IanSo….sadly, the time has come! Like every great holiday, you don’t see the end coming! It is Saturday, 17th September 2023, and it is time to go home.
Well, where did that time go?! It seemed like yesterday that we were getting excited about our holiday, and now it is over; as I said above, that must be the sign of a great holiday! We started the day with the last bits of packing that needed to be done. We had to leave the room by 11:00, so we ensured most of the packing was done last night. Mum headed down for a last breakfast, which she chose a waffle, and I had some cereal. After our showers, we finished packing and headed downstairs to check out.
As we waited for our bus, Mum and I reflected on an awesome holiday; we both managed to relax and chill and do what we wanted to do to allow us to relax. We loved every minute of it; in hindsight, we could have stayed longer! As you have been reading, you can probably tell how much fun we had and enjoyment. Mum got to see a dream come true to meet Winnie the Pooh and go to Florida, and I got to revisit a place I am starting to really love. Now, onward to the airport!
Our bus arrived early, around 12:18, which is good as it was busy in Melbourne! We had to pick up other TUI customers along the route and had to stop a further four times, which delayed us slightly. When we arrived, it was REALLY busy; TUI had 3 flights leaving Melbourne, all close to each other, going to Manchester, Newcastle and Gatwick, so obviously the queues were quite large, as you will see below!
Finally, after we had checked in and within weight, thankfully (always a worry at the end of a holiday!), we headed through security to get our hand luggage checked and our persons checked; there was a delay here as well, probably due to everyone being there! It took about 30 minutes to get through.
We headed through the departure lounge and got some snacks and drinks for the flight. We decided to get a bite to eat as we were early for dinner, and we’d get our flight meal around 2000, so it would leave a gap. We headed to Dunkin’ Donuts, and boy, this was a mess… There was a long queue, and it was not moving fast. The staff did not appear to know what they were doing and struggled to cope with the demand, and I do wonder if they needed more staff, considering 3 TUI flights were going out. It took about 30-45 minutes, but we got ourselves a coffee and a bagel, which was really nice. They messed my coffee order up, though, as I wanted hot, and they gave me cold! After eating, we headed to our gate and waited to be boarded; it was busy there!
TUI started to board customers, but as I said at the start, they go from the back to the front, so rather than wait to be called, people queued up!? They started to call the numbers, and as we were 34 this time, we were one of the first on the plane.
Unfortunately, we were delayed taking off… the airport had two broken fuel tankers that needed to be fixed because we needed fuel to get over the Atlantic, apparently! Who’d have thought it? There was about a 30-minute delay on the ground, and we eventually took off!
With that, we settled into the flight and got served our dinner. I tried to sleep but couldn’t, so I ended up watching Netflix! And that’s it for our going home day! I’ll post tomorrow once I arrive back in the UK and update you on the rest of the flight; bye for now!
