Arriving Back Home - London (England)

Visiting My Home Town

In the end, Maisa and I had so much stuff (mainly in souvenirs and presents) that our bags weighed approximately one small elephant each. It was amazing that we only had to take out a few items from each of our bags to get through. When I say take out - I mean transfer stuff from on bag to another bag. I would later learn on this trip how ridiculous these bag regulations really are. Most of the time it's just a case of reshuffling your items, putting something in one bag, taking them out of another, swapping clothes, wearing more clothes.......but in the end, the same result is accomplished - and that is that we would get onto the plane with exactly the same weight as we had before we walked into the airport. This whole game of baggage reshuffle therefore seems a little pointless to me. It's also odd that they don't weigh the people getting onto the plane - if they make such a fuss about a few suitcases. I mean someone weighing 15 stone is allowed the same baggage allowance as someone who is 9 stone - that is the weight equivalent to a fair few pairs of knickers if i'm not mistaken. My solution to this whole fiasco is thus simply to eat as much of your belongings before you travel and just hope they make it out okay at the other end - and when I mean the other end I don't mean your final destination. Well, it's and idea anyway.

I have two other quips about airport travel these days. The first is security. On this adventure Maisa and I had been interogated, drug tested, screened, had the dogs put on us and made to stand in a box that looks at your body in ways that only your partner should. By the end Maisa and I came out of the airport wondering if we had accidentally committed some criminal offence that we both weren't aware of. The other thing is immigration. Before Maisa and I headed to England, we first stopped off in Miami (USA). Just to be in transit these days you need to enter the country and that means going through immigration. There must have been 20 people in front of us and we were waiting in line for around an hour and a half. You realise why this process takes so long when it is your turn to go through. The man behind the desk asks so many questions that by the end of it all, if he had written everything that I said down on paper - he could have compiled my autobiography!!! At one point he was quizing me about what the longest erupting active volcano in the world was. It was exhausting.

As we had done the hard work in getting through immigration and the fact that we had about 6 hours before our flight to the UK, we thought we would step out into Miami for a wonder........but also to meet up with Maisa's godmother, who was eagerly waiting for us. We would be staying with Maisa's godmother in Miami on our return leg - when we would spend a couple of days in this gloriously sunny part of Florida. For now though, it was a flying visit. The three of us headed down to Bayside, where we stopped off along the harbour for some lunch. It was good for Maisa to catch up with her godmother, as the two of them hadn't seen each other for some time. It was also just nice to be out of an airport for a while. After a few hours though we headed back to Miami International and caught our flight on to Europe. Just 8 and a half hours later.........we landed in Heathrow.

It was strange being back home. Everything all looked familiar but somehow different at the same time. It would take me some days before I got used to it all. The first person we saw was my father, and just an hour later after driving through the streets of London, passing familiar places on the way, I would get the chance to see all my immediate family. It had been just over two years since I last saw them all so naturally I was extremely happy, excited and emotional all at the same time. It was fantastic to see everyone - all still looking as wonderful as ever and I was glad to be spending the next three weeks with them. The next few days, I took Maisa out into London and introduced her to many of my friends. The day after we arrived we went out to Harrods, to look around and to shop with my friend Darren and his girlfriend Jaqui. We also met up with Henry and Grace too, which was great for Maisa to be reunited with her sister after some months apart and which was also nice for me to see my old friend from Ecuador - Henry. We all had a lot to chat about. Grace had been in England for about 5 days already when we arrived so she was already settled in, but Maisa and I were still getting over all the time differences and travelling. We managed to last out the day though.

On the night of Christmas Eve, Maisa and I went to my local pub - The Waggon, with basically all of my friends. This was a tradition that had been taking place every year since the days that we could get into pubs, although I had missed the last four occasions due to travelling and working abroad. Everyone was there and again, naturally, it was fantastic to see everyone. It was great to catch up as best I could, although it was a bit overwhelming at the time, especially for Maisa - who was getting fed drinks all night and in the end conceded into just getting drunk. We stumbled home that night ready for the big day, which was now just a few hours away. It would be my first Christmas at home for four years - and I couldn't wait...................