Editor’s Note – Today, we conclude a week-long series on Coach Jeff’s Blog about our family’s recent trip to London and Paris. Today, I’ll tell you about coming home.
Our family’s 2014 vacation was wonderful. We saw sights we’d never seen; been places we’d never been.
But after seven long days of travel, it was time to go home.
Paul turned to me on that last day and asked if he should feel guilty that he was ready to go home. I told him not at all. “There comes a point on every vacation,” I said, “when you’re just done.”
And that’s where we were. To complicate matters, I was just beginning to suffer from another vacation-induced kidney stone, so I was really ready to be back in the states.
That’s not to say that we didn’t have a wonderful vacation – from our last fun at Musee’ d’Orsay all the way back to when we first spotted Big Ben, it was an epic seven days. One for the books.
And so was our trip home – epic.
We woke up at 6 a.m. Paris time (that’s 12 midnight back home) for our cab ride to Orly Airport. For the return home, we’d travel in reverse of the BNA to YYZ to LHR marathon we had completed just seven days earlier. This time, we also added the short ORY to LHR leg to begin the journey. By the time we pulled into the driveway back home, 23 hours would have elapsed.
Holly made plans stick around the EU for one last week of sightseeing with one of her high school pals. So, as we prepared to leave, we grabbed our things, gave her a quick hug goodbye and then we set out. The cab ride to ORY was mostly quiet (and efficient) as we beat the Paris morning rush hour considerably.
For much of the trip home, since I wasn’t feeling my best, I slept. I would say I slept for about half the time we were in the air. The hop to LHR (on British Airways) was a quick one. The leg from LHR to YYZ was very long. No matter. It gave me more time to sleep!
First, we were slightly delayed getting out of London. Then, the pilot came on the intercom to tell us he had filed a different flight plan that would add nearly to hours to our journey (great, just great).
So, instead of flying a flat arch across the Atlantic, we followed a more pronounced bow that would take us up across the middle of Greenland and back down through the northern part of the Canadian maritimes. As I said, it was no matter. I just slept. Paul said the additional flight time gave him the opportunity to watch a total of four movies in flight.
The additional flight time also consumed any downtime we’d have at Pearsons International in Toronto. Instead, we had to make the same harried journey through customs and security in order to make it safely to our gate for the final leg to Nashville.
At a certain point, you just want to be able to sleep in your own bed again. I guess I felt a little like Tom Hanks in his portrayal of Jim Lovell in Apollo 13. Late in the voyage, he tells his colleagues he just wants to go home. That’s how I felt as we were waiting to take off in Toronto.
As an aside, because of the delays I think I would re-think using Air Canada for a future trip. With just the two daily flights in and out of Nashville, you really have little to no margin for error. Otherwise, the Air Canada experience was a very positive one.
In any case, we made it to our final destination. We collected our bags. Immediately, we could tell we were back on familiar ground.
When we got to the shuttle bus, the driver carefully told us – in a friendly Tennessee accident – where we were going. He commented that he didn’t want us going to the wrong parking lot. Then, he asked if we were all on the right bus. We confirmed. He smiled and said “Welcome home.”
It felt good to be back; turning into our driveway at home a few hours later felt even better.
Our 2014 European vacation was fantastic. It was our first time to go to Europe. We visited some iconic landmarks in two of the greatest cities in the world. As I’ve told you this week, it was a magnificent experience.
But then again, so was the feeling we felt when our headlights fell upon the front of our house 23 hours after starting the day’s journey. Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.
JG
Originally posted 5/22/2014
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