Meet me in the Land of Hope and Dreams -DAY 29/30 A long walk home, in the bubble!

[walt4it]

And so it looks like we made it to the very, very end - 38 hours before the next one starts - I must be getting better at these as last years trip report was completed in single digit hours before we left for London.

Previously - DAY 28 is here

The whole index is here

The previous one from 2013 is here

Welcome to ...

Tuesday 26th August 2014


Well let me get it straight now - there was no walking home to be done today! But why waste another Springsteen song reference in a trip report

We had been unable to do OLCI so we were up and off by 10



Will never tire of this view though - a great decision to spend our last night here rather than in Fort Lauderdale and despite still having two and a half hours in the car we had enjoyed a return to Vero with many memories and zero ' nosseum' bites. This was indeed progress from 2010 when Alison was covered in them and tbh had put us off coming here again - glad we did nad it really made for a wonderful relaxed ending to the holiday.
Until that is we came to return the car, having loved it for the last 4 weeks and leaving it with a thought that I would love to have one of those at home ( please put it on my Christmas list! ) we then had to endure the crazy transportation from the car hire centre at Fort Lauderdale airport to the check in - hot sweaty and close to boiling point we were off at the Delta desks to find all of our carefully weighed luggage was significantly over and we needed to do something about - so we did - we got the boys to smile sweetly as we explained that we had already weighed our luggage and we knew it was tight - but certainly not over- I then spotted that the scale was showing 4.5 kg without anything on it She agreed that this was strange and she could see the panic on our faces - I am sure she saw the dollar signs register in our eyes at the thought of 4 bags overweight for $400 extra
We moved a few things around and made the effort to be nice to her - it worked she tagged us and then explained she could not do the Virgin part of the boarding cards.

Our stewards enquiry began - how did that happen we felt we had hardly bought anything on this trip

We made a note that any future trip we would simply get the extra bag to avoid such an occasion!


NY next stop - and it was not a long one either!

- by the time we got our boarding passes it was just 20 mins before boarding - the sight of a 747 was exciting for all the boys!
The sight of our boarding passes was even better ~ despite not being able to do on line check in and the fact that delta could not issue, we had got the bubble seats we had pre assigned with the knowledge that after our United experience last year we could take nothing for granted . The boarding cards were printed and they showed the seats we had booked. Woo Hoo!

The experience was amazing it was so quiet from take off, throughout the flight and the only down side was that we had a tail wind and the flight would be arriving early
It also led to very little sleep either - excitement simply got to us all!









There was so much space - the exit row in front did not recline so we were in so much space it felt as it was an upper class experience - and with the Strongbow on the drinks trolley it felt as though it was

There is something strange about being in front of the wings of a plane and it was a good feeling too





We were reluctant to get off but we did to a huge queue at immigration and the sight of so many armed police and army we felt so welcomed home

The whole place was full of spotters and there was clearly an alert of some form but it did not feel good to be back.

We got the underground to Kings Cross and waited the pre booked train at 10.51 - it cost us £24 for all 4 of us so can't complain about having to be patient!

We also managed to see that East Coast trains have hidden Mickeys in their carriage lights





We arrived home and the reality of the whole trip was starting to sink in .
Indian takeaway for tea and the Ipod playlist cranked up

Then this moment...

Joe had made a point of buying a pin last week and kept it until now.




Well there was not a dry eye in the whole house
We were home, and whilst we love our home very much we all just wanted the last 4 weeks to carry on and on and on and on...

This was THE END - and the worst thing was we all knew it too



Thanks for reading the whole trip report for so many lovely comments too - they are really appreciated .

For those Dibbers I have promised I would finish - A big thank you - you have given me the inspiration and drive to complete this huge report and it is down to you that I have done it

To those people we met

To the three special people who shared this holiday with me

Love,Hopes and Dreams live forever xxxx

...now let's go and have a new adventure

[Melbatb]

Thanks for a great read! Have a fabulous trip this time around!

[Taffy1959]

Fantastic trip report I've enjoyed every single day
Have a fantastic holiday

[deeley]

Oh the pin is beautiful! I've so loved reading this journey, thank you for writing and wishing you all another wonderful, imminent trip!

[mrs rcch]

I've thoroughly enjoyed reading your trippie, thank you for taking the time to write it.

Have a great time on this years holiday

[TracyW]

Really really enjoyed your report, looking forward to the new one!

[Guest]

Fantastic trip report I've enjoyed reading every day and loved all your ride pics.
Janette

[jemima2]

Aww the pin! Have thoroughly enjoyed the whole report, have an amazing holiday ( I know you all will! ) x

[TractorBoy]

Your wonderful and funny boys have two fantastic parents. That was a cracking trippie. The pictures alone were worth the read

How long before we can start reading the next one?

[Wozi]

Thanks for sharing, I've really enjoyed reading your trip report!

Hope you have a fantastic trip, which I look forward to reading