Saying Farewell to England ~ Day 9

Our final day in London. How did this happen so quickly?!?!

Packing our suitcases and going home.
We were sad our trip was over, but still
smiling because we'd had so much fun!

From my travel journal: "When we originally booked our hotel in London {The Strand Palace} we paid for breakfast to be included. How convenient, we thought. It was a nice spread of a traditional English breakfast that was great the first day, but has decreased in yum-factor with each passing day. On this last morning in London, we made our way down the street and grabbed a breakfast sandwich (a bacon butty) on our way over to Covent Garden."

At Covent Garden we did some last minute souvenir shopping then headed back to check out of our hotel room. I laugh to myself when I see the next photo and hear Carrie's words as we made our way back to our hotel - me stopping every 10 feet to snap another photo. "Mother! I don't think you realize how much we need to HURRY!" She was right, of course.

Cobblestone is tricky to walk on, but pulling a large, heavy suitcase on cobblestone is even more challenging. {At this moment I would like to send a shout out to the genius who invented wheels on suitcases! Awesome!} We made our way through crowds of people and onto the underground train headed for Heathrow Airport.

The train was packed! We squeezed in there like everyone else, and slowly made our way to the airport. With each stop came the silent hope that people would get off of the train, but more people just kept climbing in. Wow - that was interesting. We had to disembark at one point to change train lines, and from that point on there was a little more wiggle room.

Due to me taking one-more-picture, the crowds of people we waded through, numerous stops of the train, and then a delayed train when we had to switch, we finally arrived at the airport 30 minutes behind schedule. It was no big deal travel wise, but I felt bad because Ruth and The Boy Child had been waiting there to see us off.

"It's so nice to meet you!" I said to Ruth's boy. And in all honesty he replied, "We have been waiting and waiting and waiting..." :o) Bless his sweet heart - 30 minutes must have felt like an eternity to him!

The Boy Child was lovely, and he took to me right away. {Carrie got Alice, I had TBC!} He was chatty and animated, and it was so fun to see his excitement over all of the airplanes landing and taking off. He knew each airline carrier and announced their names as he saw them, including "There's British Airways, a JUMBO jet!"

We enjoyed a quick lunch and then it was time to make our way through security...

It was hard saying goodbye to Ruth and her boy. It was hard saying goodbye to England. Our trip was over, and now we'd be left with the lovely memories we jam-packed into nine days.

With a lump in my throat I hugged Ruth and her sweet boy. Carrie and I turned to walk away and in a moment I heard Ruth's boy call out, "I love you!" {be still, my heart} I turned, with tears in my eyes then, and called back to him, "I love you, too!"

Can you think of a more perfect way to end our time in England?

Simply perfect.

♥

 

Dear friends ~ Thanks so much for your sweet and gracious comments on all of my vacation posts. It was such a special time for Carrie and me, and I realize that some of these posts were super lengthy, but it was a labor of love to put them together. I really appreciate those of you who took the time to sit through our vacation slides! It was fun, huh? ;o) ~ ♥ Deb