Mediterranean cruise and European adventure - Day 13 - Travel Day

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Travel Day

This isn’t the most exciting day of our trip, consisting mostly of hanging out and travel, which was fine. We were ready for a break from being tourists I think. Though Roger did get a little sightseeing in, so I’ll let him guest blog his portion. You see, this is the part of the trip where we split up. Roger needed to get back to work as his vacation time is limited. My work being more flexible, I arranged for Emmaline and I to travel back to Geneva with Dru to stay with her for a couple of nights.

We got up and ate breakfast and Roger’s flight being earlier, we said goodbye and he took a car to the airport around 8 AM to head back to London. From there he would do some sightseeing before his scheduled flight the next morning back to Austin. Dru, Emmaline and I had a leisurely morning of goofing around including making a carpool karaoke video of The Beatles “Drive My Car” using the chairs from the table and a plate (for a steering wheel). It’s about as silly as you’re imaging it in your head. I also tried to set my hairdryer on fire by not switching the switch on the side to change the voltage. Oops. I get to order a new one of those! Luckily our apartment had a hair dryer and my diffuser actually fit on it (whew) so no frizzy hair for me.

Our car to the airport arrived around 10:30 and we had an uneventful journey to the airport. Our flight was about an hour delayed, however, which was sort of a bummer, but it wasn’t a very long flight so that was nice. Also, Vueling (Spanish discount air carrier) has the least amount of leg room I’ve ever seen on an airplane. Not sure I would choose them again!

We arrived in Geneva and took pubic transit to Dru’s house where her husband Nils was waiting. I was so happy to meet him, never having met before. Nils and Emmaline got to know each other over a game of chess and Dru made fondue for dinner. We had a lovely dinner as the beautiful sun set and we enjoyed the view from the balcony.




Meanwhile in London…

My flight on Easy Jet was easy and uneventful. I hadn’t thought about flying over lunch but luckily buying lunch on the plane was a very reasonable price and pretty good. I was also able to buy my Gatwick Express ticket on board which I knew would save me some time at the airport.

After arriving at Victoria Station I wheeled my heavy, wine-laden suitcase with a broken wheel much further than our first hotel had been, which was frustrating but I was happy to arrive to my hotel to my small room, turn on the air conditioning to rest and cool off for a little while.

My plan was to check out the Imperial War Museum so I hopped on a bus nearby (thanks to the Citymapper app for directions) and made it easily. Admission to the museum is free though there are plenty of opportunities to donate. The exhibits cover the 20th century with the largest being for World War I and the Holocaust, though also plenty of World War II equipment and artifacts as well as some more modern pieces. The building and exhibits are well laid-out and I enjoyed my time there, though the Holocaust exhibit was very emotionally heavy.

I caught the same bus back toward my hotel, stopping in at a wine shop for one last souvenir bottle. After a brief relax at the hotel, it was about dinner time so I went out to a pub for a burger (hadn’t had one all trip), chips and some stout, which was all very good. After dinner I stopped in a grocery for a few breakfast snacks so I could eat something in the morning before I could get something more substantive at the airport. I went to bed early since I needed to get up early to catch a train, but a few hours later, disaster struck.

Click here for Day 14.

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