Loading into Patrick's van one last time on Saturday morning we headed off to Bordeaux airport where we encountered major roadworks that resulted in Patrick muttering what I am sure were French expletives under his breath and me muttering expletives in English not quite under my breath. We checked in with literally minutes to spare and were soon in the air en route to Gatwick leaving Yvie to wait for her flight to Rome.
We bid farewell to Christy and Fiona, our transfer to Heathrow happened smoothly and with perfect timing we met Sharon's kids arriving from Australia and after tearful hugs good bye saw them off on the Heathrow Express for the next part of their adventure.
Rosey, Russell and I meanwhile were off to Vegas…
Dealing with airport formalities fairly quickly, we came out into arrivals and saw Zoe waiting for us – more tears, it's been eight months ! One last cab trip into Vegas and we eventually caught up with the Taylor's who had been set loose on the strip and were acting like locals 😉 as well as Ricky and Tannika – we were now the 'wedding eight.'
Journeying from the gentle French countryside to the chaos and excitement of the strip on Saturday night was a huge culture shock but we warmed to the task and fought our way through stifling crowds and temperatures to ultimately settle on the Cheeesecake Factory for a very late group dinner.
There was, of course, an Eiffel Tower to remind us of what we had left behind 😉