I was fourteen when my mom and I visited Cardiff

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we had won plane tickets to London at a church thing. At the time, my dad was really into tracing his roots, and found Ivor & his wife, Yvonne, (who share our unusual last name, Betty) on-line and had determined that they were distant relatives. When we told them about our trip, they offered to show us around for the 2.5 days we were in town! Since they were total strangers, we didn’t know what to expect.

We arrived in Cardiff around 8 pm, and caught a taxi to our hotel. Once we were checked in, we called Ivor and Yvonne to let them know we had arrived safely. It was then we found out they had been at the train station to pick us up, but got there just as we left in our taxi. They came by the hotel cafe, and we got to know each other before they offered us a nighttime tour of the city (and their village, Pentyrch).

My mom was freaked about being in a car on the wrong side of the road, but the way these distant relatives took us into their hearts and homes was a real testament to the kindness we found all around us in Wales. We returned to their house after our mini-tour for tea and these delicious wafer-with-a-marshmellow-type-thing-on-top with the whole thing covered in chocolate from Marks and Spencers. Those were one of my favorite things about the entire trip. That night, they deposited us back at our hotel, and we made plans for the next two days.

Those days were amazing, and it was the best part about my trip.

Kai