Homeward bound

So despite packing everything up and cleaning last night, we still missed our 10am eviction time by ten minutes! The cleaner was sitting outside in her pick up truck with her children waiting for us to finish loading the car. Hopefully she won't complain about the extra ten minutes because it was due to me running the vacuum cleaner around, washing and drying the breakfast dishes and putting them away.  

Our tardiness was mainly due though, to the incredible storm that went on directly overhead until 1am this morning.  We had to put Harrison's overnight equipment onto battery backup for safety.  None of us were able to sleep through the storm- the very night we needed to!

Last year we drove around aimlessly for several hours until we could drop the car off at the airport and check in. Today we'd decided to go back to the Cinepolis to see 'Inside Out' the new Pixar movie.

We had two hours before the start of the film so popped into Walmart to buy another bag to bring everything home. We've managed to fill another entire suitcase and a carry on and I thought we'd bought less than last year!

At the cinema complex we bought our tickets and settled down for an hour to watch the Radwanska quarter final match from Eastbourne.

To ensure that we had time for lunch, we ordered pizzas to eat whilst watching the film. The mini film showing prior to Inside Out was called Lava and it was very cute. About two volcanoes, one above sea level and one below, both of whom were looking for love. 

Inside Out was really good! So imaginative. I would say that it was definitely one of Pixar's best.

The cinema complex puts British ones to shame. It was spotlessly clean - staff were constantly sweeping and wiping up invisible crumbs and spills. There was a lovely seating and bar area with comfy chairs which could be turned to face six screens showing different sporting events. 

In the screens themselves, they weren't huge but everyone had a great view, more than enough leg room and reclining seats.

The film finished at 2:49pm so we meandered up to the airport using the I4 and back roads to avoid the tolls. This year though, we did have the cash to pay for them (unlike last year)!  We also called a porter to transfer our luggage to check-in. Embarrassingly last year, we had the help but had to admit beforehand that we didn't have any cash left to tip.  They still very kindly helped us though. 

Fortunately at check in there was nobody behind us. We checked in the cases (all under the limit - phew!) and then the duty manager suddenly appeared to ask us 'some questions'. A fleeting moment of panic until she explained that we'd been allocated three seats all in completely different parts of the cabin. They couldn't have put us further away from each other! This is despite the notes on the system saying that we must sit together and had allocated us our return seats before we left the UK!  With some shuffling around of passengers (I hope they're not too upset when they find out) we were sitting two together on the side and one across the aisle. I actually like this arrangement because it gives both Bernard and I an aisle seat.

There was no rush to get to the departure gate as the plane was delayed for an hour due to the weather.  As we had stepped out of the car rental return garage the heavens opened and another thunderstorm started. We sat by the fountain in the centre of the shopping and food court area, waiting for news about our flight and watching the lightning through the glass roof.

The storm stopped by about 8:45pm but had already further delayed the inbound flight meaning that we didn't start boarding until 9:15pm.  We finally took off 9:50pm (scheduled time was 8:05pm), but the captain was hoping to make up about 45 minutes during the flight.