Trip to England (Day13)

A very long trip home.

We got up at 5:30am and took a taxi at 6:30am to the central coach station in downtown Birmingham. (A coach is a British name for long-distance bus, sort of like the Grayhound in the US.) The coach was quite comfortable and had a nice toilet at the end. We arrived at Heathrow airport at 10:30, in good time for the 1:05pm flight.

After lunch, I went to foreign exchange to turn my remaining British pounds into US dollars. I was surprised to see how little I got back. We get really short-changed by exchanging money! Before you leave Europe, try not to have too much Euro cash remaining in your hand. You should spend all the coins as the foreign exchange does not take coins.

The flight from London was delayed by more than an hour. When we reached Philadelphia, we only had 40 minutes to go through immigration, get our baggage, clear customs, recheck in the baggage, find the next gate, buy our dinner, and board the next plane which started moving as soon as we stepped onto the aircraft. But we made it!

The rest of the journey was quite uneventful. Patrick's dad picked us up at the airport. We then picked up Kevin and Kenny from their home and drove home. It was strange that I wasn't sleepy while driving in spite of the fact I had been sleepless for more than 24 hours.