Home For Christmas………………..

As many of you that we have traveled with will already know we made changes to our flights in June to be able to fly home and surprise our family and friends for Christmas. We had decided that it would be a nice surprise for everyone but also a much nicer time for us to return to the UK rather than the planned mid-Jan.

Liam was also unaware, until he arrived in the USA that we would be returning on the same flight as him, landing in the UK 21^st Dec.

So the travelling was over and our bags were packed for the last time. We were a little concerned about the weight of our bags as we had emptied clothes and filled the bags with lots of Christmas presents but we came in under the weight limit.

It was a strange feeling to be finishing such a long trip and waiting in the airport for the final flight home but we were both excited to be seeing family and friends and surprising them just before Christmas.

We had left the UK on 31^st Jan and flown with Virgin. The stickers from the flight with the date were still on our passport covers and now another Virgin sticker was placed next to this with our return date 20^th Dec (landing 21^st Dec).

The nine hour flight gave us plenty of time to reflect on what has been the most incredible year and will most likely never be topped….

Starting in Kenya and ending in the USA we visited Tanzania, South Africa, India, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

We have covered in excess of 45,000 air miles and countless miles over land and sea in almost all vehicles imaginable.

All of the countries were so different but all had something we loved from landscapes to food and people there wasn’t a country which stands above the rest.

We met many new people as well as catching up with those who have moved to far flung countries but the highlight was meeting the real people of the countries we visited who could not have been more welcoming and accommodating. Many of the people we met had very little material wealth and many lived in poor conditions but most were happy and proud people who were excited to show us their country, culture and traditions. No trip of this kind would be complete without the odd annoying tout, con man, thief etc. but this also makes for fun and varied travel.

Aside from the local people we encountered the trip would not have been the same without many of the great fellow travellers we met and the stories we shared. Hopefully some of those people will be reading this blog so a big thank-you to all those we met especially the “Gappers” and “Strayer’s”. We know many of you are still travelling, spread out across the world and we hope your travels remain safe and fun until you return.

One nice thing about meeting all of these people is of course the opportunity to visit them in their home countries. Those of you in Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark be prepared we are planning lots of small trips in 2012!

So back to the story of our return…..

We arrived weary but excited to Gatwick at 11am on 21^st Dec and were soon coming out of arrivals to the familiar face of Ian (Emma’s Step Dad) who was the only person “in” on our surprise return home. It was very surreal to have landed in the UK and it felt as it had done many times in the year that we had just landed in the next destination. As you can see Matt wasted no time in having his first Costa in some time!

We were whisked back to Emma’s for a quick turnaround and were soon off surprising our families. We had two little nieces to meet and a wedding video to watch – Incredible how much can happen in a year.

Christmas and New Year have now been and gone and we have caught up with most of our friends and family. We both agree that we made the right decision to come home just before Christmas and have lots to do preparing for work and a new year – 2012!

Thank-you to everyone who followed the blog, whilst it took a lot of time to put together it was nice to see that people were following along and commenting but this is officially the last blog (for this trip!)

 

Love Emma & Matt

xxx

 

~ by cookeandcraddock on January 2, 2012.