One of the really cool things about the car club I'm in is that even if you haven't actually met someone, you still open your home to them. In May of 07 I went over to England to meet the people from the club over there. Someone picked me up at Heathrow, took me to their house to stay for two days. Someone else picked me up from that house and took me to the hotel where the charity ball was held. People drove me around all that weekend. Then another person took me up to their house near York to stay for a few days and drove me around the area showing me the sights. It was a blast, my only housing costs were the weekend of the ball, and I got to see things that only the locals would know about. More importantly, I made some lifelong friends and look forward to returning there or opening my home to them.

In addition to the club, my mom's cousin just moved to London, after several years in Paris. I'm kind of upset I missed out seeing them in France. We also have family in Italy that I would like to meet. I talk to one of them on Facebook, and two of my cousins have gone over and met that side of the family, so at least there's some kind of link.