2 years and 84 days since the start of the 1st lock down in March 2020.
Last morning and it did not take very long to pack the last few toiletries in our cases before breakfast. It was a chance to hear the three cuckoo clocks for the last time.
We checked out just before ten which was easier than needed bu gave us plenty of time to walk to the tram stop and buy the tickets. A lot more civilised than when we arrived although my arms must be flagging a bit as a chap had to help me get the two suitcases up the three steps of the old tram. We had timed it perfectly for the train from the main station to try airport which took just fifteen minutes or so. From this point things went rather down hill as first we could not find the check in point for British Airways and then when we did, there were considerable queues for security. I had hoped to have grabbed a coffee before our flight but it took so long to get through passport control afterwards and to find the gate, we only had a short time sitting down. Yet again the flight was full but despite setting off half an hour late, it arrived at Heathrow on time. We were also lucky to have views of Hampton Court and Bushy park as we began to descend.
Then we spent twenty five minutes on the tarmac waiting for a stand to pull into. It was fairly quick through the automated passport entry system but then it slowed again as it was twenty minutes or so to find out what belt our luggage would be arriving at and when it was signed, it was a further half an hour to appear but at least both cases had made it.
I had waited to call for a taxi until this point but lucky for us the driver had just done a drop off at terminal 2 and the same drive that had picked us up two weeks earlier was thee in less than ten minutes to take us home. We had a brief hour or so to settle in and check our post before Karen, Charley and Caroline turned up as a surprise for Colin as they had been at a concert earlier in the afternoon. It was nice to see everyone was I was pretty shattered and then had to work out the cooking times for 4 pizzas and other food which I could possibly have done without! I would have slept well if it had been quieter, less planes flying late, less happy dogs and more white river noise.
