Home Sweet Home

• Theblakes's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from London

Trip Start May 10, 2009 Previous
Entry Trip End Nov 02, 2009

  London, England, United Kingdom
Monday, November 2, 2009

The day we hoped would never come, the day we refused to talk about the whole trip, the day we tried to avoid, the day called 1 November reared its ugly head and just like that it was all over...

I cried all the way to New York where we made the connection for London...heaven alone knows what we were thinking booking a flight to land at 7am on a MONDAY morning in Doomsville but anyway that is what we did.

The grey mood didn't last too long though when we were met by surprise at the airport by the whole Hughes family (after only expecting Alan), including precious 6 week old Jemima - love at first sight does not even begin to describe the feeling. Dylan had other plans than greeting his aunty Ang who was now crawling around the airport after him and only had eyes and vocal cords for uncle Ian!

Arriving back at Shaz's house we were reunited with some creature comforts which we left behind such as our beautiful wedding rings which I missed so much, a hairdryer, perfume, fresh clean clothes (a variety of), trainers (takkies), and my all time favourite salmon and cream cheese bagels which I have been hankering after for a while now. A special mention goes to ROOIBOS TEA which I have craved since Venezuela! Have had about 40 cups in 1 week.

As amazing as the trip was, the comfort of familiarity was good feeling, damn good! We had quite a week planned and managed to accomplish a lot: We have secured a lovely flat to move into on 21st November, met up with all our awesome friends who we missed so much, updated CV's and begun a job hunt (for me), drycleaned Ian's suits and work stuff all ready to start on Monday and more importantly, got Ian a haircut and a shave so people don't throw change at him at tube stations! Also it took some time to open 6 months worth of mail sort out the banking mess after the cards were stolen back in August!

All the admin aside now we have so much to look forward to. Starting afresh in London is going to be awesome! We going to MAKE it awesome - with clear minds and positive outlooks this shouldn't be too hard :) (a holiday home for Christmas, weddings and christenings in a few weeks also helps, hehe)

This trip has really and truly changed the way we think. Amongst other things never again will we complain about a 12 hour flight being long, never complain about having nothing to wear (after living out of a backpack for 6 months) and more seriously that life and time are so very precious, use both to the full so that you have no regrets one day. Always be actively planning the next adventure - have something big to work towards together.

You learn so much about yourself and each other when you step out of your comfort zone and into a whirlwind of adventure. You learn your limits and then you exceed them; experiencing 'ups' is wonderful, 'downs' treated with humour and positivity can sometimes turn into the greatest memories ever. You learn more about teamwork and group dynamics than any sport or open office can teach you when you are working/living/eating/travelling with people of all nationalities, ages, cultures and creeds. You learn by experience and not just by a saying, that you can do anything you want to do if you put your mind to it and want it badly enough; but above all else you learn that you are incredibly priviledged and blessed to be experiencing so many awesome things.

Highlight: Flip...far too many but if you held a gun to my head and said pick ONE or you die...it would have to be The Inca Trail and Macchu Pichu (oops thats 2, so i guess I die!). I will never forget the feeling of 100% pure inner peace and happiness while traipsing above the clouds barely being able to breath!

Lowlight: lowlights are now politically correctly called 'learning experiences' so our best learning experience is to not leave your bag in an unlocked car - it will ge stolen and cause you a few days of PITA admin on your holiday!

Funniest moment: We laughed ourselves silly on a daily basis so its hard to pick just one...we had a very funny holiday overall! Although I would say the people (tourist) watching defo got the sides splitting the most.

Most useful item: My hairbrush for us both!

Most useless item: Ians razor!

Most useful Spanish phrase: Nosotros encanta Sud America (we love South America)

Tan Status (0-10):  Well, it will have to be 10 because although we are not that brown by normal peoples standards, we are probably the brownest we will ever be in our lives!

What we miss: Already we miss the freedom of being a traveller and all the beautiful and different things we got to see and experience everyday

What we don't miss: OVERNIGHT BUSES!!!

And with that this blog draws to a close...thank you all for reading, commenting, sending messages and being inerested in our travels, we hope you enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it!

As a parting shot, here is a summary of our trip in numbers :-)

Uncountable brilliant memories
51719 km traveled
4425 photos taken
172 bottles of water consumed
52 blogs written
33 kg's carried
23 overnight buses
9 countries
6 months
3 rounds of stomach bugs
1 experience of a lifetime!

Adios...until the next adventure!

Ang and Ian
x

Slideshow Share

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

D and J discussing the situaion	Aunty Ang on nappy duty	Smiles for the happy travellers   Comments!	Uncle Ian does his thing
Dylan and his hero EEEEEN	our new flat...view from kitchen window :)   Comments!

Previous Entry