Our last night in Carcassonne we rambled the ramparts after dinner. Although it gets dark about 4pm this time of year, the ramparts are beautifully lit and it was tons of fun to climb all the stairs, walk the ledges, and sneak up on each other in the shadows.
The next day, after saying goodbye to the lovely staff at the Hotel, we drove to Toulouse and checked into our airport hotel. We returned the rental car and took the hotel shuttle back to the hotel, where we basically hunkered down to wait for our early morning flight.
We didn't bother to try to see anything of Toulouse. We did see a bit of its freeway system and passed part of the Airbus factory. I'm sure the historic center is lovely, but we didn't even glimpse it.
After sampling the delights of the inept B.A. ground crew at Toulouse airport, we had an uneventful flight to Heathrow, with a gorgeous view of London when we landed. Boy was I glad to check our luggage this time, including the new rolling duffle bag we bought to make room for all the stuff we've acquired along the way.
We hung out in Heathrow long enough to get through another round of security --- during which my carry-on bag got extra attention and Columbia got a pat down --- , have lunch, and look in the pricey shops. Luckily, our gate was right next to where we were sitting in the departure lounge, which was very nice. However, they did end up having to bus us to the plane. No worries, we even had empty seats in both rows we occupied, 6 seats for 4 Epic Journeyers.
We all watched TV (Wesley and I both laughed out loud at the hilarious Top Gear episode they had on tap) and several movies, all the way home. Gorgeous views of snowy Seattle upon landing.
I'm here to tell you that in 110 days of travel we lost only Wesley's zippered sweater and a cheap pair of kid sunglasses. Woohoo!
The next day, after saying goodbye to the lovely staff at the Hotel, we drove to Toulouse and checked into our airport hotel. We returned the rental car and took the hotel shuttle back to the hotel, where we basically hunkered down to wait for our early morning flight.
We didn't bother to try to see anything of Toulouse. We did see a bit of its freeway system and passed part of the Airbus factory. I'm sure the historic center is lovely, but we didn't even glimpse it.
After sampling the delights of the inept B.A. ground crew at Toulouse airport, we had an uneventful flight to Heathrow, with a gorgeous view of London when we landed. Boy was I glad to check our luggage this time, including the new rolling duffle bag we bought to make room for all the stuff we've acquired along the way.
We hung out in Heathrow long enough to get through another round of security --- during which my carry-on bag got extra attention and Columbia got a pat down --- , have lunch, and look in the pricey shops. Luckily, our gate was right next to where we were sitting in the departure lounge, which was very nice. However, they did end up having to bus us to the plane. No worries, we even had empty seats in both rows we occupied, 6 seats for 4 Epic Journeyers.
We all watched TV (Wesley and I both laughed out loud at the hilarious Top Gear episode they had on tap) and several movies, all the way home. Gorgeous views of snowy Seattle upon landing.
I'm here to tell you that in 110 days of travel we lost only Wesley's zippered sweater and a cheap pair of kid sunglasses. Woohoo!