The UK. First stop: Wales

At the end of July we took a direct flight from San Francisco to Heathrow overnight. With a little Benadryl, this is the best way to fly 11 hours with a toddler. Finn slept, but not enough to keep him from being tired enough to start to adapt to a new time zone (of an 8 hour difference) the next day. July/August is a popular time to travel in the UK so airline tickets were pretty expensive. Since a lot of our trip took place in the countryside, we didn't really notice vacationing crowds anywhere but Cornwall.

The purpose and timing of this trip was to meet my family there to enjoy the motherland and each other, have a family reunion with some of the English relations, and of course, love on the UK. Finn is such a good sport about traveling. Probably because he has discovered that at the end of every flight, he almost always gets to see people who he loves to death. This trip was no exception.
From the time that tired boy (like up at 3 a.m. our time tired) caught sight of his aunt Emily in baggage claim, his smiles, talking and laughing did not cease the rest of the day (and most days). He was even happy enough to endure a 5-6 hour car ride to Wales, sitting next to his belov-ed. Oh, and then when grandma and grandad flagged us down in a small town in Wales to direct us to our cottage, he was beside himself.
All the excitement of being with these peeps made him pretty angry that night when he woke up after his "nap" at midnight, it was dark outside and everyone was asleep. This was the exception to his good-naturedness. Which was not appreciated by those who did not get to sleep on the plane. Ahem.

Despite a tough night, this is what we got to enjoy the next morning, right outside our door.





And this is the enchanting cottage where we stayed. Cartref, of Llwanda, Pembrokeshire, Wales.




The cottage slept 10, plus Finn in a crib. Then two of us stayed at a bed and breakfast just a short walk down the road. It was perfect.
Across the street was this beautiful little church. I couldn't refrain from ringing the bell when I went inside.

My mom was obsessed with line drying our laundry. This didn't go together so well with the intermittent showers that visited us daily. Still, she persisted.

More views from our cottage.


Close to Llwanda is the lovely town of Fishguard, which we enjoyed exploring a few times during our stay.




And this is the town of Goodwich, even closer to our countryside abode. Finn loved this jetty, especially throwing rocks off of it.


It took about 3 days for Finn to get on the new time zone but he never really started sleeping like he does at home. He would sleep about 9-10 hours at night as opposed to his usual 11-12. This made for a tired boy, with puffy eyes some days, but he couldn't help but be happy with all the love and attention he was getting.
This coastal setting was so perfect. Relaxing, quiet, unpopulated, with plenty of beauty and atmosphere in the nearby areas for day trips. More on our explorations to come...

Here's a link to a slideshow of highlights from Wales.