Closing Credits

 

Last slice of the reliable peanut butter snacks

No hanging around, a mid afternoon flight gave us few options, and that not a bad thing, I would say a preference to get up and get on. Even as night drew to a close yesterday we knew we were coming to an end of the trip and the sadness creeping into the pit of the stomach.

As we sobered up I remembered halfway through the night I needed to check in for flight home so that was the 3.30 toilet stop and then when I woke up got some swans tickets for a London trip away, so already moving into home routines, but still on the move.

Took a while to pack luggage, a few souvenirs meant our already overladen cases were indeed bulging at the seams.  A few checks and not completely clear what we have lost yet, but am sure we will be returning with a few extra things, but also without 1-2 things too.  Ate up as much as we could, the last of the bread and peanut butter which has been my friend at key snack moments over the last week.

The morning quickly got away from us, so it was down to one final stroll before check out.  A New York Deli we had identified for a quick breakfast turned out to be closed, a few things seem to be closed in Dallas on a Monday, final top piece of useless information.

We did manage to find an Elm Street and a corner cafe for a coffee and bagel alongside the local law enforcement. Not a donut in sight which was a bit of a disappointment, but hey ho.  Last walk past the book depositry, no further clues obtained, so it was check out and straight into an Uber and 30 mins to the airport.

A little early so spent time pre check in blogging, and then having to remove a bit of alcohol from our overweight bags to avoid a fee. Hope the check in staff raise a toast to us tonight!  As we lined up for security began  a mental inventory of things likely lost on this trip. A book and headphones (again, thats the second pair of bins in a year) definitely gone, lets see what else is scattered like a shadow of our trip across the USA.

Dallas Fortworth Airport pretty relaxed, a coffee, then Mcdonalds to kill more time, not enough vegi options for Chrissi here or towards the end of the trip for her liking.  But we both seem to still have our phones and passports and wallets so lets take that all as a win.

The flight home, 9 hours was very much on time, infact ahead of time so kudos to American Airlines for that. However, the service in their Premium Economy cabin was shabby to say the least. First the set up around the seats we had at the front of the cabin was not intuitive, as headphones needed to be plugged in to awkward parts of the seats, trays and tvs required odd assembly, and no alternative storage space, even if the leg room was of course good as a bulkhead.  An induction would have been reasonable service, the huffing and puffing when we asked questions falls down into the poor service category. Throw in the general attitude from the cabin staff to do as little as possible on the 9hr flight, none of those extra touches you expect in P.E, snacks, check ups, and certainly not frowns and broad irritation at any question, even when they serving lunch or breakfast. Poor, poor cabin crew AA, you will be getting feedback - this in contrast to the the outbound flight so this is not an acceptable standard.

To end on the positive though, it did get us home and on stand quickly, and the journey back to Wales was simple and without incident.  All good things have to come to an end, and this is the end of our journeying for the year abroad. Plans already afoot for next year, but with Prague, Copenhagen, Albania and the good ol US of A, we ain't done too bad looking around the place.