Goodbye England.... British Open, Day 3

     After get back late from Harry Potter, we headed to bed because we had to be up early to catch our flight home.  Did I mention that Ryan and Hannah were staying behind?  It is very tough to leave your children behind in a foreign country and hope that they can function.  I guess it will be teaching them some life lessons (hopefully).  Long story, but when I booked the flights I based them on the dates of the last 10 years of the tournament.  Of course, they changed the dates this year.  That meant that we would be flying back before the tournament was done.   What is the kids were still playing??  Do you pull them out of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?  Or do you hope that someone you know is willing to help us out?  Yes, Anis to the rescue.  Anis is a medallion Delta flyer.  He was able to use his airmiles (which he seems to have oodles of) to fly Ryan and Hannah back at a later date.  Hannah even got upgraded to 1st class.  I hope Hannah doesn't get used to that kind of travel.  Anyways the kids were staying in England as we headed home.
     We were at the airport at 7am (for 9:45 flight) because London Heathrow is mayhem.  Heathrow lands about 650 planes per day.  Probably about the same taking off.  Our flight left on time but it was a really long flight home, almost 8 hours.  About 2 hours in, one of the stewardesses snagged my Apple headphones and as she walked by and broke the jack part off.  Not only did I have no headphones now but my jack didn't work because the other part was stuck in it.  Makes for a long flight.  Land in Philadelphia, wait for over an hour at bag carousel, re-check bags, go through security again.  On a side note, it is interesting how every airport treats security, there doesn't seem to be one standard they all follow.  Anyways through security, grab a grossly overpriced dinner and head to our gate only to find flight is delayed by an hour.  We finally board and then sit on runway forever, fly to Detroit, sit on runway waiting for gate to open.  Disembark and wait again at luggage carousel.  They always apologize for delays but what they don't realize is that is builds throughout a travel day and your patience becomes very thin.  I hate air travel.
     Finally get our luggage and head out to catch a shuttle to Qwik Park.  Of course we just missed the last one and wait and wait.  When we finally get on one and head to our car, I am convinced the car won't start after sitting outdoors in this extreme cold for 10 days.  But what do you know?  Started right away.  Anyways, we got home at 10:00... 3:00am London time so have been up for 21 hours.  Off to bed and I'll find out later how the tournament went for Ryan and Hannah.

     Hannah here.  As Mum, Dad and Emily boarded their plane to end their trip, Ryan and I were finishing the last part of our trip.  Final day of the 2018 British Junior Open (for us anyways).  Ryan was to be on court at 11:30 so we got up at 8 and set off to the club around 10:50, leaving me plenty of time to sit around and watch matches while Ryan warmed up.  His final match was against a guy from Spain.  He played really well and was right in the games but ended up losing 3-0.  It was a positive note for him to end the tournament on.  Even though he lost, he thought he played good squash and was happy.  It was an amazing British Open for Ryan!
    Afterwards we had to quickly make it to Edgbaston Priory Club for Graeme to coach Amin at 1:30, which, knowing Amin, it will be a very entertaining match.  Since I didn't play until 4:50 (or 16:50 as they like to say over here), we had some time to kill.  We quickly went back to the hotel and had

leftovers from the night before which was pizza (I know, great prematch meal).  Then back to the club we went.  Sara was on right before me so I didn't get to watch her because I was warming up.  My last match was against a girl from England and sadly, I lost in 3.  Although I feel I could have played better and it was my last match of the tournament, I can't be too upset because overall, this was an amazing experience.
     Later on, we all decided to go to the mall.  When we got there we realized it was actually a train station and had to walk around to actually find the mall part.  It was fun as Sara, Zara and I dragged Amin and Ryan into Pandora.  Amin and Ryan played the piano and we got free chocolate samples! 
     However, our night wasn't quite over as Amin, Sara and Zara's cousin came to town to visit us for dinner.  We went out to an Indian restaurant where we (mainly me) tried some butter chicken and other foods I can't remember the name of.  I also discovered that I have zero tolerance for spicy food.
     After a games of cards at the hotel it was time to rest up for the finals tomorrow, unfortunately none of us are playing in it :( .  Pictures from the day can be found here.  There are less and less of them.