Sat May 18, 2024
Hi All! Well this glorious trip had to come to an end and while we’re sad it’s over we look back on three weeks of great memories. This final day was a long one but it all worked out well and we got home safely.
It started off early when we left the ship at 7 AM in Dover to board the shuttle bus for the two hour drive to Heathrow airport. Before we left we got a pic of the famous white cliffs of Dover!
As you all know, we mostly fly standby and like I always say, it’s not for the faint of heart but you can’t beat the price (FREE!). So when we checked the flights in the morning, the two direct flights from Heathrow to Charlotte were oversold. The 12:15 PM flight we wanted to take had minus 6 seats and the 3:00 PM had minus 5 seats. But there are always some no shows so we decided to roll the dice and try to get on.
We got to the gate in plenty of time and just played the waiting game. Fortunately we were priority number 1 and 2 on the list of standby passengers. They boarded all the passengers and there were four of us standby passengers waiting to see if we get a seat. Then I think once again we had a divine intervention moment! In talking to the gate agent, she said two people’s luggage were already on the plane but the people hadn’t showed up at the gate for some strange reason. So once they closed the boarding process and took their luggage off the plane we were able to board and got two seats together! I think it was good ol’ St James and the Archangel Michel watching over us one last time before we left Europe!
The flight was a little bumpy at times but we were home by about 4 PM ET. But as I write this at 7 PM ET, our bodies feel like it’s Midnight due to the 5 hour time difference. We’ll sleep good tonight!
Hope everyone enjoyed following along on our journey. We loved it!
The Wandering Italian 