Flight home

We drove the short distance to Philadelphia airport, avoiding any traffic issues.

We arrived at Avis and dropped off the monster car before taking the bus to the terminal.

Check in was quick and easy and while we had to wait in a short line for security our TSA pre check meant we kept our shoes on. 

Our cricut bag went through with no issues but the snack bag sadly had to undergo extra screening. Apparently cookies are a major threat to security 😎

We then walked a long way to the Earl of Sandwich (Rob moaned the whole way) where Rob got an Earl’s club and I had a ham and swiss (with mayo) except there was no ham. 

So instead they made me a mix of Italian meat plus cheese and mayo. They also said there was no white bread and you will see that Rob ended up with wheat bread….mine appeared white though 🤣

We walked the long way back to terminal A to wait for our flight to board, Rob did check duty free for some tequila but didn’t find what he was looking for.

We boarded on time although the process was a bit of a rush.

We had people still in the aisle as we were taxiing which was very odd and I’m still not sure why it was such a rush.

The freezing air started pretty early - perhaps it is preparation for the return to the UK? I was pretty cold throughout the flight once again 

The flight was quiet and uneventful until we heard someone shouting “oh my god” repeatedly with about 2hr45 before the end.

Someone had fallen over in the aisle on the other side of the aircraft, several people assisted the crew in providing medical attention. 

We aren’t sure what happened but after a little while she was up on her feet and being taken towards the front of the aircraft.

At this point we realised there was a little dog onboard, in the same row as us with a family of three. We didn’t even know it was there! 

At this point neither of us could sleep so Rob watched Maverick (I think) and I played games whilst hiding under my blanket.

They served some weird egg bun thing for breakfast. I decided against it but Rob ate it, he survived but it wasn’t great.

We landed just before 7am but had to get a bus to the terminal (and it was raining) so it was about 7.30 before we got there.

Luckily we flew through the e-gates and our bags were really quick too which makes a change.

We walked across to the Sofitel and we were in our way out in just a few minutes - this was really convenient.

We stopped to charge the car at Fleet and I got a coffee and a brownie; Rob had a muffin.

We arrived home with no energy panics at about 1030 where I found a friend had sent me cake in the mail 😍

Delaware Part 2

20th Feb

Today we started with breakfast and then before we left tested the cricut machine that we had delivered to Jen and Tom’s (it was soooo much cheaper).

Having proven that the machine worked we headed to Michael’s for the first time ever to get some supplies.

We then took a quick wander around Lowes followed by Best Buy where Rob got an Apple Watch and we picked up some air rage.

We got brunch at First Watch then visited our final supermarket of the trip which was new to us - Wegmans.

Having tortured Tom with shopping we decided to help build some Lego. We decided on the shuttle:

Latte decided to help:

We then decided on Chinese for dinner where we learned that some places make Foo Yung with gravy.

At some point we did online check in, selecting 2 seats at the back and we got our TSA pre check ticks because of our global entry!

We did a bit more of the Lego and ate some more yummy cake before bed.

Mocha and Latte weren’t sure if they wanted to play or not….

21st Feb

This morning we had breakfast and then finished off the Lego building.

Latte wanted to have a seat for breakfast and Mocha decided to pose for his portrait.

Tom made us turkey and cheese sandwiches for lunch and we had some Girl Scout cookies, we tried the lemon version as we hadn’t bought any of that variety.

Jen and Tom had a sofa they no longer needed so we used the Wagoneer to take it to Habitat Restore, so at least it was useful!

We watched some HGTV before packing our bags  The cricut machine got its own hand luggage bag and we might have bought quite a few snacks 🤣

We left for airport at about 1530 and Mocha and Latte seemed slightly unhappy about this (I mean they are cats).

Delaware part 1

18th Feb 

Rob woke us up at about 8, we got ready and had breakfast at Jen and Tom’s before deciding to go shopping. 

Tom was really looking forward to shopping (or was indulging us because he’s a kind host).

We started at Costco which was new to Rob and I, we found lots of goodies here including some clothes - I got a skort! We also picked up some bounce sheets as they are cheaper in the USA and come in bigger boxes 😁

Next we visited Freshmarket, Pottery Barn, William Sonoma (where I got some amazing birthday bark for $9) followed by Anthropologie and Love Sac. 

Love sac is not a dodgy shop I promise - they sell sectional sofas and Jen and Tom have one so we went to look at them because we are weird and like furniture shops 🤣

As it was my birthday we had lunch at Panera Bread, we all enjoyed ours but Jen said her soup wasn’t very good 🙁

We then went to Trader Joes which was much anticipated for Rob and I but sadly it didn’t live up to our expectations.

Final shop of the day was Target! We got some theatre boxes and some other treats, which I don’t seem to have taken a photo of!

Back home where we played a Mario game which I was awful at, I don’t even know what I was doing for most of the time 🤣

We walked to Goobers Diner where we had a great dinner. I had an amazing chocolate milkshake and a burger while Rob had a Philly cheesesteak.

When we got ‘home’ we had birthday cake and watched some HGTV.

19th Feb

We woke up and had some toast for breakfast and Tom made me some coffee again 

Despite loads of shopping yesterday we went to Christiana Mall to do more (thanks Tom.) 

We entered via Macy’s which is important for navigational purposes then visited Lego, Apple and the all important Tesla store (which Tom might actually have liked).

We stocked up at Bath and Bodywork’s then bought ourselves some Girl Scout cookies (tagalongs and thin mints) and then we picked up a Starbucks on the way out.

We then found Rob in Macy’s where he was annoying Jen as he was being very indecisive. He finally picked some items and the cashier kindly gave us an extra discount which we appreciated.

We continued to the oddly named Fashion Center where we visited another favourite - the Container Store! This was at least helpful as it enabled Jen and Tom to look at wardrobe solutions.

We then visited REI which seemed to be a bit like Go Outdoors (but fancy) and another Trader Joes (still disappointing) and then Best Buy - which was another disappointment as the staff didn’t want to talk to us.

We then did some slightly unorthodox dodging across the car park to Jersey Mikes for lunch.

Rob and Tom shared this sub:

Almost finished with shopping we headed to Marshall’s/Homegoods where I wanted a coffee sign but the line was ridiculous. 

We also popped into Homesense which seems very similar to Homegoods.

Last shop and where I think poor Tom finally lost interest was Athleta. I tried on a few skorts to check sizing and picked up a cute tennis dress before we adventured back to the Wagoneer.

We took Tom home to recover after the shopping marathon and then we went to Kid Shelleens because Rob wanted a steak. 

I had a salad so that I had room for more cake when we got home!