These Pictures of President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr Jill Biden Arriving in the UK Are Bringing Me So Much Joy

President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr Jill Biden have arrived in the UK ahead of the G7 Summit in Cornwall for what is the new President’s first foreign trip in office. Touching down at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, the President and First Lady departed Air Force One holding hands, all big smiles and waves.

I, for one, cannot stop looking at the pictures.

After a short trip in The Beast – the infamous heavily-armoured presidential vehicle — both the President and First Lady addressed huge cheering crowds of US troops and their families. Biden, who is also Commander in Chief of the US military, told the troops to stand ‘at ease,’ before adding: ‘I keep forgetting I’m the president.’

It was a refreshing display of patriotism and humility after years of dreading the former President’s trips to the UK. I moved to London from Boston, Massachusetts eight months into Donald Trump’s presidency and promptly learnt that once someone discovered I was American, the conversation could only go one way: to Trump.

This led to a lot of eyes rolled, shameful murmurings of ‘well, he’s not my president,’ and hiding in the loos at work when Trump did come to London in 2018. (Remember the blimp?)

But, now, with President and Dr Biden in the UK, I finally do feel the excitement and pride that comes with the US leader visiting the country I live in now. Not to mention, there’s a lot riding on this visit.

In March 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic was just beginning, President Trump made the decision to close the US borders to 26 European countries, and then added the UK and Ireland to the list a few days later. Basically, if you didn’t have a US passport or visa, you weren’t getting in.

That was 15 months ago, and the US borders still remain tightly shut. Over the last year, I’ve tried to stay hopeful and convince myself the borders would open soon — the US would want summer tourism; Trump would do it before he left office; Biden would do it as soon as he got into office… You get the picture.

Now, with reports saying Biden and Boris Johnson are set to discuss transatlantic travel and sign a new Atlantic Charter — like the one signed by President Franklin D Roosevelt and Winston Churchill after the Second World War — I’m again feeling cautiously optimistic. Is this the beginning of US-UK travel again?

To be transparent, I’ve been quite lucky throughout the pandemic and I have been able to travel back home. Yes, I had to take numerous Covid tests and quarantine on my return to London, but it was worth to finally be able to see my family during such a weird time. But, my partner is British and he couldn’t come with me; he hasn’t seen my family since February 2020. And I bought my first flat last year, which my parents haven’t even been able to see yet. I want to go home in the summer and I want my family and friends to come to London again, but with the current rules of testing and quarantining, it makes it hard.

So, with meetings between the Bidens and Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds, and the Queen herself, scheduled over the next few days, here’s to hoping a safe solution is reached. What else are they going to talk about — Meghan and Harry?

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