Flying home for Christmas

Yes, that means we're back early!

After ten months of travelling, we decided to call it a day. We were running dangerously low on money and energy, and while Christmas abroad would have been interesting, nothing beats Christmas with family. We changed our flights a few weeks ago, and on 19th December we started our last journey of the trip – the journey hme.

So very tired!

Flying home

It's quite ironic that we've managed to get ourselves around the globe without any real difficulty – 36 hour-long train journeys, broken down buses, battling sea-sickness on boats. And then, when we reach the very last tiny bit of travelling we have to do (the two-hour connecting flight from Madrid to London) our flight gets cancelled because of snow at Heathrow.

We were a bit miffed at first, but to be honest, we couldn't really complain. Our airline (Iberia) put us up in a four star hotel, we had an awesome room with a brilliant shower and a comfortable bed.

One of the best rooms we've had all year, courtesy of Iberia.

We had a free dinner with a huge assortment of desserts - Karl had cheesecake and chocolate cake, and then felt the need to steal a plate of more cake to take to our room. Even though it was free anyway. The following morning we made the most of a big fancy free buffet breakfast. They had a grill to toast your own bread and everything! Essentially we were handed an evening of luxury before heading home the following day on a new flight. I didn't mind one bit – at least we weren't like those unfortunate travellers sleeping on the floor in Heathrow!

The rain in Spain stays mainly on the planes.

Before we got back, we decided it would be a fantastic idea to surprise Karl's mum for Christmas, with the help of his sister Claire and aunt Keili. Karl's mum wasn't expecting us back till February, and was a little upset at the thought of spending the Christmas period without her son for the first time.

After a few lovely at days at home with my mum and brother (most of which was spent stuffing ourselves with foods we'd missed), we set off for Cardiff on Xmas eve. The three hour coach journey was a doddle after our extensive travelling experience, and before we knew it we were sat in the living room with Karl's sisters, aunt, uncle and cousins, waiting for his mum to come home so that we could jump out from behind the sofa and frighten the life out of her. I don't really need to tell you how it worked out – as expected, she was shocked and delighted and emotional. There were tears and hugs and more tears and loads more hugs, throughout the evening. I think Karl's well on his way to getting a hug for every day we've been away.

First hug of many...

Christmas has been exactly what we hoped it would be – food, presents & family.

It was very satisfying to spend Boxing Day sitting with my second family, with an overfull belly from an enormous lunch, wearing my yellow party hat, glass of wine in one hand, watching Karl scream at the telly whilst playing Mario Kart on the Wii. It really is good to be back.

(By the way, this isn't my last post! I still need to tell you about Machu Picchu and the food in Bolivia!)