After a night of restless sleep, we woke up and gathered our belongings after a quick shower. We dressed in our "Jubilee Gear" that John, Jude and Catherine had given us, so we depicted true tourist style for the long day of flying ahead of us. We ate our leftovers from dinner the night before for breakfast and washed it down with pop from the vending machine.

Down at the front desk, we checked out and received a receipt for our stay. We asked the front desk attendant if she could also call for a cab to pick us up and take us to the airport. She called ahead and booked us a cab and said it would be out front at half 8. We decided to sit outside and wait for the cab. During our wait, we saw the family with the rowdy children again. The twins came over and said hi to us before they were called back inside the hotel. Not long after they went inside, Andy told me to look behind me through the window I was sitting in front of. One of the twins, the boy, had his body smashed against the glass making faces at us. We laughed and waved at him and both agreed they had to be a hand full!

Our cab soon arrived and the cab driver loaded our belongings into the back of the van as we climbed in. He asked for our ticket and I explained that I didn't have one, and that the front desk attendant had called for him to come, but we were not given a ticket. He said, "Well you have to have one" and I explained once again that I did not have a ticket. So he proceeded into the hotel to talk to the woman at the front desk. Apparently she said that I should have had a ticket and he asked how I paid for the cab when I arrived. I explained to him that we did not pay because we were never asked to. He became upset at this and shouted at us, "Well you're going to pay THIS driver!" He climbed in the van and got on the phone and called ahead and explained that we did not have a ticket and needed to know how much we were to pay. Unfortunately I was too frazzled by the incident to remember that I had exactly the amount needed to pay for our ride in change, so Andy paid with his last £20.00 note. I'm not sure that we gave a tip, but either way, he didn't deserve one.

We made it to the airport and checked in one bag (carrying our dirty laundry because if that got lost or stolen, we could do without our stinky socks!) and made our way through security. We finally made it to our gate and waited...and waited...and waited some more. An hour and 20 minutes later we were able to board the plane, one not as modern and sophisticated as the one we flew in to London. It was nearly uncomfortable how hot it was on the plane and there was only ONE air vent between the two of us. Since our late departure, our pilot did announce that he would put the pedal to the metal and get us there as quickly as he could. I sat next to the window for the flight and managed to get an hour nap in, but Andy, the alert traveler that he is stayed wide awake for the entire journey. With the outdated plane, the entire cab had to watch the same movies and they showed four on our journey across the Atlantic. None of them were spectacular, but at least it was one way for us to occupy our time.

We touched down in Atlanta actually 15 minutes prior to our scheduled arrival time, so our pilot wasn't kidding about the pedal to the metal bit! But it was a good thing that we arrived when we did, because the line through security was long and hot! We managed to make our way through the human maze and ran to see the board saying what gate we would be flying from and it said, "BOARDING". We were supposed to nearly a 2 hour layover so we went into near panic mode and made a run for it. My feet were still killing me from all of the walking in London and dragging a stuffed full suitcase along behind me wasn't helping, so that when we arrived at our gate and found that the flight wasn't actually boarding, and that there wasn't even a plane at the gate, I was more than a little perturbed.

Andy called home to let them know that we made it through and that we were just waiting for the plane to arrive. Mom said that they would be up in Pittsburgh doing a little shopping and then they'd be at the airport waiting for us. We confirmed the time we were supposed to get in to Pittsburgh and began playing the waiting game again. Finally we were called to board the plane and this time since it was a small aircraft, Andy sat next to the window. It was a very short flight, but it took a wide flight path into Pittsburgh, actually flying over Wheeling and Andy said that he saw Bethany College as we made our way in for landing.

We gathered our dirty clothes bag and made it through customs without any problems and soon made it outside to the tan van waiting for us. Hugs and kissed were showered upon us and despite our tired traveled bodies aching for more British adventures, it was good to be home.