Worthing to London

I woke up earlier to say goodbye to Nicola this morning, before going back into bed again. We eventually woke up and prepared the case for the commute back into London. Carol picked us up again and drove us to the station where we bid farewell to catch the train.

Once we got into Victoria station we had to catch the tube to Euston, the closest station to the Royal National Hotel. There was one problem with this; there are no elevators at Victoria station. So as Justine pulled her case on the stairs behind her, the extendable handle snapped off and she was left with a very handle-less bag. She managed to pull it behind her, onto the escalator and then in the opposite sequence once we got to Euston. By the time we’d walked to the hotel from the station Justine was getting the first of many bruises on the backs of her legs.

We checked in and had a slight rest before heading back to Euston. We caught the train to get off at East Finchley, caught the bus down and walked back to Hilary’s, where my case and half a dozen plastic bags were waiting for us. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see Hilary one last time as we shoved plastic bags into the empty hand luggage and backpack we’d brought, before heading back onto the bus to the train station. Needless to say, we didn’t feel the need to climb to the second story.

Once we had done the luggage commute from Euston for the second time that day (this time me pulling the case, which fortunately still has a handle) we organized our individual cases into under 20kg each. Then it was time to put the excess luggage in storage at the Contiki basement, where it will stay until the end of our tour. We went upstairs to the meeting where we saw Steve from our last tour. He threw Justine a Nessie toy and told us to take good care of her when we go to Scotland. We also got to meet our tour manager and driver for the next tour; Anna and Geordie (Michael).

After the meeting I headed off on the train to meet up with my friend Gosia, who co-hosts our radio show What They Said. She’s doing a journalism exchange program in London this year and it was our last chance to catch up before the end of the year. It was a great night as we sat and caught up on each other’s travels and experiences overseas, all while drinking a jug of cocktail. It was good to see another familiar face as well, and made me feel that little bit more at home.