Today we fly home. Our flight is at 2 and I have scheduled us an uber for 10. It should take us about 1:30 to get to the airport so we won’t be that early.

We got all packed last night so we headed out this morning to get a pastry at Gail’s. We had passed one on our way to the subway the other day but then couldn’t find it this morning. It was in the retail tunnel between the train and tube stations. We incorrectly went to the tube station and didn’t find it and then went around the back still looking for it before I remembered what we had done. Once there it was an easy trek back to the hotel. The pastries were as good as they had been out in Hampstead so if you are in London and you pass a Gail’s you should stop in for a bite.

The uber was right on time and it took us 45 minutes to get across London to the E&A museum. I had thought our cab to the Tower hotel last trip and been really long due to a protest that was going on but now I realize it is just a long way across town with no good way to go. So although I like this hotel I won’t be staying there again. I will definitely stay on the west side of town or close to the train that goes right out to the airport.

We made it to the airport with no problems and I decided to check all my bags. Good thing I did because Val ended up with too much and I had to carry one of her bags on the plane. Flying business is so much nicer than economy. I don’t know if I am going to be able to go back. I don’t even ever lay the seat flat but it is so nice to have your legs raised up and have your own little cocoon area. I tried to sleep and probably did a little bit mostly just laid there. I didn’t get my earbuds out so I could listen to my own music and stuff which was disappointing but I survived. I certainly wasn’t going to buy a second pair on this trip.

The flight was pretty uneventful. The Chicago airport is a dump and our connecting flight was delayed so we spent more time there than intended. We finally made it back to Austin around 1 in the morning. It was a full day and I was super tired but glad to be home.

I had a great time on the trip. I had been planning it for a few years and planned my retirement to come right before we left. I thought it would be good to not only have something to think about other than the retirement and also would give me a transition before I had to come up with how I am going to spend my days going forward. Turns out it was pretty hectic.

Some of you know but I didn’t really say much about it, but my mom passed the Sunday before I retired. She had a rough spring, did a little better at the start of the summer then started declining pretty fast. We put her on hospice care in June but she was doing okay until she fell in early August. She never really recovered from that.

My mom loved to travel. She loved to go anywhere it didn’t matter where it was or what we were doing she just liked to go. She was the easiest travel companion I ever had. I could plan anything and it would be the best thing ever. I took her all over. Our first big trip together was to England. We did it the spring of 2002. She was worried and invited a friend from her college days to come with us. I was so mad at her for that. Turned out it was okay the friend was really fussy and made my mom look so good in comparison.

We had a great time. I rented a car and she was the navigator. She wasn’t very good at it but we made it from London to Scotland and back. She was notorious for sleeping in the car, even when she was driving, but she stayed awake the whole trip taking pictures out the window.

After that trip we did a trip up Oregon, Washington and Vancouver. She loved the ocean and that drive up the Oregon coast was amazing. From there we did the east coast Boston, Vermont and Maine. Nobody loved clam chowder more than mom and she ate it every place we went.

That was our last big trip with just the two of us. My sisters started coming along. We took mom to the Derby (twice), Philadelphia, the Grand Canyon, Charleston, Savannah, Memphis (she loved barbecue ribs), Nashville, Newport, Glacier, Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, Alaska, Vegas (she loved the penny slots) and countless times to Boston to paint Santa’s. She would have traveled every day if she could. I am a lot like her. I love to go … I got that from her.