Dissapointments in the Air

As we planned our trip to Europe the tension between us seemed to subside for a while. This was going to be our first trip abroad together and I was really happy that Matt would have a chance to see England, France and Spain and a pretty early age.
At least early in my opinion. He was ten or eleven, I don't remember but I didn't get to see those countries until I was in my twenties.
I started doing a little research into inexpensive Hotels with American amenities. We needed things like a TV, air conditioning, and if possible connecting rooms.
I also was thrilled to be able to get first class seating on the Chunnel.

I was excited about taking a train underwater from England to Paris. It all seemed so thrilling. As the time came closer to going I had the chance to speak with his daughter several times. She seemed comfortable that we were coming, even though she hadn't wanted to ever travel with her father again.
She reminded us that we should pack light. One of the main reasons she wanted us to come and get her home was because it would have cost her so much to get all her stuff back home. I guess her luggage was way over the weight limit.
Looking back at it now, I can't believe her Mom would be so concerned about the cost of extra luggage.
We had to pay to have something else sent home before hand. It was always those little weird things that confused me. Her mom dressed to kill all the time, once she even spent ten thousand dollars on a dress, but when it came to spending $300 to ship a backpack home, that was too expensive, ask your Dad or Steph to do it.
Given the state of mind her dad was in, nothing was denied.

He was going to eat crow for a long time in order to redeem himself to me and the family.

Well the day arrived and the three of us were off to England. We flew Virgin Air and Matt was in heaven. I think he played the on board Nintendo came the entire trip without ever napping. Bob did remarkably well without a cigarette. I couldn't believe how well behaved he was. The plane ride went off without a glitch.

We arrived in London on a damp drizzly day. Never happier to be anywhere. We had a sense of adventure like never before. Even though I had been to England once before, I had never been to the Museums, the Tower of London or even Harrods for that matter.
His daughter had arranged for us to see Three plays while we were there and we had made dinner reservations at a couple of really expensive restaurants based on recommendations from my brother in law.

Every thing was planned to perfection except for one thing. No one was prepared for Jet Lag.
We arrived in the morning London time, got our hotel room, wandered around the city a little and then Matt and I just collapsed in one room. Bob waited anxiously for his daughter to join us. She didn't get to the hotel until around midnight I think.
By the time she did arrive not one of us had enough energy left to do anything but say hi, Bob's daughter had bought us all some really cool soccer jackets,I also got a great sweatshirt that said Oxford on it, really great gifts.. They were perfect because none of us had anything to really wear in the rain. We must have seemed ungrateful but we were all so tired. I went to my room and went right back to sleep her Dad finally crashed also. Full of high expectations for the following day, we all got a good nights sleep, finally.

We were clueless to how exhausted we would be. His daughter had been there for an entire semester so she was used to the time change and wanted to cram everything she was unable to do into a few short days. We had three plays to see. One every night.
We did the usual sight seeing during the day, but something was wrong. It wasn't blatantly obvious at first, but that same old tension between father and daughter started to raise it's ugly little head.
We went to the Museum of London like three little excited tourists. She was annoyed and left us there. Said that she had been there before and wanted to go shopping someplace. She would meet us later for the play and dinner. The first day that was just fine. The three of us were happy to be tourists. It was really hard to sit through the theater that night. I was dozing off during the play, which is pretty hard to do in a musical. Then we had a very late dinner and we had to wait because it was a really trendy place. The three of us really couldn't do all that. But we were all on our best behaviour because Bob didn't rock the boat with his temper. He did get upset because Matt was exhausted and starving and the wait seemed endless.
By the time the dinner arrived, it really wasn't anything all that special. Maybe for England, but certainly not by our LA standards. So day two ended up with stored up tension between the two of them.
The next day, we wanted to see the Tower of London, she didn't want to go, so we went without her. More shopping I guess. Another play and dinner again. Can't even remember what it was that's how Jet Lagged I was.
The next day we all went to Harrods for high tea. Now the tempers were starting to show a little. Matt wanted to know where the food was, because to tell you the truth, little cucumber sandwiches are not exactly ten year old boy food for lunch. He also hated tea. Instead of having a sense of humor about this, Bob's daughter took it personally, and after tea, she left us again, and we went downstairs to Harrods most amazing food court. I am so happy Matt was hungry or none of the three of us would have experienced it. It really is like being a kid in a candy store. Matt had the most delicious chicken for lunch and of course after that we just had to do some shopping at Harrods. We bought him the most beautiful Bear, all dressed up like a castle guard or maybe it was Paddington, but he walked out of Harrods with some really cool toys.
Now Matt was happy. We took a double decker bus back to our hotel and I will never forget the look on Matt's face when this beautiful blond girl got off the bus. We all just starred at her. She had the most beautiful skin. Matt said he could live in London if all the girls looked like that. We three were really having a wonderful time. What was his daughter doing, shopping.

We went to see "Tommy" on the fourth of July. It was in a very cool, small theater and it was in the afternoon, so I was awake. I had always loved the "Who" and I never dreamed I would be seeing "Tommy" in London. We walked around Carnaby street, bought some cool little things and got ready to leave the next day for Paris.

Looking back, I really do wish, that his daughter had just told us not to go on that trip. It was so obvious that we were not on a family vacation, we were simply getting her and her stuff back home and making sure that she got to eat at the expensive restaurants and see the plays that she hadn't been able to see or get to as a student. Bob was starting to feel used by her again. It wasn't subtle, she spent as little time as possible with us in London as she thought she could get away with. Her father was not stupid. All the little excuses that a young girl uses and thinks her parents will believe simply didn't fly with him. He was just tolerating her because he promised me that he would behave. It never occurred to me, that the one I should have been worried about was his daughter. He was trying really hard, and she really was just avoiding him as much as possible, but using his credit card to get whatever she needed. The only time she really perked up is when she took us to Neils Garden, I think it's called. She loved shopping there so she was happy that afternoon.

She was happy and he was smoking more. I as usual tried to be my cheerful self and not acknowledge the fact that I sensed trouble brewing. After all, the three of us were just now starting to get over our Jet Lag, I thought maybe we were all just tired. I could justify most anything back in those days. The little peace maker.

Well the little peace maker was about to get a serious wake up call.