The Best of Britain and Ireland -- Day Sixteen

The following is my journal entry for Day 16 of my vacation to Britain and Ireland.

Today is our last day in the UK (I'm a poet!). This trip has been an adventure in wonderland! We have seen so much and had so many wonderful once-in-a-lifetime opportunities! I am so glad we took the opportunity to come on this tour.

We had to stomach one more English Breakfast before we left the country, but we managed to find some things we would still eat. Sixteen days of the same food (even it is good food) is really hard to manage. Now I sound like I should be on http://whitewhine.tumblr.com. Haha!

Fortunately, we were able to see some of our tour members around the hotel lobby while we were checking our email for the final time (and letting our mom know we were getting ready to leave for the airport). We were able to say goodbye to our favorite Australians again before checking out of our room and waiting in the lobby for our coach. Another American couple from our tour were returning home today as well and were being taken to the airport at the same time as us. We were able to sit and visit with them as we waited for our transport bus. Finally it came and there were about five other couples on the small bus. We were the last to be picked up, and it was off to the airport.

All the couples were dropped off at different terminals and Kelli and I were the last on the coach. Our terminal was away from the main airport and it took about 10 more minutes to get there. We finally arrived and were dropped off, but we were too early to check in. We had to wait for about 30 minutes in the airport lobby before the big screen told us we could check in. Then we made our way through security (which was a bit of a wait, but wasn't bad, since we were super early...we didn't feel that stressed). We then proceeded to go customs so Kelli could turn in her paperwork for her diamond claddagh ring she bought so she could get the VAT tax refunded (it saved her about $200). Then we wasted more time by going through the airport stores to try to use up the rest of our UK pounds. We really got too much money out of the ATMs and now it felt like we had a shopping spree where you had to use it or lose it. We bought a bunch of cookies and chocolate and a few more souvenirs to take back as gifts. Then we had a nice sit-down lunch in an airport pub. We still had about 15 pounds each that we just could not spend. We were so sick of shopping; we were done. We just decided to keep those pounds for next time. :o)

We found our gate and waited to board the plane. We waited and waited. Finally, about an hour late, we boarded. The line was long and we had to climb aboard and be crammed onto buses to be taken to our plane, but after that process, we were finally seated and ready to go.

But nothing really ever goes as planned, especially with an active volcano not too far away.

Our pilot came on the loud speaker and told us there is a long line to leave today....about a three hour wait. The Iceland volcano is spewing ash into the Atlantic from Iceland to Spain. It is a solid wall of ash. Every airport in Europe who is sending planes westward has to coordinate with each other to send each plane through a tiny window to the north of Iceland. In other words, all of Europe had to use the same air traffic path above the volcano, so on a first come first serve basis, every plane got in a virtual line and waited their turn to fly through it. What a mess for the air traffic controllers! What a mess for us already boarded on the plane! When the pilot gave us that BAD NEWS, one obnoxious man sitting next to Kelli on the opposite aisle seat gave a loud groan while slamming his legs into the seat in front of him and forcefully pushing his chair back into the person behind him. He was acting like a child and he continued acting that way for the rest of our time together (which was a substantial amount of time). The old man who almost took the seat back to his face was a good sport, though. He and his wife would look over at Kelli and I and we would chuckle or smile when the man would do something else during our long wait.

And wait we did...We watched several movies (luckily British Airways has a wide selection and you can individually choose what you want to watch...each person has their own screen in front of them.) Right after the pilot talked to us the first time, he moved the plane to a place on the tarmac to wait until our turn to leave. There we sat for three solid hours.

Finally, the pilot got on the loud speaker again and told us he had good new and bad news. The good news was it was our turn to leave. The bad news was that when he tried to turn back on the engines, our Number 3 engine would not start. We would have to return to the gate where maintenance would fix the engine and once that is fixed, he would put our plane back in line to leave. More groans and tantrums from our childish "friend" on the opposite aisle.

One hour later, our engine was repaired. Our pilot told us he put us back in line, but because we had an 11 hour plane ride ahead of us, and the clock was running out on the time the crew was allowed to work, we should have special privileges to be bumped to a higher standing in the line. We waited one more hour, and then we were air born! Hallelujah!

Our 11 hour plane ride was uneventful. We headed north over Iceland, then over Nova Scotia, New York, and across the US until we landed in Phoenix. Because we were six hours later than we were supposed to be, mom was pretty worried. We couldn't tell her we were delayed because were were stuck on the plane with no cell service or wifi. But once we landed, we were able to call her and everything was fine. Now we just needed to drive home and it was already 10PM. Three more hour trip home. Yuck! What a LONG day. What with traveling back over time zones, I think we had about a 32-hour day, or something like that. It was longer than the normal 24 anyway.

Poor Kelli! She had to drive the whole way home. I crashed pretty much as soon as we got in the car. I helped navigate her to I-10, but after that, I was a goner. I know she was just as tired as me, but I could not stay awake even if my life depended on it. I had hit a wall and that was it. But she was a trooper and we made it home safely!

We both decided to stay home from work on Monday, since we didn't get home until after 1PM on Monday morning. A day of waiting, jet lag and 16 hours on a plane would do that to anyone!

It's good to be home but it's good to have a lot of awesome memories of our spectacular adventure to the United Kingdom!