PART ONE

(Location: Denver,CO)

We woke up at about half past six, and with the alarm due to go off in 15 minutes there was little point in trying to sleep further. I got up and made Andrew coffee, so he could come round while I had a shower. Once we were both ready, we put the final things into the cases, checked the weight and added the luggage straps. For those that doubted my packing ability, everything fitted. No suitcases were expanded and all under 20kgs, meaning there was lots to spare…

After checking out, and after I had scraped the ice from the windscreen, we went for breakfast at the nearby Village Inn. I stuck with the tried and tested garden vegetable skillet, which was good enough for hiking, so I hoped it would keep me going long enough on our travels. Eat when you can is my theory, because you never know what you might get and when! The mountains still looked white and tempting, just as they had when we arrived.

We then fuelled the car and drive the final few miles (of over 2000) to Alamo, to hand it back. Farewell lovely beast! 

Then the shuttle bus took us to the terminal where we used self check in to get our boarding passes and then queued for bag drop. Although quite a long queue it moved fairly well. Due to a mix up with labels coming out of the printer, they nearly sent my bag to Fort Lauderdale by accident, but caught it in time, so hopefully all will get to Manchester. 

Then the queue for security, which was longer, but took about half an hour, so could have been worse. Not sure how effective it is though, you certainly don’t unpack things anything like you do in the UK. 

By 1020 we had cleared security and taken the shuttle to the departure gates. A “train coming” bit of music plays when it is arriving, sounding more like Disney than a serious mode of transport. After buying some water we found some seats to wait for an hour, with a nice view. The mountains look much bigger to the eye, than in the photo!

Looks like we’re boarding on time, so more later…!