Goodbye Austria!

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The rain had well and truly settled in for the morning, but we wanted to go to the Garden Centre to finish off our pile of presents. Having purchased our flower (some kind of lily - I'm not very good at this kind of thing!), we walked back with it, and then made a detour to get it in without being seen! Then we all had final walks, etc. round the village and came back in time for lunch, after which there was final packing. By 3pm the luggage was down in the lobby, the presents were hidden under a table, and we had another thoroughly enjoyable meal. Peter & Alison had dressed in their local costume, and were happy to come for a photo-call (and then promised to take a group photo) - during which we surprised them with the box of presents - from their faces they liked them! They then took the promised group photo, then some more, them we loaded the coach up, and off we headed to the airport - all of us together!

Those on the BA flight were able to check straight in, whilst those of us on the Ryanair flight had some time to wait. The BA-flighters all headed for the coffee shop, which was then full, so Hannah, Charmian and I headed upstairs, following the sign "restaurant" - I would probably have headed for the cheap/plastic airport restaurant, but Hannah asked if we could have a coffee in the plush-looking one, and they didn't mind, brought us tap water as well, and we purchased a final apple strudel for 4 Euros, which was probably the nicest one I had! Wanting to see people off, I went down to the coffee shop to say I was upstairs, but I think some people only found the other restaurant - managed to see some people off and was happy that they said I was unpretentious, non-schoolmarmish, and helped to ensure that the holiday was enjoyable, relaxing and a cohesive group - such nice comments - thanks everyone! Went to find the other Ryan-airers, and we all went back to the nice restaurant for more drinks, some gin-rummy, and a chat. Watched the BA flight take off from outside the window too! We then checked in, and sat for a while before going through - where there was still a shop open. Got onto the plane, some of us even managed to sit together. Plane landed on time (I believe) but took AGES to get through passport control - amazing for midnight, but thankfully Ruth was there to pick me up. We got back to the Manor about 2am, dragged stuff in, then crashed into bed. Got up early enough to download all my photos onto the office computer (you never know, may be a brochure shot in there...), filled in my feedback forms, then headed off to Sussex shortly before lunch - later than planned, but not too bad!

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