The UK Saga: Part 6, the end

So I need to get this last post about the tour done so that I can get back to using this blog to help me figure my own stuff out.

This one is going to be pretty basic because I just don't really have the energy to devote to an extended dialogue right now. We took the bus to the airport on Saturday morning and when we got on the bus we were told that we were not going to have the afternoon practice in London. We were instead going to have a walk-through in the parking lot on Sunday morning if we could find space. We got to the airport and I was able to send out some post-cards (a little late since it was the last two days of tour) to my family and friends. When we got into London we got on yet another bus and made our way over to Kingston, where we were staying. When we got there we had a bit of time to decompress and relax before dinner, which was followed by the jersey ceremony. Then most of us just spent the evening relaxing (though I think some of the non-rostered players wandered down into Kingston to check it out). In the morning we had breakfast and then a brief meeting to go over line-outs. I spent some time trying to get packed up so that things would be easier the next morning when we had to be at the bus at 6:15am. We left to drive to the game at 12:15pm. The match went well, though we were plagued with penalties. I think the ref was unduly harsh at times towards us, but that's just me. In the end we won 21-8 (I'm pretty sure that was the score). We definitely wound up stepping up in the second half. We were really pleased to have gone 3-0 on tour and that became our mantra over the course of the evening. At the after match function, we all had some celebratory drinks and decided that we needed to go out on the town. When we got back to hotel we did our last minute packing and then we headed out for some well-earned R&R. Mari (social coordinator extraordinaire) figured out different places for us to go to. We hit up a small bar called Barcadia and had a few drinks, played some never-have-I-ever, and just hung out together. Then we went over to a club called Oceana and did some dancing. I was surprised to see the amount of energy that we had for dancing considering the fact that we had played a very intense rugby game. Jen and I left the club and wandered over to Subway to get some food before heading back to the hotel. I don't really know what the rest of the folks did with their night, but I know we all made it to the bus, which is a big accomplishment considering the fact that we had some serious stragglers last time. The flight back to the States was uneventful, and Jen and had a lot of time to talk. When we got back to Newark it was a bit chaotic as everyone gathered their bags and either was leaving the airport, or trying to catch flights, so the goodbyes were brief across the board. I said my good-byes to the Berkeley girls, knowing I'd be seeing them in a few days, and wandered out to get my rental car and head up to New Hampshire. And thus ended the U.S. tour to the UK and Ireland. Hopefully we'll have some more matches between now and World Cup, but if not, at least we have a good place to build from.