We packed for the last time and vacated our room. We stopped at Paddington station where Chu-Wan bought a stuffed (authentic) Paddington Bear and storybook for her classroom.

Once we arrived at the Forbidden Planet, I dropped a huge wad of cash, buying a number of hard to find Doctor Who items. Thus loaded down, we returned to Gatwick via the Gatwick Express train.

The weather was a little drizzly, and our flight sat on the runway for an hour due to bad weather. I wondered how any plane ever took off from England if they'd delay a flight for a little drizzle.

Somehow I managed to get the back seat on the plane, the one that can't recline, making for a miserable flight. To their credit, US Airways managed to make up the hour lost on the runway. Unfortunately, they lost it circle Philadelphia due to bad weather. We finally had to land and were treated to a large drop on the way down, which brought a cry to all the passengers' lips.

We had to travel through Immigration, Customs and get to the far side of the airport in less than 45 minutes. Until Chu-Wan is an official resident alien, the immigrations process for her is painful while they check all the pertinent travel documents. We finally had to run the distance across the airport, failing even to have time to re-check in our duffel bag. Luck was with us, the flight to Phoenix was empty and so there was room for an extra carryon item.

We didn't have to run, though, the flight was delayed an hour due to bad weather - and another 45 minutes when we arrived in Phoenix owing to a thunderstorm sitting on Sky Harbor.