Homeward Bound

Wednesday 27th/Thursday 28th May

Well finally the day had arrived to make the long journey back home to the UK.

It would be a very long day indeed as my flight was not scheduled to leave Charlotte until 10:30pm, giving me practically another whole day.

The staff at breakfast had gotten to know me by now as I had been at the hotel for 5 days. One of them asked what my plans were for today,  to which I told them 'I'm heading home unfortunately.'

I enjoyed an American breakfast for the last time before heading back to the room to check the case and make sure everything was packed properly. Check out time was as 12pm so there was no need to hurry.

Figured that to kill time today I would just head back over the road to the NASCAR Hall of Fame again, because I enjoyed it so much the first time around and I didn't really want to go that far out of town knowing that I had to be at the airport later.

So at around 11:30 I left my room (sorry,  suite) for the last time and headed for the lobby. The hotel staff were kind enough to tag my luggage and keep it in the office for me until I needed to head to the airport.

Spent the afternoon then in the hall of fame museum, actually found a couple of sections in there that I hadn't looked in on Monday. The museum was less busy today with it being a normal work day and not a holiday so I didn't have to fight my way through crowds of people to get to some of the exhibits.

Had another go on the simulator, this time they put me in the #24 Jeff Gordon replica!

Led most of the race but for taken out by a car running a few laps down! Finished 3rd...ah well only a bit of fun.

At around 4pm I decided to head back to the hotel and gather all my belongings... The long trip home started here.

The hotel Managed to get a cab to the airport withing 5 minutes of them ringing for me... That's service! I really cannot fault the Hilton Garden Inn at all. They were friendly, helpful, the room was great, more than I needed,  food was great, everything worked as it should, awesome location.  10/10 from me!

Enjoyed chatting with the cab driver on the short drive to the airport, was interested in my racing trip, he was also telling me how he is a big fan of soccer, particularly our Premier League.

Arrived at the airport at just after 4:30pm but my flight wasn't until 10:30pm! Still, with nothing else to see or do in Charlotte I figured I may as well head to the airport, at least that way I would be checked in,  free of my case etc.

Charlotte airport has quite a lot of shops, restaurants and cafes all spread out at different ends of the airport so I think by the time I boarded the plane I must have walked pretty much all of it.

After choosing Bojangles chicken over carolina pit bbq for dinner I headed to gate D12 where our plane would be leaving from... Or so it was meant to be.

There seemed to have been a mix up with a lot of flights that day as a Boeing 777 docked at the gate at 7:55 there were passengers on it that were supposed to be catching a connecting flight that left at 8pm. As they disembarked a lot of them sprinted down the concourse towards their next plane, hoping to make it in the nick of time.

Fortunately,  although our gate was moved along to D11 it was on time. Still, when in line to board the plane one American guy asked me 'This is going to Providence (Rhode Island) right?'  Good job he asked!  I told him no its going to London and you most certainly don't want to go to London.

Boarded the plane on time, our flight wasn't initially full but a lot of people had been messed around with delayed flights, cancelled flights etc to destinations in the UK and Europe, including the guy next to me in the plane. He had been at the airport for 10 hrs. He was due to fly to Brussels on an earlier flight and then on to Gothenburg but his first flight was cancelled so he was now flying to Heathrow and then on to Gothenburg. It was his first long haul flight as well.

Just as the aircraft doors were shut and we were ready to go, some more passengers came running on.. It as chaos.

Anyway the flight itself, 7hrs duration, actually went quicker than I expected, got stuck into a movie and then watched a few programs on my tablet. Before I knew it they were coming round serving breakfast, if you can call it that, still not quite sure what it actually was.

After circling for a while we landed about midday. A Cloudy and cold day outside... Welcome back to England.

Baggage claim took forever but passport control was fast now they have these self service passport checkers for UK citizens.

Finally about 1 hour after landing I reached the arrivals hall where my parents were there waiting for me.
Luckily this time they knew which level the car was parked on, not that it mattered because my feet were fine... Blister free. I was feeling rather shattered though having missed a nights sleep and with the 5 hour time difference.

Enjoyed telling the parents about my trip in the way home and giving them some pointers on New York City as they will be visiting there in a few weeks.

Just about crashed out when I got home. What a holiday though! Saw everything I wanted to see, ticked all the boxes.
Made lots of new friends and unexpectedly bumped into familiar faces. Really enjoyed spending time with Sam in New York as well.
Everyone was so friendly and helpful wherever I went, their customer service is second to none!

Even the weather cooperated most of the time apart from the fog in New York.

It will be nice to have some proper food once again though, I don't want to see another chip (or fries) for while now!

Back to reality now, a shame holidays can't last forever but then again that is what's special about them. I do come home with many fond memories though, ones that will last a lifetime.

Until next time... So long and take care.