Day 10 cont.

Our last stop-over was only added as it was cheaper to fly back to London, spend a few nights and get the train home, than fly direct back to Edinburgh. It seemed like a good idea, although was maybe a little much after the Iceland and New York legs.

When I booked the flight it was due to leave JFK at 19:00, but it was changed to 22:00 about a month after booking. It was still the best option, but with the Airbnb, check-in meant we’d spend a good few hours at JFK before the flight. In hindsight, we should have tried to get my daughter straight to sleep on the flight, but she wanted to watch a film and after that struggled to sleep, so it was only about an hour before we landed that she finally fell asleep.

Day 11

Waking after only an hour and it being morning and needing to get across London was a bit much for us all, but we eventually made it to the final Airbnb of the adventure. My partner and daughter went straight to bed, while I tried to stay awake and caught up on some news. They woke in time for a quick walk out to grab dinner and some suppliers, before heading back to bed for good nights sleep.

We had booked some tickets for the London Eye the next afternoon, which was good as we didn’t head out until about 12:00, so after some lunch, it was time to join the huge queue, even though we had booked a specific time slot. To be fair, the line moved pretty quickly and we didn’t wait for more than 45 minutes even though it seemed longer in the warm sun.

From there it was onto the National Gallery looking to see some specific pictures that can be found in the James Mayhew Katie and the British Artists book. My daughter is called Katee after all! From there it was some more food, before a quick visit to the Moomin and Apple shops in Covent Garden and the tube home.

Day 12

Our train home the next day wasn’t until 15:00, so we had some time to kill in the morning. My daughter picked a walk over Tower Bridge, which if we’d thought about more could have included the tour, but given it was a sunny Good Friday and London was mobbed, we settled for a gentle stroll over and some lunch before a tube to collect our bags and a Uber to the station to pick up supplies for the 4-5 hour train journey home.

It went pretty quickly with films, Uno and mobile phones helping fill the time, before finally arriving home just after 8 pm. Our last job was to collect our puppy who’d been looked after whilst we were away, and it was a great reunion with lots of hugs and kisses! A pretty great holiday, although the kind that needs to holiday to recover from.

Day 13 & 14

We’ve been spoiled by some fantastic weather for the remainder of the Easter weekend, which has helped to get all the washing done, as well as spending some quality time outside with the pooch. Our next holiday will include her, so will be a little closer to home…