Goodbye Grandad, Grandma and Uncle

 Tuesday 30^th May

 

It was a sad morning. This was the last day of our holiday. The hotel had been lovely but it was soon time to hand in our key. We all went downstairs for our last buffet English Breakfast, which was lovely. Afterwards everyone returned to their rooms … apart from dad. He ran off into London to find a model shop he wanted to visit and, see if there were any places at the sky garden.

 

I was amazed how quick dad was. It didn’t seem five minutes before dad phoned to say that there were places at the Sky Garden for those who had not booked a ticket. As all of my family were in reception at this point, we put our bags in storage, and off we went.

 

This was my first time up the sky garden. We were on the 34^th floor, apparently, and the view across London was superb. I looked down to try to find our hotel and I wish I hadn’t. The whole of London’s skyline could be seen in front of us and I did really enjoy it. Once we had seen all that there was to see, we headed inside where I sat with uncle whilst the rest of my family ventured off, upstairs and into the Sky Garden itself. I just looked around. I hadn’t seen my mum or dad part with any money therefore, if this was free, it was amazing value for money. The view is stunning. Also, when dad did eventually come back to uncle and I, he was holding a glass of fresh cold water. Once everyone had seen all they wanted to, we left the Sky Garden really pleased with ourselves.

 

We had walked past the Tower of London and we were heading in the direction of London Bridge. Dad had gone off first to see how big the queue was; he reported that it wasn’t that long however, grandma, grandad and uncle declined and decided that they would prefer just looking at the bridge and castle from the waterside. My dad returned. We actually didn’t do much else. We did a little bit of souvenir shopping in the Tower of London gift shop before heading to a ‘Paul’s’ café. Whilst having a drink and a cake, it was decided that my Japanese family had loved their holiday. Their time in the UK had been so good that they were sad to leave however, they had decided that the moment had come. Once out of the café, we headed back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and onto the underground. Destination; Heathrow.

 

Once at Heathrow, everything happened very quickly. We found that my families flight was allowing passengers to check-in. And so, we did. Grandma wanted to do some souvenir shopping once in duty-free (in fact later, my mum found out that my mum did so much shopping, she almost missed her flight!) therefore we said our goodbyes and off they went. Just like that.

 

Mum and Dad were very thirsty; it was such a hot day. Sadly, the only place open was a Costa. Reluctantly we went as I prefer independent cafes. Having said that, they did have a lovely looking Mango drink. We all took a sip and were immediately hooked. This was a problem. Mum and Dad didn’t want to go to Costa and, here we were, with a drink built for the summer. We will have to come again.

 

As a treat, Dad suggested that we took the new Elizabeth line underground train back to London. We had to walk a little further to the station but I was excited. The train itself was bigger and more comfortable than your traditional tube train. At first the view was pretty dire and I wondered what the old queen would have thought. Once under the city of London things improved drastically. Stations that seemed to be from another planet presented themselves to us and it was amazing.

 

Once off the train we were close to Covent Garden. Much to my dad’s disappointment, my mum had given my grandma their Ben’s Cookies. We were therefore on a mission to get a load more before returning to Derby. On the way to Covent Garden, we went down some lovely streets with some very interesting shops. Once we had got our cookies, we were off to St Pancras.

 

Once at St Pancras we had time to buy dinner – sushi - from M&S before boarding our train. Once on the train I decided to play ‘Jingle Bells’ on my electronic toy many, many times over. Given that it was May, I am pretty sure everyone loved it!

 

Once back in Derby my UK Grandma picked us up, and off we went home. Whilst riding in the car I thought about my holiday. It had been amazing! I had loved everything about it. It must have cost a lot therefore, I think our next holiday will be a little while away. Having said that, I had heard that it might be a place called Cornwall or Scotland. Something to do with wanting to go out of school time and me going to school next September or something. School … me! I was only born 3 years ago … I am not sure I am ready for such a big step.

 

Toodle Pip!