The other guest in our house in Versailles was finishing her breakfast when we arrived for ours. We had a nice chat with her about travel. She was from Lyon and very proud of her city, which was nice to hear. She was here for a baptism in the Mormon temple which we knew was even closer than the Palace of Versailles, so it was a logical choice to stay here.

We had brought the drop-off time forward for the car as a precaution, and then Michele suggested we should leave earlier still to allow for congestion. We left some towels and food with her and headed for the car depot. We had enough fuel with a bit to spare in case of diversions. So within 2km we hit a diversion, but not a long one luckily.

The drive should have been low key after all the driving we have done but 2 parts almost flummoxed John. For once I was able to stay calm and say we had done the right thing.

Then about 2km from the depot we had to make a sudden stop when someone in front of us did something odd. No harm done but not the best way to finish the trip.

At the depot it was all smooth until we were asked for an extra piece of documentation. We both had seen it…but not for ages. We rechecked the car and were thinking we would have to go through our luggage when the agent reminded John he had been told to keep it with his passport. Of course, that was where it was. He had not had reason to check his passport for ages and so had forgotten it was there.

After that drama, the trip to the airport was easy as the driver was keen on sport, so conversation flowed.

We had done the on line check in thanks to our ever helpful agent Kelly – but were too early to do the bag drop. So we waited until the right time, then saw the very long line. It is a budget airline and showed here, although all the staff were pleasant and helpful. We were nearly at the front when they pulled out all Copenhagen passengers and fast-tracked us. If we had been able to drop the bags when we first arrived all of this would have been unnecessary. We had little time to get food in the departure area but the airline food was actually relatively cheap and we were fine.

We sorted gear and then went for a half hour walk to a restaurant the AirBNB recommended. We passed lots of others, but it was nice walk by the canal and the restaurant proved to be good value with huge servings. So I opted for soup hoping for dessert as well, but it was more than I could eat.

I will gloss quickly over the rest. At the end of the meal I had another dizzy turn and getting back to ‘home’ was a mission but we walked slowly and I made it into bed. Like last time, I woke later and was totally fine, but poor John developed a headache which took time to sleep off.