Destination UK

Saturday 15th May

A relaxing start to our final day saw us all pack up our suitcases for one final time at our individual hosts homes before heading off to rendezvous at Tom's house. We all placed our bags on the scales and repacked and adjusted accordingly so that each bag would weigh under 50lbs, that's 23kg in European money.

Onwards to the airport courtesy of Margie, Charlie and young Dillon (very many thanks to you all) and the shenanigans started again. The automatic check in didn't work so we queued up and once again Steve wasn't on the ticket and seemingly not booked on the flight which was a little cause for concern. Meanwhile everyone else swapped more stuff from suite case to suitcase to make the weight according to the official scales. Eventually everyone including Steve got checked in and we all cleared security and settled down to wait for our flight.

Just prior to boarding, Andrea decided to do a bit of shopping (as is a woman's prerogative) and just managed to make the gate before it closed!!! Safely on board we ended up waiting around while the suite cases of a number of travellers were removed from the hold because they unfortunately arrived at the gate too late!!!

A detour around Irish air space due to the volcanic ash saw us delayed a little further and at approximately 09:30 we landed in 'chilly' Manchester and reunited with our families. Alec and Derek our guardian Rotarian's also greeted us and for the very final time we all stood in a line and posed in front of a lens.

Our American adventure was finally over, it's going to take some time for it all to sink in and it somehow seemed strange to be going our seperate ways after spending so much time together (without a single cross word may I add! just in case you were wondering) over the last month.

However, were only half way through our year long GSE experience so stay tuned for updates as we spread the word amongst the Rotarians of District 1050