27th January We're Off!

D-Day has arrived! A bit of a manic morning with Amy and Freddie squeezing in an early breakfast with family members before Amy got back in time (just) for a haircut.

Before - washed and ready to cut

Mid point

Done!

A serious amount of hair chopped off but holiday ready. Then it was back home for final packing, checks, the last episode of The Traitors  (excellent viewing) and the icing on the cake - our local Maidstone football club beating Ipswich to get into the fourth round of the FA Cup!

Anyway our friend Paul's 'Uber' arrived on time (he'll get a good review😅) and once we all squeezed in the back of his car we were off, knowing we were going to be delayed on route.  With a few diversions we arrived at the Long Stay car park an hour later than originally planned but we were calm. That was until we couldn't find Freddie's glasses which he'd taken off on the journey and dropped. There was much scrabbling, phone torches on and protruding backsides from the depths of the car footwells as everyone was involved in locating them. Thankfully they were found in the front footwell and now securely placed back on Freddie.

Time for a photo before the bus came.

Luckily it was just a short wait before we got on a bus to the terminal but a bit of a panic when it went to Terminal 3. We thought it was going to Terminal 2 first! Fortunately that's the order of the drop offs - I was having palpitations thinking we'd got on the wrong bus, especially with the time ticking along.

Eventually having arrived in the right terminal we used the express check. But it wasn't very express as we ended up having to go to a further away check in as we have rucksacks!

Bags checked in and off to find a spot of dinner. Having only had grapes, cheese and biscuits and a slice of fruit cake today, as the cupboards were bare, I was starving. We ordered, ate and then I managed to have an early bath by knocking over my drink into my lap! 

We've just managed to do our 10k steps walking to the gate for our flight, so I feel like my daily exercise regime over the next 9 weeks is off to a good start.

All ready to go! Ian's already watching films and we haven't even taken off 😅. Getting ready to have a hot towel and got our pillows and blankets ready.  Now ready for the off!