This morning we got up bright and early and said goodbye to our hotel for the last time before dragging our stuff to the train station. After a quick train to the station on the mainland we played the waiting game until our train to Termini. When we got on my hopes of a comfortable ride were dashed in an instant; the train was the same style as the night train (of terror) that we had taken before. However, the people in our cabin were extremely pleasant, there was no foul smell, and the cabins were air-conditioned. For the first four or so hours of the ride I worked on catching up on the blog for Venice as well as going through the 750 or so photos from the past few days. At one point a lovely little old nun came into our car to talk. She was extremely kind and spoke to us slowly so that we could understand, and we actually ended up having a conversation with her in Italian! We talked about what we had been doing and where we were going, and she kept telling us “Bravi!” when we would respond, much to the amusement of the other Italians in the car with us. For the rest of the trip I watched a movie on my iPod and enjoyed the ride. However, no train ride would be complete without a little tension; towards the end of the ride two police officers came to our cabin and asked us for passports. We nervously handed them over and watched in silent fear as they scrutinized them in the hallway. After a few tense moments he called out Joe and then Josh and handed their passports back. Next he called Bridget, and we all looked at each other in confusion. After a little bit he started laughing and passed it back to us since we must have looked quite distraught at the time.
We made it to Termini with no further issues and took another fantastic taxi ride from there to the airport where we checked in and waited till it was time to drop our bags off. In the mean time I picked up my final McToast of the trip, and it was a fantastic final meal in Italy. Once it was time we checked our bags and made it through security in no time before taking the tram out to our gate. There I charged my laptop, changed my last Euros into pounds and read before returning to the gate to board. It was really weird being in the British Airways terminal because 90% of the voices we heard were speaking English, which didn’t even happen when we were in our apartments because we would always try (usually poorly) to speak in Italian to each other. Anyway, we got on the plane, which turned out to be extremely nice (my seat was offset from the one in front so I had a ton of leg room!), and the British gent I sat next to was very nice as well. We talked for a bit until we got our sandwiches (prawn and rocket!) before I conked out for the flight. When it was time to prepare for landing the view out the window to the English Chanel was gorgeous, especially with the sun setting in the distance.
Upon our arrival we painlessly went through security, customs, and our baggage claim, all greatly expedited by the lovely efficiency of the British people. One thing I had forgotten while in Italy was the feeling of being around consistently pleasant people, one of my favorite things about London. From the airport we had to transfer out to Gatwick for our flight back to the US, so we took a tour bus type thing out and enjoyed the beautiful city at night (JK, it was only highway driving). Once we arrived we checked into our last two flights and found our camping spots for the night. There we found a grocery store that was still open and that accepted dollars. I got a liter of chocolate milk, a triple chocolate pudding cup and a caramel frappe pudding (dinner of champions) for less than six dollars! Not only did this taste great, but my daily sugar intake was completed for today and set for tomorrow as well. After shopping we posted up in the café sitting area and I worked on the blog and relaxed until the morning.
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