The fifth and final part of the vacation report.

Day 9 (Tuesday): This would be our last full day in Hythe, but after the major outing the previous day, we all needed a lower key day. The children badly wanted to go swimming, so we met the family on the beach in the morning. They brought a blanket and swim gear.

I planned to dip my toes in the English Channel but wasn’t ready to do it right away. The children were eager to go, despite the facts that, a. it was a breezy, cool day, b. the water was cold, and c. the waves were higher and rougher than usual. The first two factors didn’t really bother them. They’re used to cooler air and water temperatures. However, the unusually high surf meant they couldn’t really swim very much. And being bounced on the shore by a wave is much less comfortable on their shingle beach than on sand.

Still, the children spent some time playing in the waves, while we watched and drank hot coffee. Joe did go in the water with them for a while and I admired his bravery. I admired it even more after I ventured a couple of steps into the water. It was cold! Not the kind of cold that feels good after the initial shock wears off. The kind of cold that freezes your toes in short order. I also learned that flip-flops are not the most stable footwear for a rock beach. I kept my balance, but it was a near thing.

Later we returned to their house for a quiet afternoon of visiting and playing games. I learned a couple of fun new games: Tinderblox and Dobble.

We gave James a new, metal baseball bat for his birthday and he immediately christened it by taking it out in the front garden and batting small balls which he’d improvised from tinfoil. The tinfoil was a good choice given that their front yard is small and his batted balls are landing close to neighbors’ cars and windows. He has a nice looking swing already, though.

He watches a lot of baseball with his Dad, who is a long-time Atlanta Braves fan, so he knows the game pretty well though he doesn’t get it to see it live very often over there. But apparently there are some small-scale American Baseball leagues. Throwing a ball with his Dad is also a favorite leisure-time activity.

To celebrate the end of a wonderful visit, Jim and I took everyone out to dinner at Azzur (https://azzuritalian.co.uk/) a fabulous Italian restaurant in Hythe. The family-run place is small but elegant with superb food. From cocktails right through dessert, we all enjoyed every bit of the meal. I was fortunate to have James sitting right next to me. When I couldn’t quite finish the enormous dish of pasta that accompanied my spaghetti frutti di mare, he took care of it for me.

The Hythe Imperial Hotel – our home away from home

Day 10: Our last day in England. I feel melancholy even as I write this. Although we’d talked about the train to Heathrow, Joe ended up driving us to the hotel where we’d spend the night before our flight back to the US. We spend the morning with them after we’d packed up and checked out of the Hythe Imperial Hotel.

The hotel was a great place to stay, by the way. Nice rooms and a comfortable bed. We slept well. They had a breakfast buffet that featured the standard full English breakfast items – fried potatoes, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, beans, mushrooms, and broiled tomatoes. They also had cereals, pastries, yogurt, fruits, toast, various juices, coffee, and tea. Pretty much whatever you wanted for breakfast was available. We ate their most mornings, and Jim discovered he was very fond of that full English breakfast.

Anyway, we spent the morning playing with the children and talking before we had to leave with enough time for Joe to get back out of London before the rush-hour traffic turned the M25 into a sluggishly moving car park.

The Hilton Garden Inn Heathrow was nice enough and we had a decent dinner there, but its only interesting feature was that our room window looked out over one of the runways, so we watched large planes fly by every minute or two as they landed at the airport. Fortunately the sound-proofing was adequate and we didn’t really hear them roaring past so the noise wasn’t a problem.

Freya’s got her pre-teen vibe on.

The fifth and final part of the vacation report. Knowing we’d have to get up early to catch the 5:40 a.m. shuttle bus, we went to bed quite early. I was surprised to fall asleep at nine. I was less surprised but more dismayed to wake up at 2:30 and know that I wouldn’t be getting back to sleep. I tried to stay quiet for a while and drop back off, but about 3:30 I realized Jim was awake, too, so we got up and got ready to go.

The rest was pretty much smooth sailing. We got the shuttle bus to Heathrow Terminal 3, checked in, got coffee and nibbles in the terminal while we waited for a gate assignment, and did some souvenir shopping. Not sure who needs to hear this, but there’s a lovely Harrod’s branch in the terminal with a lot of nice things available, including some of the best chocolate you’re ever likely to taste.

Anyway, we finally did get loaded on the plane and made the long trip back to Atlanta. More about the good, the bad, and the ugly of flying internationally in a future post. The good news is we arrived back in Greensboro before dark. And the rest was sleep…