Day 88 Bedford,
Pennsylvania 11.07.12
Oh no! Woke at 5.30am feeling really poorly, my throat feels
like I’ve been eating razor blades & I’ve kept Roy awake with my snoring.
(I only snore when I’ve got a cold!) I managed to doze until 8 then slowly got
up & had a shower. It’s a good job we haven’t got much planned for today.
Managed a bit of breakfast then sat outside reading & writing the last few
postcards. Have to send some Niagara Falls ones even though they’ll get there
after we do.
We went for a drive to find a chemist for some more cold
& flu tablets, I hope my cold goes as fast as Roy’s, he’s much better
today. Bedford seems like a lovely place, very quiet & quaint.
Got the ‘big sort out’ to do today so we emptied the car
& I got started. It’s amazing what you accumulate over 3 months, toiletries
from the hotels, tea, coffee & sugar sachets, leaflets, anything in fact. I
ended up throwing away about 4 carrier bags of rubbish then started packing the
cases. We’re really worried as we’ve bought so many things for people back
home, especially the children, that we may well be over with our weight
allowance. Oh well, I’m more bothered about lugging the cases back than paying
a bit extra at the airport.
Day 89 Bedford to Washington DC 12.07.12
Still full of cold this morning but managed a bit of
breakfast & got ready for our last drive. Set off just before 12 as we
haven’t got far to go & can’t check in until about 4.00pm. It’s another
lovely, hot, sunny day.
Got to the Americana hotel about 3.30pm & the guy on the
desk was quite abrupt, in fact he was having a go at a foreign chap because he
was reporting his toilet as being blocked & the guy on the desk insisted
that he’d blocked it himself! Anyway, we checked in & have got a nice room
for our last night on American soil then we drove the car back to Ronald Reagan
airport to the Alamo place. All went smoothly considering we’ve done over
13,600 miles in 13 weeks, they even gave Roy the money back for the oil change.
We rang the hotel & the shuttle picked us up from the
airport & dropped us off at the hotel. We’re going to the sports bar where
we had a meal when we were in Washington at the start of the trip. Roy printed
our boarding passes & we walked to the pub. Seems strange not to have a
car!
Had a New York strip steak & a beer for our last meal
out & sat by some Police officers complete with guns, really made us feel
safe!
Day 90 Washington DC – New York – London 13.07.12
The last day has finally arrived & we got up at 6.30am,
showered, had breakfast & got a lift to the metro at 8.20am. My throat is
still sore but hopefully on the mend. Packed the last few bits & kept my
jeans out for the plane journey, it’s too hot to wear them all day so I’ll
change at the airport.
We got to the metro, bought our tickets from the machine
after a kind lady showed us how to then got the 2 trains to Union station to
catch the megabus to New York. Got to the station ok & joined the queue for
the bus. We’re a bit early but did get close to the front of the 10.00am bus
queue so should be able to pick our seats. Last time we went on the bus they
moaned at us about my case which is hand luggage size for the airport but not
for the bus. I needn’t have worried because they didn’t even mention the case.
Got a decent seat & settled down for the 4 ½ hour
journey to NY. Nice not to have to worry about traffic & road works &
everything. When we got to NY we had to walk a few blocks to Penn Station to
get the 2 trains to the airport. The streets were absolutely crammed with
people & we had a large cases, 1 small case & a holdall to carry, all very heavy.
The worst bit was when we got to Penn station, Roy left me
with all the luggage & went off to get the tickets. Wherever I’d have stood
I’d have been in the way, I lost count of the number of times bags bashed into
me! Saying that, it was great to be back in the Big Apple. It would have been
lovely to spend another couple of days there, maybe another time.
We got the train to Jamaica station then the next one to the
airport. When we got there I got changed & then we weighed our cases in
case we’ve got to juggle things around. Miraculously they are all ok! So we
checked the cases in & prayed they would meet us in London, then went for a
drink & a snack before going through to departures.
The flight was called on time & we boarded at 6.30pm
after being on the road for 10 hours already. A young girl was in the window
seat, then me, then Roy. She was very friendly & when everyone was on the
plane she checked if there were any spare seats. She found a whole row of 3 so
took herself off to get some sleep so we had all 3 seats to spread out on.
Unfortunately we missed out take off slot so had to leave 1
hour 20 minutes late. Not long after taking off the meal came around with a
nice glass of wine & then we settled down to watch ‘the best exotic
marigold hotel’, which we both enjoyed. Breakfast was brought around before we
landed & we added 5 hours onto our watches so it was 8.00am on 14th
July when we landed. Both of us had gone deaf & it took several hours for
our ears to clear.
We went through passport control & collected our luggage
– it all came with us! Louise was waiting at the barrier for us, great, she
knows the tube so well she will be a great help. Lovely to see her too!
The next leg of the journey now begins! 2 tubes to Euston
station then the train to Birmingham & another train to Tame Bridge where
Ernie, very kindly, picked us up & took us home. 24 hours travel completed!
Strange to be back, we could see signs of the flooding in
the fields everywhere & it’s been drizzling all day. My cold seems to have
come back worse than it was in the first place. Oh well!
What a wonderful adventure we’ve had & it will take
quite a while for it all to sink in.
There is nothing we would have changed about any of it.
In a few weeks, when I’ve had time to think about everything
I’ll do a finishing piece on the blog so have a look if you want to. I’ve
really loved doing this blog, maybe it could be something I’ll revisit in the
future, who knows. Thank you for supporting me.
Lots of love
TTFN xxx
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