Day 16 - Back to London trips end 2/1

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Our final day. It was a sad one. We parted ways with alot of new found friends before we got on the bus. Some were stopping off in Paris, some were going on further trips from here, and some were flying out directly. On the brighter side, it meant a seat per person, or close to at any rate!

Heading back towards Calais, was our last European sunrise. I had a total ball with the camera (the little one, not my sony) It was a case of how many photos could I randomly take on the bus. With the sun rising, I was impressed with the results!

I guess the thing that I found most beautiful was that it was snowing as we were going to the boat. Our tour started with snow and would end with it. The magic of snow didn't wear off. We had a stop at yet another service station to spend the remaining of our euros (if we had any), before getting to the boat and going through customs.

Customs this time meant all getting off the bus and going through a building being stamped off. Not a huge difference but there is something about being homeward bound, your nose is pointed to the stable and you just want to get there as soon as possible!

The boat was a different one from what we crossed on, in its layout. It was also totally crammed with everyone deciding to catch that boat home from their holiday break in europe I guess. There literally was only floor space available, but I wasn't about to complain, it meant I could lay out by one of the big windows and bask in the sun, and yes there was glorious sun.

ADD NOTE
I think I have forgotten to mention through the pages, as it doesn't really fall into a set page, when travelling, especially with a child as I did, the one thing that was kind of not expected was how close you are with that one person for the whole time. I mean at home there is space and you aren't always around each other, on a trip like this, you share a small room, you can't really go places without them, and it does get slightly frustrating for both parties at time. It can feel like personal space no longer exists. Overall its not too bad, just some days feel more suffocating than other. I guess if you were travelling with a partner, you have the advantage that you can both go off exploring different places.

Towards the end of the boat ride I discovered you could go out on the top deck, and loved the chance of taking some shots of the cliffs of dover including some snaps with my son to remember the trip by.

After getting off the boat, we once again lost some of our tour friends, as they lived locally and were to drive home themselves. We had to get on a bus with other tours for our leg back to London, and when off the bus, I didn't really want to hang around and prolong the farewells, rathering to go and find out which room in the Thisle we were staying in and getting some hot food into me.

I guess it has to be mentioned, that the first night in this hotel we had a room very easily accessible on the second floor. This being our last night in London, we got relegated to the fourth floor in an entirely different wing of the building, and discovered along the long halls that the floor then splits into two, with rooms being up some stairs or down the other. We made the mistake of going up first, having to carry our bags, to then find out our room was actually down the other flight of stairs. More lifting for us 😞 The room also, was a slightly odd one, and trying to walk into the room I bashed myself into my cases as the door would't open up fully due to its angle and you had to put your cases in sideways to get it through the door. hmmmmm

Considering it was to be our last night in London, we walked over to the train station for some of their fish and chips for tea. We had such a lovely time on the tour, but in a way it was nice to be heading home. Our plane was to leave at 10pm the next night (from memory) so we had the entire day to explore London on our own. It was also to be noted the following morning our breakfast unlike the pre-tour did not allow us to have full access to the buffet? We were only allowed to choose from the cold selection this time, where as pre-tour we were allowed to have both cold and warm. Was a bit of dampner to the trip, and in a way it felt like, well we got your business now we dont need to serve anymore.

So thats the official end of the cosmos tour. Now just to add the pre trip of Hong Kong, Boston, New York, and London when I get the time 😊 Enjoy

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Comments

[Liz]

Been there, done that.
I have loved reading your blog! I did the exact same tour with my husband and 3 adult kids in June/July this year. It was interesting to see your photos and see how different all the places look in a different season. We stayed in different hotels than you, and by the sound of it you had better meals, we did most of the optional tours and only found 1 or 2 to be a 'rip off'. We also loved Switzerland, Heidelburg and Paris (and all the others) and can't wait to revisit and spend longer.

[bluekat]

Thanks
So nice knowing people have read this blog. Had fun writing it. Will have to check out what others thought of the their trips and interesting that it changes through the year. I'm pretty non fussed with food. Basically if I dont have to cook it, its pretty good, so easy to please :)