Roger was expecting a big day for his drive today as most of it would be through highly trafficked areas. We had our bags out at 6:30am and left at 7:30am right on time but depleted by four.

We had our normal morning stop for ablutions and drinks before heading to Philadelphia and the Liberty Bell. (I mistakenly put this next bit into the first part of Washington but I was wrong! See, I can admit it on the rare occasion that it happens.)

**Russ had developed a headache which was trying to become a migraine, so when we pulled up at the Liberty Bell Museum for a walk around and photo stop Russ chose to stay on the coach and have a sleep. Roger was particularly pleased with this as it gave him an excuse not to have to move the bus while he looked after one of the passengers.

The souvenir shop was present, as usual, and it amazes me where everyone packs their purchases and not use more than one case. Needless to say when we got back on board Russ was feeling much better.

At 1:30pm we again boarded the coach for our last leg back to New York. Barbara passed around some questionnaires for us to complete and assess her and Rogers’ performances. What could we say other than they were great. It was a closed report but I am sure they get feedback from the company once the surveys have been compiled.

It was a very brief stop off at Newark Airport and we said goodbye to another six people, including Judy, Jess and Kate. It was a much smaller selection who headed into the tunnel under the river to reach New York, and back to the Skyline Hotel once more.

We were all looking forward to a good sleep. Many of the group are spending several days exploring New York before returning to their respective homes around the globe.

Unfortunately, Russ and I have an early flight to San Diego and will need to get up at 4:30am in order to be at the airport in plenty of time to go through all the security procedures. We also have to leave Manhattan Island and cross to Queens to get to JFK airport.

We spoke with the Concierge before we went to Gossip for our evening meal – fish and chips were lovely! – and decided that, as you can’t order a taxi in New York – you can only flag one down – it was better for the peace of mind to order a town car and know it would arrive in the morning in plenty of time to get us to JFK  and pay the little bit extra, so that’s what we did.

We also discovered that the dropped computer would no longer charge and the battery was fast getting flat. This is a tragedy because most of the programs I use for photo conversion are on Russell’s computer, not mine, especially Zoom Browser.

Also, my tablet does not have an SD card reader so when I download photos I have to do so directly from the camera. This is a lengthy process as I only have Lightroom which can convert from RAW to JPEG, and it takes a lot longer than Picasa.