being a Virgin...Atlantic passenger

Our group to London is divided. Some of the girls are savvy world adventurers and the others are first time travelers to London. I guess that would make them travel virgins. I remember the very first time I flew to London...I flew Virgin Airlines. They were kewl, the staff was fun and I actually enjoyed the experience of flying. My old company decided to set up shop in London so I had to spend a great deal of time flying back and forth. I always insisted on flying Virgin because...they were different.

Virgin is actually a huge UK corporation headed by the very colorful character Sir Richard Branson. Branson has always been known as a maverick but I know him as a man with a huge heart. Four years ago, he did an in depth article in Fortune magazine discussing his life long trials with dyslexia. My daughter also struggles with auditory and visual dyslexia. I had to read the article to her. She was so inspired by Sir Richard's attitude that she wrote him a thank you letter. I sent the letter off to the Virgin offices figuring it was like spending off a message in a bottle. Two days later we received a very heartfelt letter from Sir Richard along with an invite to come and have dinner with him in London. It was the experience of a lifetime for us both and I do not think there are words to describe how empowered he made my daughter feel. He taught my daughter to be fearless. She went home and won awards in public speaking, sent "Uncle Richard" a photo of herself bungee jumping in New Zealand and was inspired to start her own career in the hospitality industry. His time and compassion really helped to change my daughter's life.

So Virgin airlines is beyond kewl in my book thanks to Sir Richard. In these days of unethical
businesses wheeling and dealing it's so refreshing to meet an industry tycoon that leads a corporation with a conscience. Sir Richard has been on the TV a lot lately. He's been covering the US media circuit along with Al Gore announcing that he is pledging $3 Billion dollars toward
finding solutions to help global warming Perhaps finding alternative fuels will help him with his endeavors for Virgin Galactic where for $200,000.00 per person, Sir Richard will fly you into outer space. (no...I'm not kidding). This man really thinks "out of the box" and that is what makes him so very successful.

So I fly Virgin Airlines to London because they truly are different thanks to the leadership of Sir Richard. He can fly people to outer space, save the planet and take time to have dinner with my kid....What a Guy!"

Size matters

Jeez time flied when you're getting ready for a trip...and in the midst of planning your next one!

To top matters off, there is a very wicked flu/cold going around. I was laid out with it for several days, on the mend now but I urge everyone to double up on their Vit C and Zinc with the prayer that if you do get it, it won't be so bad. How do I know it's going around...ok, everyone I know has/had it and when I went food shopping this past weekend, the cold & flu aisle was wiped clean like the mall the day after Christmas.

My most recent adventures included a day trip to a great little shop in Milford, PA...
jill deal
in Historic Forest Hall
206 Broad Street
Milford, PA 18337
570-409-9276
jilldealinc@msn.com
I found some great sox yarn here that I think solves my dilemna as to what to knit for my plane ride to England and back. Fabulous little shop, a bit hard to spot so give a call for directions. Lucious yarns, needlepoint, books etc. Certainly worth a day trip especially with all the beautiful fall colors about to go on display.

I've been helping my yarn sister Kate knit up some of her recent design creations. Her Cashmere scarf is fabulous and now I'm knitting one of her sweaters. She's on a deadline so this is speed knitting at it's finest. We'll get it done in plenty of time so Kate can relax and be inspired while in London.

The reservation keep rolling in for our Debbie Stoller Stitch N Beach cruise in January. We'll keep selling as long as there is space and again we seem to have lucked out with a great bunch for this outing too.

The crazy thing is that I'm almost all packed for London...Crazy I say because I'm the sort of traveler who throws stuff into my suitcase as I'm running to catch a plane. I work best under pressure. I'm just so excited that I want it to be take off-time already.

While packing my clothes I got to thinking about the size differences over in the UK.
Remember 1 inch = about 2.5 cm...yes we'll have to think in metric. The first link here is for clothing sizes . Remember there is a difference between US, UK and European sizes just in case we're shopping for clothes or patterns.
The second link is for knitting needle sizes . Both may come in handy if we find any great patterns that we can't live without.