Stage One - When and Where

Our first official planning meeting took place on August 1st at Susanna's lovely house for brunch. Equipped with maps, brochures, tea, mimosas, and a lovely quiche (not to mention amazing mango!) - the table sat scattered with a hundred amazing ideas, wants, and needs for what this trip will be. It's a shame I didn't think about writing this sooner - you would be amazed at our set-up! The full scale map of England on the wall, the laptop next to the floral teapots, the china used as paperweights for all the information. Oh to have a camera! But moving on...

The first necessity was nailing down the time frame. Since Susanna had already purchased her ticket, Nichelle and I first tried to slot our schedule with hers...however, Susanna, after hearing Nichelle's plan of heading into the Lake District WITHOUT US (I know, how dare she!) prior to our flight landing, called her airlines and made the switch. So time frame is set to February 11th - 27th, 2011. Now...to tell my bosses....

Second - the journey. This is where Nichelle's 5 year planning and Susanna's previous experience comes in handy. I just sat there with my 2 - 3 points of interest and learned...a lot. Nichelle told us her 3,167 points of interest (just kidding, she cut it down to a hundred or so), as well as Susanna's points of interest and we listed it on a giant map of England. What this led to was a more realistic view of what we could and could not accomplish on this trip. At least at a more general level. I'm sure Lyme in the winter sucks anyway. Jane wouldn't have gone there in February.

So after cutting out a few of the more obvious no's and discussing a little more in depth our "can not live withouts", we have started to formulate the first draft of the daily itinerary. And let me tell you, there are A LOT of early mornings in our hypothetical scenario I am not prepared for. Nichelle has taken home all of the first and second tiered picks to plot out drive times with destinations. This Sunday, I get to take it to the next step, research date availability and entrance fees for some of the more larger touristy sites (Pemberly, here we come!) and come back in a week or so with my findings. There's so much detail to plan, but so much wiggle room needed. I can't wait to see the ladies on Sunday and discuss what they've found.

Also, look for a group photo of the Ladies and Jane next week!

Yours very affectionately,

~ the Lydia