⑭…and we’re out…
Sep 26, 2026
Uneventful departure from Málaga…
Back in London with a night at an airport hotel. But as you may guess, for me hotel food (usually) is like tourist food.
Underground to Ealing for Thai meal…Ealing, from my 2013 trip feels rather familiar.
The “uneventful” departure is misleading. Let’s see if I can write this as for a madcap 1915 silent rather than my self-wrought havoc.
Shortly before beginning the trip I realized that my last day - after an Airbnb checkout at 11, my flight to London didn’t depart til 5.
Oh, but that also means there’s an entire day…available.
And I’d been considering visiting Warner Bros. Studio Harry Potter sets outside London…I could fly earlier, fit that in…OK, the Harry Potter Tour site says that tickets aren’t time-slotted…oh, but few options for flights Málaga to Heathrow…maybe another - ah, Stansted, slightly north, an early flight, great…now get the Tour tickets…hmm, I have to pick a time?…the previous no-time-slot info was for a US Harry Potter thing…darn, no tickets til 4 PM…OK, I’ll make it work…
Travel, travel…Glasgow, Granada, travel…Málaga…considering my departure Friday morning. Make it work, huh. I’d have to be out the door at 3:30 AM…no, it’s vacation and I’m not feeling it…change to a midday flight, why don’t you? Much better.
Some flight delay and issues with getting from Heathrow to Potterville…my last day, rushing and squeezing, then crazed fans, crowded spaces…I’ll forgo it. Yes, just let it be a trade-off for simplicity, I’ll do that.
At the airport hotel, what to eat? Search shows a good Thai place within easy transport…but, at least check, maybe there are decent places now at the airport? Yes, I found one…heading over there now. Halfway there, oh, but is that before or after security? It’s after. I left the room in a t-shirt thinking I’d be indoors but I’m near the underground stations, so, head to that Thai place I’d noted. It’s about 70º but feeling chillier…short ride, dinner, ride back, one more trip through the interminable hotel access tunnel. All good!
(PS as I ate dinner, I received an email “Only 24 hours to your Harry Potter, etc” - I’d purchased tickets for the wrong date anyway!)
(Believe it or not I simplified that - in the midst of all this I was also contacting cousin Patti (oh, dear Patti!) about maybe lunch? no, I guess not. maybe dinner? etc…)
(I’ll also say, that moving through an airport, t-shirt, no bag at all, not sharing the others’ drive I’m observing the velocity, propulsion, flood, of laden travelers …I’ll say I was reminded of near death stories (and others) of people having out of body experiences, I was watching, aware of, me in all that energy. “So this is what that looks like.”)
(Luckily, and unexpectedly, all those flight changes, did cost something, but not always.)
And, it wasn’t really havoc - it was adaptation.
So, where am I? Time does its bendy thing, it feels like it’s been quite a while, but oh, heading home already? at the same time.
