Returning Home

So I was just about to type up a blog on Great Expectations which I finished yesterday (the day after I returned home) but I decided I should do my traditional last blog which typically consists of a grouping of lists summarizing the trip. First I wanted to describe our flight home briefly. We arrived at the airport quite early, because I am never calm until I have checked in and made my way through security. There was a huge area after security which went so fast and Lynette and I ate breakfast and sat amongst the throng of people.I found a bagel that came with REAL bacon instead of back bacon (aka Canadian bacon)...I dislike Canadian bacon and I am assuming we most have gotten this food from our British ancestors. Boo. The flight was mostly on time and ran smoothly. We got bribed with really good food. Our two snacks were vanilla bean icecream and a thai vegetable wrap. Yum. I am not sure if this is normal for international flights or not, since I have only been on domestic flights but I was impressed. I read almost the entire 8 hours trying to finish Great Expectations before I got home. We passed over Iceland and Greenland which was so cool. I was very impressed by all of the ice in the water and the beautiful scenery on land. Customs was a breeze as they now have automated machines that take your card and give you a score. If you are given a low risk a single man checks your card and waves you through. We were low risk. Our luggage took forever to come through which left us in a bit of a panic, thankfully it made it safe and sound, though my bag has a ton of rips and tears on it making it completely unusable for another trip. We had an hour wait for the ferry, but made it on just fine. I went to bed at 8 beign extremely jet lagged and slept for 11 hours. It was glorious.

Now for the summary lists:

Types of food sampled:

British pub food
Welsh food
Thai
Lebanese
Indian
Italian

Drinks sampled:

London Pride
London Glory
Brains Beer
Pimms

Major sights seen:

Stonehenge
Big Ben
Parliment
Westminster Abbey
Dickens London
Portobello Market
Fortnum and Mason's high tea
Tower of London
Various bridges
Chichester
Watership Down
Covent Garden/Seven Dials
Sherlock Holmes Museum
Scottish afternoon tea at the Willows Tearoom.
Millenium Centre Cardiff
Mermaid quay Cardiff
Cardiff Castle
Thames River cruise
Cardiff bay cruise

Hotels stayed at:

Premier Inn, Glasgow
Regency Hotel, London
The Big Sleep, Cardiff
Stylotel, London
The George and Dragon, Chichester
EasyHotel, London

Souvenirs bought for me (not others don't want to spoil the surprise)

4 magnets
1 Welsh lovespoon
1 lovespoon necklace
10 new kinds of tea
100 vintage book cover postcards
3 new reusable bags
2 locket watch necklaces
1 ruffled umbrella
1 new wallet

Thats all I can think of to itemize at the moment. Hope you enjoyed the adventure. Now on to the book review!