RAF Flight to UK Arrivng at 1:30 am: End of adventure

On Saturday, March 24, we packed, closed up Garden Cottage, made our way down the mountain, paid for the car and the cottage and went to the airhead at the ridiculously early, but strictly mandated by the RAF, time of 12 noon for a 3 pm flight.  We conveniently parked our rental car in the small parking lot near the "terminal" and left the keys in it for our friendly petrol station owner (Birdie) to retrieve later. To prepare for the flight, one queues (i.e., "stands in line" for you Yankees) outside in the hot sun, reaches a desk inside where they take one's luggage, gets a turtle and date stamp in one's passport, puts one's carry-on baggage through a scanner (a full one and half litre water bottle, an aerosol can of insect repellent, and who knows what else, is fine with the security person!) and walks into a small lounge to wait and wait and wait.  If one is bored by the lounge, one can go outside into the "cage."  The cage is a small fenced area, albeit with picnic tables and a modicum of shade, next to the runway.  Under normal flight schedules, passengers who have just flown for 8 hours from the Falkland Islands must wait in the cage (not being permitted entry into Ascension) for an hour and a half while the plane is refuelled and then and spend 9  hours flying on to RAF Brize Norton in the UK!   At 3 pm we walked onto the runway, up the steps and were fortunate to seize two seats by the window during the open seating scramble!  The aircraft was provided by Air Italy with an Italian crew.  The food was variable -- a good chicken dinner at about 5 pm and a nearly inedible microwaved grey tortilla wrap for a snack at about 11 pm.  We  landed at 12.30 am on Sunday, March 25, but went onto British Summer Time, thus immediately losing an hour.  The RAF staff at the airport were impressively and unexpectedly cheerful and helpful.  We took a shuttle bus, along with a few other passengers, to the Gateway House Hotel on the base.  The Gateway House is a billet for soldiers who have long waits for flights.  Equally helpful RAF staff assigned us to a simple room (two single, unmade beds, one chair and a wash basin) and we got to bed at 3 am.  Up at 7 am, we had a full English breakfast in the canteen along with a number of camou-clad soldiers, some of whom were NATO forces from Estonia.  The room and extensive breakfast were compliments of the RAF.  As the woman on the desk said, "What else could you have done after arriving in the middle of Sunday night?" Another shuttle bus landed us conveniently just outside the airbase gates at the rental car agency, and we were off into the English countryside!  The South Atlantic Adventure was over.  An endeavour well worth the trouble and expense, renewed family acquaintance, experiences we will not forget and the making of a few new friends with whom we hope to stay in touch.