Sunday 29th July
Happy Birthday Jack! 8 today eh, and boy does time fly! It seems like only yesterday we arrived here on the island, and now everything we own is packed into suitcases and ready to leave once more! I've been down into town one last time for supplies - two small bottles of water and pastries for both of us! Not long after that we were sat on the sea wall at the bottom of the drive, waiting for our transfer to the airport. Wildlife was aplenty once more - a tiny lizard appeared on the wall next to my knee, and in the wake of a large yacht I spotted some large marine animal - be it seal, turtle or dolphin, unfortunately we couldn't tell before it disappeared!
Upon loading our luggage into the coach's hold, we were informed by the rep that the flight had been delayed by an hour! On top of this news, when we arrived at the check-in desk, there was a long hold up as they struggled to check our baggage allowances! Really, that kind of thing should be on an easily-accessed system! Never-the-less, we managed to get our bags accepted (a good 5kg under our allowance) and get through passport control. Sadly, the passport officer refused a stamp for Katie's first proper holiday abroad.
After 1:45pm we boarded the plane, a full hour after we were meant to have taken off. Such is life! Soon though we were in the air, bidding goodbye to the lovely island of Kefalonia. Waiting on another delicious in-flight meal, we purchased headphones and settled in to watch a promising film, "We Bought A Zoo", headlining Matt Damon and Scarlet Johannsen. Given a choice of beef with dumplings or roast chicken, we both went for the latter, though no doubt the first would have been tasty. A little bit of broccoli, some carrot, one mini sausage, a ball of stuffing, some roast spuds and a lovingly moist piece of chicken later, and I have to say, Mr. Martin sure knows food!
To complete the in-flight meal the warm lunch was accompanied by a roll with butter, a slightly bitter (but still tasty) orange marmalade pudding, a small pack of crackers and a slice of mature cheddar, desserted by a tiny square of flavoursome chocolate. To do away with the fancy words - yum! Soon after the film ended: We Bought A Zoo is quite a nice film - very warm-hearted and funny, a very feel-good family film. All in all a great way to pass two hours! Katie and I estimated that we were over France by now, at the very least mainland Europe, as during the movie we were able to spy the alps poking through the cloud cover below off to one side of the plane.
Well, we landed back home in England at 3:45, dead on time according to the pilot, and wearily disembarked. After a fair wait for the suitcases and a brief stop at the toilets, we emerged from arrivals to Mum, Grandma and Jack waiting for us. Before we knew it, we were piled into Grandma's car and off back to Coventry, staring out of the windows in wild wonder at the mass of clouds, so unused to them as we were! Not much else of note followed that day, besides handing out holiday gifts, and so here my account of our holiday comes to a close. Katie's first foray on an airplane, what may well be the last excursion on Jamie's trip that I have, a gorgeous array of food and a host of delightful vistas, will all linger in our memories for a lifetime. Thank-you Kefalonia!
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