Back to Chicago 5 October

Susie and I spent our final day in England relaxing with friends.

We had one last leisurely breakfast at Richard and Pauline's home in Ellis Fields and then a tour of the Saturday open air market in downtown St. Albans. We also got a tour of the recently refurbished old Town Hall, which now houses the city's museum. You can actually stand in the docket and travel the underground corridor to the jail cells, some of which now serve as bathrooms for the museum and dining facility included in the space.

the old jail

So true

After returning to Ellis Fields Pauline and Richard treated us to a superb lunch of soup, meats and cheeses to fortify us for the long haul back to Chicago. Of course when I say "long haul" I don't mean to compare with those truly long haul journeys that so many truly courageous people undertook in previous centuries, journeys lasting weeks aboard flimsy boats. No, ours took about 8 hours sitting in a chair at 38,000 feet traveling about 550 mph.

Richard and Pauline drove us to Heathrow and we said our goodbyes.

We checked in, breezed through security, as much as one could "breeze through" security at Heathrow, and made our way to the C gate section in Terminal 5. Our flight aboard the megaliner Airbus 380 -- a double decker like the London city buses--  left about a half hour late but it was a smooth flight. We actually had an empty seat in our row which was certainly convenient and we touched down in Chicago a little after 7pm CST.

Airbus 380

We sped through passport control with relative ease, and in fact had a longer wait for our bags. Before long we made our way to the shuttle pickup location and in less than a half hour had checked in at the nearby Comfort Inn where we had the left our car nearly two weeks earlier.

Sunday morning found us up early and on the road. Traffic was incredibly light and we were back in Grand Rapids by 11am.

What a grand trip we had, made even more wonderful by traveling with Richard and Pauline. Their kindness and generosity, not to mention the many moments laughing and carrying on about the absurdities of our respective governments, made this truly a memorable journey. We can't wait to go back.