Well today was another long travel day but it was never meant to be part of the trip so it’s not really a concern. The trip technically ended in Paris but flying out of Paris was too expensive for most people. Contiki is based out of London so the coach has to come back here anyways and they offer a free ride to anyone else who does too. They should just say that the trip ends in London and bring everyone back with them but they don’t. I’m sure they have a good reason.
We actually made good time and got to London at 3:15pm. We gained an hour when we left France so the total time travelled was around 7 hours with breaks for border-crossing and lunch. I upgraded my room to a single because it was my last night on the trip and I had been sharing my space enough these last few weeks. When I got to my room I had to fight the urge to immediately go to sleep and I met up with Team Canada (Tracey, Lisa, Laura, Jamie) for one of the famous double-decker bus tours of London instead.
The bus makes frequent stops to pick people up and drop them off in different areas and your pass allows you 24-hour access to their services so you can just hop back on wherever and whenever you want. They have lines that run all over the city but we got on the main line which takes you past Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, London Bridge, Parliament, etc. The bus moves pretty fast and doesn’t stop specifically for the sights – it just shows you where they are and then you can hop off at the nearest stop and do your business and get back on later. I didn’t get many pictures due to this fact. Here’s what I got though:
We rode the bus for almost 3 hours but still didn’t see everything. We had to hop off 2/3 of the way through and walk back to our hotel since the other buses stopped running. It was also getting windy so it worked out for the best. We stopped for hot chocolate on the walk back because it was pretty cold on the bus and also hot chocolate is delicious.
Everyone on our trip who was still in London was meeting at a bar by the hotel for another final goodbye. This was like our third final goodbye but it was the final final goodbye so it was pretty important. There were only about 25 people and all of them were completely exhausted and mildly depressed so it wasn’t as exciting as the other final goodbyes but it was good. And that was pretty much it. Anti-climactic post, eh?
But wait! There’s more! I met up with Tracey around 11pm to return her class photo that I signed and also because I love her. I felt like we deserved a special goodbye because I thought we had a special relationship and for once I was right. Climax! Stay classy folks!
Well I fly out tomorrow and that will be the end of the most fun, action packed, kick-ass adventure that I’ve ever had. I think I spent more money on this trip than I spent on my car but my car drives me to Syosset, NY and this trip drove me to 11 different countries. So fuck it.
Goodbye Europe! Thanks for the memories!
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