Friday 2nd October.
That's it then! Prescriptions signed, farewells said, parties celebrated and thank you letters written. After three glorious autumnal weeks at home and in Scotland, we are finally off on our travels!
After a very short night we had a straightforward drive to Kingston for an excellent, if rather brief, lunch with Ruth followed by an uplifting taxi ride to Heathrow in the company of the charismatic Jay. Fortunately he confirms our firmly held view that 'you only get one life'!
New Zealand airlines provided an excellent flight on NZ1 and we arrived early in Los Angeles to a chaotic system of electronic passport booths and endless queues.
Eventually we escaped to the shuttle bus and the Hilton airport hotel.
Glorious air conditioning and a quiet calm atmosphere greeted us, and we found Mike waiting for us in the lobby, Hawaii guide book in hand.
We all confessed to feeling pretty tired and so after a few glasses of iced water and a plate of Caesar salad we all turned in for the night.