June 27 - Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England

Our flight was uneventful, if not much sleep, and we landed in Gatwick UK around 8:30.  

Pictures as we fly in to Gatwick.

We had our luggage and were through customs in less than an hour and then were off to get our car.  They didn’t have “our” car ready so gave us an upgrade to a much nicer car that had a navigation system…which will be very handy.

Driving on the left is a challenge.  Paul bounced off a curb more than once and Mary was riding white‑knuckled as we wandered the narrow country roads to Tunbridge Wells in Kent. 

We arrived way before check-in time so dumped our luggage, parked the car and headed into downtown Tunbridge Wells for lunch.  Not knowing anything about the place we randomly picked a nice looking restaurant (The Ivy) for lunch.  Turned out to be fancy and very expensive but with phenomenal food. 

Mary's Awesome Chicken Salad

We killed a little time wandering the streets until we could check in.  We did take a short walk through an area called The Pantiles.  It is a block long walking area with buildings dating back to the 1700’s.  Very picturesque with lots of pubs and eateries.  

We finally were able to check in and when we got to our room we collapsed, set the timers and took a short nap…no way were we going to make it to normal bedtime.

Tunbridge Wells Retreat Hotel - Our Home in Tunbridge Wells

After a short nap we went down to the restaurant in the hotel for dinner.  It is veeeeeeerrryyyy basic with a few non-descript sandwiches and a few other items.  But it was ok as we didn’t have to walk anywhere and it filled the hunger hole.

Some more time on the computer and then we hit the beds hard.