LET THE JOURNEY BEGIN!!!!!

Our journey begins like Phileus Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days in Greenwich.

We wanted to have a leisurely drive down to London and decided to take in Greenwich as it seemed a good place to start our trip. They have an excellent exhibit of Harrisons time pieces which were instrumental in guaging Longitude. Standing on 0 degrees longitude in the eastern and western hemispheres was good fun too!

We arrived in plenty of time to catch our plane and of course spend a few pence in Duty Free!

Plane was delayed by an electrical fault.....not the most auspicious start! When we finally got off the ground we had to make a dash for it to catch our next plane in Amsterdam. Must have been quite a sight, all six of us running with various baggage in tow through an empty airport! One of the attendants on an electrical buggy took pity on us and offered us a lift. By the time we all loaded on it would probably been faster to walk! Managed to catch the plane just in the nick of time. Oh the joys of travelling in KLM economy class for 18 hours!

Worth the effort just to arrive in Quito with the view of snow capped volcanoes to welcome us.

After a few days seeing the sights in Quito we travelled north crossing the Equator! We can now say we have had a foot in all hemispheres in one week!