Day 12 Paris to London Thursday 2nd January 2014: Contiki Farewell.

After celebrating such an amazing final night together in Paris,we made our way to the hotel restaurant for our included breakfast at 9 am.

We shared our favourite memories of our time in Europe together before farewelling our 20 friends that were finishing in Paris.

We farewelled our new friends with many hugs and a few tears as we said our final farewells to these friends who had become like a family over the past 12 days travelling Europe.

After farewelling our new friends we made our way onto the coach at 9:30 am and departed Paris making our way back towards London.

As we made our way towards our first service stop of the day as a way to celebrate all the new experiences and memories had made on Contiki,our Trip Manager Rebecca organised for all of us to come up the front of the coach microphone and share our favourite memory and experience in Europe.

Which was a really great way to reminiscence about such a life changing journey together!

After driving through France we arrived at a service stop at 12 pm in Amiens a city in northern France where we had 45 minutes to stretch our legs and purchase lunch.

After having lunch we boarded the coach at 12:45 pm and made our way towards Calais.

As we made our way towards Calais our Trip Manager Rebecca handed out some feedback surveys to fill in honest our feedback about Contiki including: what we enjoyed the most, anything we would like to see improved, and what our favourite part of the trip was.

After filling in our feedback surveys we arrived at Calais Ferry Port at 2:45 pm and before we boarded our P and O Ferry to Dover we had our passports ready as a border control officer made their way up the coach and stamped our passports before we made our way onto the ferry and departed Calais.

As we made our way towards Dover we passed time by browsing the shops and getting a afternoon snack at one of the many cafes on the ferry.

We travelled across the English Channel for the final time before boarding the coach and arriving in Dover at 4 pm.

As we made our way towards London our Trip Manager Rebecca made her way up the coach and went through checking into our accommodation at the Royal National Hotel when we arrived in London.

A group of Australian friends had decided to have a farewell dinner at The London Pub at the Royal National Hotel as a way to end our time together before departing London the following morning.

As we arrived in London at 6pm we made our way off the coach and collected our bags before saying a final farewell to our Trip Manager Rebecca and Coach Driver Bart before sharing farewell hugs with the rest of the group who were staying close to the Royal National Hotel.

I thanked Rebecca for making my trip such an amazing life changing experience and something I will always remember!

Rebecca was incredible how knowledgeable she was and always went out of her way to make sure we had an a amazing time!

It would not have been the same without her!

I then made my way to reception at the Royal National Hotel and checked into my room and spent some time relaxing before having a shower and meeting the group of Australian friends in the London Pub at 7pm.

After meeting our group of Australian friends including Jessica we found a spare table and ordered dinner bonding over how amazing of a journey we had on Contiki.

After dinner we said our final farewells as the rest of the group was flying back to Australia while I was spending 5 days in Edinburgh before flying back home.

After sharing farewell hugs as well as a few tears we made our way back to our hotel rooms to get a goodnight sleep for our final night in London.

If anyone is thinking about going on a Contiki Tour I would 150% recommend them to travel with as everything is so well organised to get the most out of every destination you visit and the friendships,experiences and memories you make will last a lifetime.

As a tribute to my time in Europe with Contiki I made a trip video for anyone interested in a glimpse of what Contiki is like:

Safe Travels!

Campbell 🙂