- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Jul 15, 2017, 9:02pm
- ⛅ 20 °C
- Altitude: 13 m
- EnglandNewhamForest GateWoodgrange Park Railway Station51°33’3” N 0°2’38” E
Day 15 - Goodbye London
July 15, 2017 in England ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
After 14 days it was time to head home.
Final packing done, checked out of home in London and car loaded, we headed out to Brentwood. The plan was to visit my Grandfather's grave in Brentwood cemetary then head to the Olde Dog Inn to have lunch with family.
After driving over 2,000 kilometres around England without incident - some near misses and close calls mind you - it seems our luck was up. We had not driven five minutes from our London AirBnB when someone ran up the back of our car. It was a very low speed (like 5 KPH) impact. Luckily no one was injured, no air bags went off. Only minor damage to our car, however repair costs are surprisingly high on most modern cars, so I would hate to think what the repair bill would be. Mohammad the other driver at first just wanted to pay for the damage after admitting fault, but his smile soon faded when we told him it was a hire car. I think he thought he was going to talk his way into a cheap repair job. We took plenty of photos of the scene, exchanged details and logged the incident with the hire car company, and we were on our way. Too much of the rest of the day was taken up with collecting details, checking facts and filling in forms to hand in with the car at the end of the day.
We were a little late arrriving at the Olde Dog Inn. It was great catching up with family and sharing the details of the past 22 years - all too briefly. It would have been better to have more time. After lunch we headed to the cemetary and found the Grandfather's grave then headed back to my cousin's house for afternon tea.
By five pm we were on our way to Heathrow along the M25 for a showdown with the hire company. The traffic was reasonably free flowing with a few bottlenecks and some very slow traffic points. The handover with the car was non-eventful and we were quickly on our was to the airport terminal. The one rare time I opted for the nil-excess fully insured hire option semed to be a very wise choice indeed. Airport check in and we were boarding in no time, or so it seemed.
For some reason the flights back took less time than going over. Plus doing the 13 hour leg first seemed to be a bonus. There was a three and a half hour stopover in Singapore and the Changi airport had a scheme where if you were flying with particular carriers, you quailifed for a S$20 voucher per person to use at the airport. We qualified and opted to use our vouchers to gain entry to the Ambassador Transit Lounge. The voucher gave us up to two hours in the lounge. Comfortable lounge seats, food and drink of your choice, free WiFi, and best of all SHOWERS. So it was great to relax and freshen up before the last leg home. It's still the best part of 24 hours in the air and jetlag is a bummer but that is the jet set life. Home at last.
It's been an interesting journey but this one is at an end - sadly.Read more
Traveler Thanks for the journey Sharpie