The last day of my tour ended August 31, 1997: you may have heard about that date,
because it is the day Princess Diana of Wales died. I first heard about it on the
morning news in the hotel in London when I was preparing to leave. At first I
thought it was just some fake broadcast, but I slowly realized that it was the real thing.
I went out to the local newsstands that morning to see what they had: most of the
papers just said that she had been injured and it was not known if she had died. I
was tempted to grab a couple of Lady Diana postcards, but I felt a bit of a ghoul so I
decided not to. I did grab the papers, though.
All of London was pretty quiet when the news finally came that she died: it was a
little strange. I grabbed the paper saying that in the airport. Somewhat of a
sad ending to an otherwise great trip.
A word of advice: I had about three hours to catch my flight when I got to Heathrow:
and believe me, I needed every second. It took forever to get through security,
customs, and all that. They even hand-searched my bags! Still, you can't
entirely blame them: Heathrow is a lot closer to terrorist activity than America is.
Just make sure you get to the airport early, that's all.
I hope I get to go back someday: there are so many things in London that I didn't get a
chance to do: see the Natural History museums, visit the waxworks, travel in the London
Underground! London was like Rome: I could have spent my
entire vacation in just the one city! Someday, I'll be back.
Day 15: The Return Home and Other Tragedies