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November 1998

England

Jvi
2004-09-14 11:27:34

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We decided to go on this trip on Friday, October 30, 1998. We were sitting in front of the fire with a bottle of wine and Christine was lamenting that this would only be the second November since 1983 that we did not walk the moors of England and sit in front of a pub fire. We had just returned from Italy two weeks before so we had not planned on taking another holiday so soon. I asked her how much she would pay to go and she said $1,000 for two tickets. I knew we couldn't get them at that price on such short notice but we called British Airways anyway. We were quoted a price of $1,150 for two tickets and we could leave Monday night. Christine flinched and we took it. We also made arrangements to get a small car through BA and they said the tickets and car voucher would be ready at the airport. It used to be that you had to plan months ahead to get what was called an APEX (Advanced Purchase Excursion) Fare. I believe that you can now get these fares with only a 7-10 advance purchase. We were very happy with our tickets that only cost $575 each and that included all the taxes.

The next day, Saturday, we called a few places in England so we could stay at some of our favorite spots in the West Country. They all had rooms for the days we wanted and everything was set. We asked our neighbor to watch the cat and we were ready. If you're flexible, you can go quite easily. I hope we can still do this when we retire. Things were really going smooth, we even got a complimentary pass to the Executive Club lounge at O'Hare Airport. The other half does live better, it was very comfy waiting for the call to board.

We landed at Heathrow at 10:45 AM and drove directly to Chagford, Devon, on the edge of Dartmoor. We had called and booked a room at the Heylands B&B; unfortunately it has since been sold and is no longer a B&B. Chagford is a nice small town with four pubs and several small hotels and a few B&Bs. It's located ...