We woke early, finished packing the things we still needed in the morning and headed to the airport. It would not be a last day without drama however. I almost didn’t make it back. Our taxi driver was a little late and so when we drove to the airport, we lost Scott. When we got there, I realized that Scott had the money. So as I was sitting in the front seat, I started going through my purse to see if I had any other bills other than those in my wallet. When we arrived at the airport, we luckily saw Scott so he gave the money to the driver and Ainsley and I took all of the bags while Emily and Scott returned the car. Since we had actually made up the time with the taxi driver, we still were doing well. When Scott & Emily met up with us, we checked our bags and Ainsley & I went to customs to get our VAT tax refunded. Then we headed through security. (You don’t have to take your shoes off to go through security at Heathrow). Scott & the girls went to a restaurant for some breakfast when I went to stand in line to get the actual VAT refunded. I only got stamped at the first place.
While standing in line, Emily comes running over with Scotts cell phone saying that we had left a bag in the car. I was confused and thought that the only bag that could have possibly been left just contained shortbread, so I sent her back to Scott and continued to wait. Just as I got to the front of the line and looked in my purse and didn’t see my wallet, Scott comes over saying the taxi driver has my wallet and is driving around the airport so I could go get it. So I grabbed my passport & boarding pass and tried to get out to meet the taxi driver. One BIG issue, I have to go back through Customs. Luckily, very luckily, I got to go to the front of the line (we are talking saving an HOUR at least.) The conversation went something like this:
Customs officer: What brings you to the UK?
Me – My wallet, I left it in my cab
Customs officer – How long will you be in the UK?
Me- 5 minutes if I can find my taxi driver easily. My plane boards in 45 minutes for the US.
Customs officer – Ok, you can go.
It wasn’t that simple, I did a lot of hand waiving and quick explaining but I think she felt bad for me and let me go pretty quickly. I guess I don’t look like a terrorist – that’s a good thing. So I sprinted to departures, found the taxi driver, gave him a HUGE tip for bringing back my wallet, sprinted back through security and then ran all the way to our plane with 25 minutes until take off. If you remember my first entry about how far it is to the gate when we arrived, you will understand why I was dripping in sweat. At least I got a workout for the day. Shockingly, the girls and Scott had not yet boarded. Nothing like a little last minute drama. The summer wouldn’t be complete without it.
The flight back was pretty uneventful. It was not the “new” entertainment system which meant that they had 9 movies that looped 3-4 times during the flight. Luckily 2 of the movies were kid friendly. When the captain said we’d be landing in 5 minutes, the girls let out a little cheer and the British gentleman sitting next to me looked up. I explained that we had lived in Richmond for the summer and that we were all excited to be going home. He said he lived in Reading, near the Costco. I find out that there was a Costco 5 minutes before we land. Figures!
Hope everyone has enjoyed reading about our crazy summer. It is nice to be back.
No comments:
Post a Comment