Checking in at Terminal 4 at Heathrow Airport
The view outside Terminal 4 (my plane was the DC-10-30 in the middle of the 3 at the back)
Today was the first time in the previous 12 days that I was able to sleep in past 7:00 AM. After packing my luggage, I headed downstairs for breakfast and bumped into (a different) Brian and (a different) Melissa, also from the tour. They were a newlywed couple from Windsor, Ontario in Canada, who were married the day before the whole vacation began. They were just finishing up their breakfast and were on their way to catch the Tube to Gatwick Airport for their flight out.
After breakfast, I waited for my Airbus transfer to Heathrow for my flight out at 2:15 PM. It wasn't until I was lining up at Terminal 4 to check in that it finally hit me that the vacation was over. The family of 40 had all split up and gone their separate ways. The last 12 days replayed in my brain again, flashing by quickly, and now I was here, about to get on an airplane to go home.
This time though, there were no delays as my Canadian Airlines flight back on a DC-10-30 to Toronto departed pretty much as scheduled. I tried, but couldn't get any significant sleep during the 7-1/2 hour flight. I may have dozed off for about half an hour, but that was about it. As always, it felt like a much shorter time going home than it was leaving.
Thanks again to Andee and Lucas, and of course to my fellow travel companions, for making the previous dozen days some of the best I will ever experience. It was a fantastic 12 days in Europe that I will never forget. As the coin that I tossed into the Trevi Fountain in Rome indicates, I will certainly return again someday.
Now that you've read my travelogue of my trip through Europe, please take some time to
Spain & Portugal
August 28 - September 9, 2000
Grand Adventurer
April 4 - 15, 2001
China & Hong Kong
June 6 - 25, 2002