I'm back from England/France and ready for questions

Hi Eli, I've been following your posts with interest. I'm glad you are back safely. How are you coping with your sister's death? Were you able to go to the funeral. I felt so sorry for you when I read that she had passes away so suddenly.

Hi Lucy, see my other post for an update :-). Thanks for caring.

Many might remember that I was most anxious about the right coat. The one I got was perfect. Windproof/waterproof, a sort of double coat where you could zipout for a warmer day. My thermies were adequate. I used the silks every day and sometimes doubled up. I also used it under my pants and found that I was warmer across there than I am at home! Our house seems to be really damp now in comparison.

I found the shops in London to be overheated and would feel like passing out, so I had to quit wearing a turtleneck because it seemed like overkill. I couldn't help thinking back to the advice about layers, and using a scarf, hat and gloves. Those did make a world of difference. My smartwools were perfect once more.

We used the umbrellas about 3 times in the three weeks. No bad at all, and in fact, I left two with my sister since we didn't need them.

We had snow in Paris on the 5th and it was lovely to watch the kids having snowball fights. Not everyone gets to do that. I generally hate snow, but loved it that day and we stayed out for more than 8 hours in the cold. Not once did I feel chilly.

I have come away thinking that we prefer bags with wheels. My husband especially hates Rick's bag on his back. It doesn't matter how light, he thinks it is not a great design. My daughter used the Ebag convertible and liked it much better on her back.

We rented a car from AVIS in Brest for one week. I decided to be bold and turn down the insurance, and hope that we would be okay. They gave us a brand new car which made me nervous, but everything went well and we saved some money. They were not pushy, and did not use any scare tactics about insurance. I would rent from them again. We cleaned the car before turning it in (just to be safe) and I also took pics, but this was not necessary.

I took a dual voltage hairdryer (travel size) and it came in handy in Brittany, but was not necessary in Abingdon. Always hard to know where you'll need one.

On gluten free items: The very best (excellent) was found in England. France is still way behind, and though they do have some items, the taste leaves a lot to be desired. I hauled quite a bit of bread, hotcross buns, and pita bread from Tesco. Their cakes/biscuits (cookies) and wafers were to die for and all GF.

GF meals on Continental were pretty good as well. They did make the mistake of giving me bread on the way back! It was all wrapped up so I thought it was GF. One bite and I realised it was wheat. They apologised and gave me a bottle of champagne :-)

I love the service on Continental. This was our second time flying to Europe with them, and the service was amazing.

Eli, I was so sorry to read about the sudden loss of your sister. : (

We had the same experience with shops in Germany- it would be bitterly cold outside and then inside, you almost died from heat exhaustion within minutes. Loved my Smartwools, too! It took almost a week to get over jetlag for us coming back- ugh! Almost no problem going over.

Germany is pretty good on gluten free- my mom ordered my son a huge box of GF everything and had it delivered to my grandfather's house. Italy was less so, but my son just ate more expensively than the rest of us pasta and pizza eaters.