London, Day 16

All right, Day 16!!! Has it really been that many days? On one hand it seems like we’ve been gone forever, but on the other it seems like we just left!

This morning we started out in Rome, and rather than worry about another fiasco like Paris (hehe…) we decided to get a taxi to the airport; a bit pricey at €50 but a lot better than having to buy new plane tickets if our train took 2-3 times longer than it was supposed to. So, we arranged a taxi to pick us up and take us to the airport at 8am.

The taxi arrived at 7:30, and promptly began calling our room; of course we weren’t completely ready, but he waited…thankfully. So, our taxi turned out to be more of a private car; you know like the four door Mercedes’/BMW’s that drive people around? And our driver was smartly dressed in a very nice suit. Forty-five minutes later we were at the airport. (We flew out of Ciampano in Rome, which is not the biggest airport—Fiumicini.) Anyway, our flight to Luton (north-side of London) was event free, and we picked up our rental car without a hitch.

Now comes the fun part…driving on the wrong side of the car; on the wrong side of the road. :-D Actually not that bad after the first few minutes, as the truly hard part was shifting my little Audi A3 with my left hand instead of my right. Of course, we stayed on the main roads for the most part, with only about ½ mile on a narrow two lane road which seemed like it would be a harrowing experience!

We made it to Stonehenge, which is about 1-1 ½ hours outside of London, easily enough; and set out to explore the mysteries of it all. Stonehenge really is a big pile of rocks, in the middle of no where; there’s nothing but farmhouses and fields as far as you can see. This truly does add to the mystery, as the somewhat rolling landscape is a stark contrast to these towering rocks sticking up out of the ground. (Travel note here, enjoy the ride out and back; as the actual park is no more than the stones—i.e. not much to see; maybe 30-45 minutes on site. They do include an audio guide with your ticket which is very interesting.)

After Stonehenge, we hopped back in our Audi and headed towards Gatwick (south-side of London) for our return flight to Atlanta. At our hotel, we ate in the bar—as the restaurant had a long wait—and got to watch a futbol game with the constituents! (Along with enjoying some fish ‘n chips one last time!)

Tomorrow it’s off to the airport, and our 9 ½ hr flight back to Atlanta! (Yay!) ;-)

Check back tomorrow, as I’m going to try to write down some of the little humorous things that happened along the way!