England - St Louis U.S.A

Well if stress was a fruit it would be a watermelon and not just any water melon...one of those huge ones for display purposes only ! Fitting the luggage into the taxi was like a Krypton factor audition however everything slotted in eventually, and after a quick trip back to the taxi office for a booster seat the journey began !
We arrived at Jurys Inn at Heathrow and much to the amusement of the desk staff managed to get all the luggage into the hotel. What is it with hotel staff that the offer of help comes just when you dont need it anymore. The room was ok, clean and well appointed... just off a carpetted hallway (you ever tried to wheel suitcases on carpet!!!).Leo was a little disappointed that he wasnt already in America !
Well after an early start (and meeting the best possible shuttle driver) we arrived at Heathrow and went straigt to check-in...of course the one piece of information we didnt print out was required so a quick call went out to Tash..thanks Tash.. Once we had the hotel address everything was very straight forward. Security was also painless and we even got the chance to look around shops before boarding. We flew to Newark with Continental and had a really good flight (apart from no entertainment) Leo was made to feel really special with lots of presents etc including his own Continental Airlines Wing badge. The staff on the plane were lovely..every one of them. Special mention has to go to Tracy..a really nice flight attendant who not only made sure Leo was happy the whole flight she actually met us after customs in Newark and helped us make our connecting flight. Even though we managed to forget to collect the walker from the baggage area! A really nice way to be introduced to the American level of customer service. The connecting flight was on the 'barbie' plane.Must be the smallest airplane on the fleet ! But Somehow the walker appeared with the luggage anyway ! We managed to bypass customs in St Louis..no idea how maybe because its not an international airport theres no Customs !
Checked in to the hotel at 19.30 local time so far today been awake 17 hours!
Walked into the lobby and straight away met the English familys here, Within five minutes luggage was in the room and we were back downstairs! As Joanne said its really nice to meet people and actually talk face to face about the operation and living with CP. We have been given the head up about shopping and places to see etc and looking forward to explore St Louis.
Leo was straight away part of 'the crowd' and the sound of a very tired little boy laughing and getting second wind rangout ( oh to have half his energy). We managed to stay up til 2300 local time
leaving the SDR crew downstairs at 22.30.
Leo woke up this morning at 6.30 desperate to go play with his new friends but settled for breakfast and talking to his cousins on Skype!
Today l think will be spent trying to adjust to the new timezones and just finding our feet.
Thank you for all the messages of good luck for Leo xx