Foreword.

In March of 2009 Stacie and I planned a trip to Cancun Mexico. We had been there before with Rich and Jen Jacob in 2007 and had so much fun we wanted to go back. That spring was a good time for us to go because Chloe's treatments were finally over and we were down to bi-monthly checkups at Primary Children's with her bone marrow doctor. We both were looking forward to going, but Stacie especially needed a vacation. Just a couple of weeks before we were supposed to leave there was a Swine flu outbreak that originated in Mexico - and from what the news said, in a town where we planned to go. Normally, we wouldn't have been so paranoid, but having gone through everything we had to keep Chloe healthy, the last thing we wanted to do was expose her to the Swine flu.

I happened to speak to my brother Jeff that night. He mentioned that he and Cindy were going to England and Scotland in the fall and I said something like "Shoot, we should do that... we had a trip planned to Mexico but we're going to have to cancel it." I didn't intend to invite us on their trip, but after some discussion back and forth we all decided to go together. I hope we didn't disrupt their plans at all by going with them, but I have to say that going with Jeff and Cindy was an excellent way to go. They both had served missions in Scotland and knew the great sites to see. Cindy also spent some time in London doing study abroad when she was younger. Traveling with someone that is familiar with transit, culture and sites to see that may not be on every other tourists list has it's benefits. And when it's family that you love to spend time with... even better. Going with them made the trip much more memorable that it probably would have been had we gone without, and I'll tell you why.

Jeff had been planning a trip back to England and Scotland for some time. I didn't realize to what extent he had made preparations for this trip until we began speaking about it. We knew very little about the area, other than a few famous sites that we thought would be fun to see. Stonehenge was on my list, and some sites in London proper like Westminster Abby, the Houses of Parliment, etc. The town of Bath was on Stacie's list because it was a popular vacation spot for the aristocrats in Jane Austin's book. Much to my surprise, this was the same reason Jeff thought it would be an enjoyable town to visit. We all discussed what we wanted to see and we planned our trip accordingly. However, for the most part, Jeff suggested sites and we said, "sounds great".

A couple of months before our trip Jeff and Cindy called after the kids were in bed and we discussed our itinerary. Jeff had emailed me a document he had prepared outlining the entire trip with maps and methods of transit planned out. I have included this document for posterity. My reasoning behind including it is that it is a good representation of the type of man my brother Jeff is. He is very thorough and meticulous in his planning, taking into consideration the time, costs and benefits of every activity. I quickly learned this is why he is a CFO and I sell doorknobs. But, the best part of this itinerary is the last page. Being the History buff that he is, Jeff outlined every day, sites we were to see and which historical period of architecture we would see that day. He also planned to make sure we had the full British experience by mixing our modes of transit from black cabs, to double decker buses to the underground. I'm telling you, he is thorough and K2 Share is lucky to have him.

Jeff has been subject to some ridicule (from me) because of this Itinerary; but let it be known that i am very appreciative of his planning and preparation for this trip. We had a wonderful time and would love to go back.