Galen and bellasnana - wow, that's some meetup! I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time. Lona - I sympathise with the pre-journey nerves, but somehow we always get there in the end, don't we? I use the sat nav, the road atlas and the printouts from both aa and rac route planners, what you might call the belt and braces approach.
I've been visiting DD and my totally adorable 6 month old GD. I was a bit worried as to how I'd cope with eating with my new dentures, but as GD is now starting to attack solid food with gusto, we were about at the same level! 
Off to do some Christmas shopping today as on Thursday I am going to Cambridge for a few days to help a friend whose DH is recovering from surgery and I have suddenly realised that Christmas is now galloping towards us.