California Here We Come Day 20/21 Homeward Bound

[Guest]

The Story So Far...

The Pre-Trip Report

Day 1 - Travelling to London

Day 2 - Two Musicals

Day 3 - The London Bridge Experience and touring London

Day 4 - LHR to LAX, yay!

Day 5 - Vegas, baby!

Day 6 - The Strip and Cirque du Soleil

Day 7 - Grand Canyon

Day 8 - Leaving Las Vegas

Day 9 - San Diego Zoo

Day 10 - Seaworld

Day 11 - A well deserved rest and DownTown Disney

Day 12 - Disneyland

Day 13 - Disney's California Adventure

Day 14 - Pool and stuff!

Day 15 - Pioneertown

Day 16 - LA Tour

Day 17 - Pools and Pirates

Day 18 - Double Disney

Day 19 - Universal Studios

The Cast

Myself, Rachel, 36, loves planning and theme parks. Can get a bit obsessive about holidays.

OH, Andrew, 43, usually goes along with my plans, loves driving and big trucks, doesn’t care for rides but is happy to mind bags, pushchair and energetic toddler.

DS1, Dan, 16, loves rollercoasters and music. Surgically attached to his Ipod.

DD, Hannah, 11, loves Tinkerbell, swimming pools and getting her own way. Wants to do anything and everything.

DS2, Tom, 2, Mr Independent, thinks he can do everything the big ones do, loves Toy Story and Mickey Mouse.

Wednesday 12th August 2010

Sadly, it was almost time to go home. Our shuttle to the airport was collecting us at lunchtime, ready for the flight through the night and the trip home from London, neither of which we were looking forward to.

But first, the important matters to attend to. Breakfast! As the kids were getting ready, Andrew, Tom and I popped to the laundry to wash the last of our clothes. We'd decided it would be a good idea to wash everything before we left and pack them clean so that when we got home we didn't have mounds of laundry to face. It also meant I didn't have the horror of imagining our cases being checked and the customs people raking through our dirty laundry. As it happens, the cases weren't checked but it was nice when we got home and could just unpack and put the clothes away.

Laundry merrily spinning away we headed to Denny's for a final breakfast. The food and service were good as always, the coffee flowed freely but we were a bit sad about leaving and enviously eyed up people who appeared to be just beginning their trip.







Once back at the hotel, I put the laundry in to dry and we spent the morning around the pool.



All too soon, it was almost time to go. We packed the cases, including packing the warm, sweet smelling laundry, straight from the dryer, took the cases downstairs, checked out and waited for the shuttle.



And waited. And waited. We had been given a 45 minute window in which we might be picked up so we weren't too worried. The bell services man from the hotel who had booked most of our shuttles to Disney came out a couple of times and I think he started to get a bit concerned. When we were ten minutes past the latest time we expected the shuttle we were getting a little bit concerend ourselves and allowed the bell services man to phone the shuttle company who said they were just around the corner. Sure enough, five minutes later they arrived. However, they still had another pick up to do and after a little drive, the driver said he'd gone the wrong way and we had to go back and start again. We were starting to imagine being stuck in California forever. Well, Andrew and I were imagining that. The kids were so worried they had all fallen asleep!

We did manage to get to the airport on time though, checked in without any problems and headed to the boarding gate where we spent a fortune on coffees and smoothies at Starbucks - an airport ritual we can't seem to stop. Hannah and Tom passed the time watching out the window at aeroplanes and playing with a little boy who'd been travelling around California with his family.

Happily, the plane was on time, take off was smooth and we were soon in the air. The return journey seemed to pass much more quickly than the journey outwards, probably becasue it was shorter, but also because after a short vomiting session and a change of clothes all round, Tom slept for most of the journey, meaning Andrew could also sleep and I got to watch Shrek Forever which was quite amusing.

Before we knew it, we were back at Heathrow and soon we were on the tube travelling to King's Cross. It wasn't the most comfortable journey as we had to stand most of the way but as I'd been dreading travelling on the underground with three children, one husband, three cases, two trunkis, three bags, a car seat and a pushcahir, it wasn't so bad.

We arrived at King's Cross with loads of time to spare before our train came - five hours of time to spare to be exact. We'd left plenty of time in case the plane was late, as it had been on our previous USA trip, but as sod's law dictates, the plane was bang on time.

We bought magazines, sandwiches and drinks and plonked ourselves on seats people watching for the next few hours. Actually, the time passed reasonably quickly but we decided that in future we would book a hotel for the night and travel home the following day, which is exactly what we'll be doing next year.

The train was on time, despite earlier delays because of a "person on the line", eek! The journey went quite well, although it wasn't ideal as Tom didn't have his own seat and couldn't decide who's knee he wanted to sit on. Before we knew it we were back in Durham and being met at the station by my Mum and her partner and Andrew's dad who ferried us home to a cold house, an enormous pile of junk mail and our own beds (even if I couldn't sleep properly in mine for the next week due to previously unexperienced jetlag!)

Our trip was over and reality beckoned. Sigh! Although, it also meant that finally planning can commence for our next trip.

Thank you to anyone who has bothered to read my trip report. All I can say is that I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I've enjoyed writing it.

Until next time...

[Nesbits]

I have enjoyed them all, they've been great, thanks.

[emery66]

Thoroughly enjoyed your trippies thank you! We stayed at Holiday Inn Buena Park over Easter and had a FAB 2 weeks - relived our hols through your trippies!
I agree about the jetlag - what a killer!
Thanks again

[orlandosgr8]

Sounds like a tiring journey home.

Thank you for the trip reports, I have really enjoyed reading them looking forward to the next trip

[Guest]

What an amazing trippie, I have just spent 3 hrs reading it all & hope that one day we will get the chance to do something similar.

Thank you for all the detail & info, it's been a great read

[Guest]

I have read all of your trip reports and thought they were fabulous ! I think your little boy is gorgeous - he reminds me of my ( now 14 year old) when he was a toddler

Thanks for sharing - we are off to Vegas Saturday and this has got me in the mood !

Denise

[DisneyBlonde]

Brilliant trip report, really entertaining.

I went to California, San Diego, Las Vegas etc a good many years ago and reading this has really put me in the mood for a road trip. Problem is, DH doesn't fancy it

I absolutely loved how insistent Tom was at wanting a frog for his breakfast, really made me laugh.

Thank you for a great read

[LLKJDisney]

Hey Rachel,

Just finished reading your trip report and have to say how much I enjoyed it.
I have picked up lots of tips about travelling to the west with a toddler - so thank you very much for taking the time to write it!

Kerry

[Shmee]

Really enjoyed reading your trip report. Sounds like a fabulous holiday. Think we'll need to do something similar one day.

[Guest]

Read this start to finish in a day while waiting for updates to your 2011 trippie-what a great trip report! Reminded me of our trip to California in 2004, and it seems lots has changed, maybe time for a revisit? Loved the grand canyon and San Diego, must do's if I ever return! A great report thankyou for sharing!