Time to go home

So the final day of my epic let loose tour has unbelievably arrived.
I arranged a late checkout from my room till 1pm...during which time I caught up with my penguins app.
Having checked out ,i had lunch in the restaurant and then enlisted the help of the concierge to book my 3rd uber ,which yet again came in under a minute .
Although massively early leaving the hotel at 2pm.for a 10pm flight the traffic in Toronto is beyond insane and crawls most of the time.. The airport is also a considerable distance from the centre ...
In the end it took an hour and a half to do ,what is a 30min journey,if there's no traffic.
The airport was insanely busy and turned out id been dropped off at the domestic terminal and it was miles to the international terminal.
I tried, unsuccessfully to get into the business lounge earlier than the 3hrs allowed, but no luck, so I sat in the main concourse and had a brew ..Ultimately ended up speaking to a lady travelling alone with her 2 teenage girls ,for the first time and telling them about my trip .
At the boarding gate I spotted a young pilot and asked if he was flying us to Manchester. We chatted briefly. Turns out he was the spare pilot. When seated on the plane, he came and said hello . He and another reserve pilot were resting in the 2 seats behind me
My space was nice but very compact...and felt narrow when lying flat, but it was a privilege to be able to do so and I did sleep, waking only when I heard the announcement that it was half an hour to landing .we flew in over Ireland and the Fylde Coast
Arrived an hour early at Manchester airport gate 304 ..which is a hike and a half from. Immigration.
At immigration the border force guy took my emergency passport from me ..as it has served it purpose. Il now have to get another one 🙄
I rang my friend and colleague Debbie to say id Arrived..they'd been waiting at arrivals ,with a sign with my name on but I'd missed them, as they were expecting me to have checked baggage which I didn't have
I spent about an hour chatting with them ,before getting a taxi home.
On the flight instead of watching a film I worked out a few statistics which I initially wrote on thr sick bag...for want of some paper, later transferring to the tray cover sheet..
I've done
10 international flights
6 internal flights
5 bus journeys totalling 25hrs
A bus tour with daily journeys
4 train journeys
35 hotels and 1 home stay
I have spoken with people from all over the world in all the different countries
Those that stand out though are the homeless girls who made me laugh when I was so stressed about my lost passport...just Shrug and Stride..girl ..what a great way to think ,in a crisis.
Despite the world being in the mess its in ,the people I've met are generally kind and friendly.
I have learned as a by product of my adventure, what other countries are doing in terms of conservation. It has made me question, what the uk is actually doing ...I've not become an eco warrior
I have had umpteen amazing experiences ,adrenaline ones and others
I have done everything,tried everything that has come my way and been hugely fortunate to have been able to ,tho it will always be bittersweet..Læs mere