2008 is going down as the craziest travel year in history for us, and this week is no exception: we left for London last Wednesday night, spent a day there before driving to the Cotswolds, where we spent three days, and then drove back to London. We left for L.A. the next morning and got in two nights ago; I’m posting this quick wrap-up before we head to the airport tonight for Anchorage.

I’ve posted about 300 photos of the trip, and I’ll give a blow-by blow of our schedule here. After an uneventful flight in which I watched three movies and slept, we arrived in London, took the Heathrow Express into Paddington, checked into our hotel, and wandered around. Some sights included the Barkers Building:

And the Albert Memorial:

The next morning, we headed to the Tate Modern for a great photo exhibition and some large-scale murals on the exterior walls:

We also visited the Tintin Shop, of course:

As well as the London Transport Museum:

We picked up our rental car and drove to the country house where we’d be spending the next three nights, stopping only for a flat tire on the last half-mile before the house. We met the tow-truck guy at a local pub, got the car towed to a garage, and picked it up, with its new tire, the next morning.

On Saturday, we looked around Oxford:

And enjoyed lunch at the Bear, with its massive collection of snipped-off ties on the walls and ceiling:

We had dinner for fourteen at the house – no stilettos, that’s a leather floor! – to celebrate Liam’s fortieth birthday:

The next day, Aimee and I took a driving tour of the Cotswolds, beginning with Stow-on-the-Wold:

Our next stop was Moreton-on-Marsh:

And I visited the Wellington Aviation Museum:

We stopped in Chipping Campden, where I had traveled with my family 23 years ago:

And that night, we all had dinner at the Westcote Inn:

On Monday, we returned to London, dropped off the car, and visited the Imperial War Museum:

I got a tour of the Cinema Museum that afternoon, located in the former workhouse where Charlie Chaplin lived as a child:

That evening, we walked to Buckingham Palace:

The next morning, it was back to Heathrow – Terminal Five, to be specific – for our return flight:

Four more movies, decent food, and ten and a half hours later, we were back in L.A. We got caught up on all of our TiVo’ed Olympics coverage, and tonight we’re off to Anchorage.