The last day of
topdeck, was, as you can probably imagine after five weeks together
and a night of no sleep, full of emotions.
After we had packed
up our soaked and muddy tents for the last time (ever, thankfully) we
headed onto the bus and made the most of the dry and warmth and slept
the whole way to Bruges, which I did accidentally pronounce Brug-ee
in my head for the first few minutes there because it was written on
all the postcards and signs as Brugge... I blame the lack of sleep on
that one.
I don't have many
photos of Belgium because I was tired, in my pyjamas and too busy
eating all the waffles and chocolate I could get my hands on, but
here are a couple I managed to take in the pauses between bites...
Bruges was picture
perfect, and stunning in every way, from the architecture to the
people to the food (of course!). But when we went back to the coach
we had to say goodbye to a couple of the group who were staying in
Europe which was so hard.. There were a few tears at that point and
we all reluctantly got onto the coach and made our way to Calais.
Once we got to the
ferry terminal we had to say goodbye to Matty and Scotty, our
incredible Chef and Driver, which was possibly the hardest goodbye.
They made the trip so incredible with their jokes about everything,
their excitement over the littlest things (like finally finding the
Karate Kid) and their unconditional love for their jobs.
We all got onto the
ferry and while the others played cards or went to the bar I slept
the whole way, until we got to Dover and got on another coach, with a
driver that wasn't scotty that took us to London.
That bus ride was
odd, as no one really knew what to say or do. We were all just
appreciating the last few hours that we would all be together, and
quietly chatting about our favourite parts of the trip.
When we arrived at
our drop off in London it was raining and cold and our trip had
finally come to an end. We all said our final goodbyes and headed off
in our various directions. Mine was to the tube station in my
pyjamas, with more bags than I could carry and exhausted, but all
warm and fuzzy on the inside because I had just completed the trip of
a lifetime.
I had no idea what
would happen on my Topdeck trip. Before I booked it part of me wasn't
sure if I could do one, I mean going on a five week trip with no one
I knew and no idea what it would be like or if I'd even be able to
complete. But one night I just took a deep breath and booked, and god
am I glad I did. I couldn't have wished for a more incredible time or
more incredible to share it with. Every day I knew there would be
someone who wanted to go where I wanted to go, or eat something
different, or visit an incredible piece of architecture, or simply
wander around a new fantastic city and just take it all in. I had no
idea I would eat like royalty the whole time because Matty could cook
up a storm in a tent, while dancing up a storm at the same time. I am
so lucky to have experienced so much on this trip and I have so many
photos to look back on and memories to keep with me forever.
I cant believe how
fast the five weeks went by, and once I had caught up on sleep and
washed all my clothes I wanted to do it all over again! Because just
for a change I want to revisit everywhere I went!
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| The last photo of La Familia! |
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