We had arranged to fly out from London Gatwick at midday. Alice and her party arrived at 8.00am. The night before we stayed at the Barnwood Hotel and had a disturbed night in a family room as the children were excited about the trip. 

We arose early and met our exchange friends at the arrivals lounge at about 9.00am and took them off for breakfast. We exchanged our house keys, details of the car insurance etc. We were all so busy telling each other of where to go etc together with written notes that we didn't take all of it in. Their children were very tired after their long journey.

It was only at this point that we learned that Cape Cod is a prime vacation area in the summer and Alice had received dozens of enquiries to swap her home. 

We gave them the keys to our house in Malvern where they were to stay. This is our second home and we also gave them the keys to our main home in Lincoln. Alice said we could spend some time at the house she owned jointly with her brother in New Hampshire.

We finally parted as the five of them and luggage squeezed into our car and we waited to fly out at noon.

Eight hours later we arrived at Logan Airport, Boston. After immigration we got a shuttle bus to the garage at the terminal they had departed from. We found their car on the roof. We paid the parking fee and ventured out into the Boston heavy afternoon traffic and on to Cape Cod 80 miles away.