few minutes we are going to actually be in England!” Alyssa said. 

     “This is going to be the best vacation every!” said Bianca. 

     “Yes, it should be a lot of fun,” their mom replied.  “I just hope that Mary is there to pick us up, because I have no idea where her place is.”

     Down, down, down, went the plane, and soon they could hear and feel the wheels being lowered.  A few minutes later they felt the jerk of the plane, and heard the screech of the tires, as they touched down on the runway.  Then there was a loud noise as the pilot reversed the engines to slow down the airplane.       

     “Well girls, at last we are in jolly old England,” their dad said with a smile. 

     As they slowly taxied to the terminal one of the flight attendants came on the loudspeaker and thanked everyone for flying with their airline.  Then she told the passengers to check around their seating area to make sure they don’t forget anything. 

     Even before the plane stopped moving the isle was full of people standing, waiting to get off the plane.  The girls started to get up too, but their dad told them to wait until some of the passengers got off the plane so it wouldn’t be so crowded. 

     While they were waiting Alyssa looked out the window, “Gosh, it looks just like America out there!” 

     “Well, what did you think it was going to look like – Mars?” Bianca exclaimed. 

     “No, but I thought it would look different somehow,” Alyssa replied.   

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