DAY 20: TRIP'S END—HEADING BACK HOME : GALAVANTING THROUGH MERRY OLD ENGLAND

crcscout

May 29

Is it just me or is it that flights to a new destination are always more enjoyable than flights home? I find that by that point in a trip, I just want to be home. I want Dorothy's red slippers or Scotty to beam me up. Long flights seem interminable whereas going they are over in a blink. It's the strange dichotomy of travel, I guess.

Anyway, we were out of the hotel door right on time at 8 AM. We made it to Terminal 3 and got checked in with no issues. We headed straight to the lounge. The others weren't business class so they were out by the gate. We saw them and talked to them for a few minutes before heading in.

The lounge was no great shakes but it was better than the one in Santiago, Chile. It doesn't take much to be better than that one :-). Here I had to order my latte online. The servers wandering around only got you champagne, coffee, or water. It was a different setup. You could also order food online; however, there was a buffet that we got some snacks off of instead. It was much faster. I had to wait a bit for my latte.

The hours passed and finally it was time to board. We waved at the others as we trooped through the door. Originally Doug and I were sitting next to each other but when we checked in, we found out the electronics on his seat weren't working so they moved him a couple of rows behind me. That was fine. Interestingly, they did put a young lady in the broken seat. Hopefully they gave her a big discount. She seemed quite happy using her phone and sleeping.

I was happy when I discovered that the flight back had to the new Sandra Bullock movie with Tatum Channing. I was afraid it was going to be stupid but it was actually good. It very much reminded me of "Romancing the Stone" that came out back in the 1980s. It did it's job of entertaining me so I was happy.

After the movie, I read for a bit. I watched some of "Dear Evan Hansen" again because I really liked it last time. However, I missed the last third of it because I drifted off. It seems like I can drift off in short bursts but can never really get hours of good sleep on an airplane. Anyway, the time passed slowly and finally we were landing in Atlanta. Step one of the trip home was accomplished.

We had several hours to wait in Atlanta but at least we had the lounge to do it in. It gave us more than enough time to get through Customs and recheck our bags. We had to walk all of the way from E Terminal to A Terminal. By this time all I wanted to do was sleep. I was so tired and my stomach was really not happy. They had served us a hamburger with a small dish of potato salad for a snack. I think the onion in the potato salad did a number on my tummy. It can sometimes. So I wasn't feeling in top form. I spent all of our time in Atlanta reading. Thank goodness for kindles and good books!

On Doug's last visit to the Men's Room, he checked our flight and noticed that they had changed it back to E Terminal. Oy vey! We had to trek the entire way back. I was not pleased but what can you do? I was just glad when we finally got settled on the plane. I knew that we would be home shortly after taking off. It's only around a hour and a half from Atlanta to Tampa. I dozed on and off throughout the flight. I just wanted to be home.

In Tampa we landed on time and got our luggage fairly quickly. Samantha was waiting for us in the cell phone lot. I texted her and she headed our way. She was not the only one to greet us. She brought her dog Leia as well. I was so grateful for that. I was dreading opening the door at home and not having my big girl Kona there to greet us. She was also so excited to see us when we got back from a trip. Both dogs were. We would literally have to sit on the floor as they jumped all over us and licked whatever they could reach. I knew not having that was going to break my heart all over again. With Leia in the car, that eased the arrival home although I did shed tears on the drive.

All in all, our trip to England was a great one. I can't believe how much we saw and did. There is so much history there and so many quaint towns and villages. And we can't forget the pubs! We enjoyed them all :-). Lee, Mabel, Doug, Greg, and Rhonda did a fabulous job planning it all out and getting everything organized. Thanks guys!

Now off to unpack, wash clothes, and repacked. We leave Saturday for Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia! Hopefully I can get everything done in a mere five days. It will be a challenge for sure but that's what makes it so exciting!

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