Day 15 - Homeward Bound

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Well, that’s it! We’re back! Very tired, very skint and happy to be here, not!

This morning we finished packing and had a last healthy breakfast. We then took a slow drive to the airport, which was only about 15 miles from our hotel.

Fifteen days and nearly 2000 miles later I handed the car back to the rental company in one piece. There were a couple of times during the last 2 weeks when it could have been in more than one piece, particularly in Los Angeles, but luckily we came through unscathed.

We had to remove shoes and belts to go through customs, and liquids and gels are still forbidden in large quantities, but we were processed quite quickly. Sam didn’t think that the large can of energy drink he was carrying in his hand luggage counted and was stopped, but he went back outside and drank it rather than throw it away.

The homeward flight was a couple of hours shorter than the outbound flight at 9 hours and seemed to pass very quickly with lots of entertainment provided by the chair console. Although it did seem strange, we took off at 4.30 in the afternoon, flew for 9 hours and landed at 10.30 next morning! Once we landed everything went very smoothly and we were on our way home on the M25 within an hour of landing.

I thought the trip was really great and Sam enjoyed it too, we’ve been to some wonderful places and seen amazing things but looking back I would have liked more time in most places and I think 3 weeks would have been about right. I enjoy driving so the distances weren’t the problem but I think those places where we spent one night deserved more attention; we usually arrived in the early afternoon and left early next morning, and I would also have liked more time in Las Vegas and San Francisco. We missed lots of sights and attractions in the places that we did visit and there are still a lot of places that we never had time to visit but I’d like to see; it’s definitely worth another road trip.

The SatNav was a godsend (although for some reason it updated very slowly over there) and the US sim card and cheap US phone were ideal for getting in touch with each other when separated and for calling local services, shops and attractions at local rates.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this blog and following our travels.

Until next time, bye for now
Colin and Sam

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