Tuesday June 22nd - The End of A Fantastic 6-Week Trip!

As they say, all good things must come to an end and so it is with my 6 weeks in England.  It has been beyond all of my expectations.  I had two primary objectives - to chase my family roots and to see how steam preservation railways work in England.  I achieved all of these objectives and then some!  Quite a few bonuses along the way.  Meeting with Dawn again, travelling to the New Forest to meet up with Ann, seeing photos of my great-grandparents for the first time.  Meeting Michael Whelan and his wife Susan - in Letheringsett at the King's Head, no less!  Searching the Letheringsett Parish Records in Norwich and seeing the original birth, marriage and death records of Stephen Moore, Sarah Page, and their children.  Matthew Moore, Elizabeth Barber Gidney and their children.  Meeting up with David Mayes and Janet Jones.  Getting the photo of Robert Moore the Coachman and meeting Miss Cozens-Hardy in person.  The lads on the North Norfolk Railway - Nigel, Mike, Andy, Brian, Bob, Roger, Bernie, Steve, Peter, Mike, John, Sylvia, Malcolm, Harvey, Howard, Andre, Phil, Allistair, Peter, Nigel, Ed, Bill, Trevor and a whole lot more whose names I never got to know.  Their hospitality and friendship was fantastic.  And I learned a lot too.  Not just about the mechanical aspects of steam preservation and British railways.  But how a large organization can be run efficiently and effectively by a cadre of over 400 volunteers.

But, it was time to make my way from Oxted, up to London and out to Heathrow Airport.  I have this thing about getting to the airport early, so Helen drove me from their B&B down to the station with my heavy suitcase, carry bag, and laptop.  I caught the 9:33 train into London Victoria station.  From there, I wheeled through the station and onto the Circle Line.  Only this time, I caught the District Line by mistake (they both run through some of the same stations) but managed to correct my mistake by the next station stop.  It was an 8-minute wait for the next Circle underground train and then clicking through 20 station stops before getting to Paddington station.  If I had taken the westbound train instead of the eastbound train, it would only have been 8 station-stops.  Oh well, next time.

I struggled with my suitcase, carry-bag and laptop up the steps and into London Paddington station.  Right there in front of me down 12 steps was the Heathrow Express.  I had been planning to take the Heathrow Connect at half the price but I decided to treat myself to a bit of air-conditioned comfort.  I climbed aboard the train after buying my ticket with the train leaving the platform 4 minutes later.

We were soon out to Heathrow.  I loaded my bags onto a cart and started wheeling to Terminal 3.  Heathrow has signs all over the place so it was very easy to find the Air Canada check-in counter.  I taped my luggage tags to my bags, threw them on the conveyor belt while the agent checked my paperwork.  I quickly went through security clearance and then checked to see what gate my flight was.  Time was 11:15, my flight was 15:30.  The flight was listed but no gate.  So, I spent the next 4 hours sitting back, having a bite to eat, doing tons of Sudoku puzzles and cruising the shops.

The gate was announced at 14:45 and I leisurely made my way to the lounge and check-in.  We took off on time and landed in Montreal at 17:45.  Made it through customs by 18:45, left my luggage at the domestic check-in counter to wait for my flight to Ottawa at 21:30.  Of course, there are no earlier flights so I had to cool my heels for the next 4 1/2 hours.  I think this part of the trip was the longest.  The flight was 20 minutes late leaving Montreal but I arrived without further incident to see Sharon waiting for me in the arrivals lounge as I came down the escalators.

It's been a fantastic trip and we'll have to do it again.