On the Home Stretch

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After a short sleep (yes, last night went until 2:30am - but then again, we didn't go out for dinner until 11pm so...) we got up at 7:30am to get ready to catch our flight to Heathrow.

Airplane travel is so much more civilized than train travel. I know trains are big in Europe and for the most part they're a great way to get around but we're tired of lugging our stuff. Check-in for the plane, hand over our bags and c'est ca! Done.

Think I mentiond this before but we're staying at hotel in Heathrow and are heading into London to have dinner with John's cousin Chris and his wife Mariko. We must admit we were a tad nervous taking the tube into London on this Thursday - exactly one month to the day since the first bombings and 2 wks to the day since the second. There was unprecedented police presence today at the underground stations and while it was good to know the police were there to protect it was eerie to be so close to a "war zone". Will be glad to get back to the safety of home.

It was nice to meet another part of John's family. As with all of John's english relatives, I had heard a lot of Chris and his family and it's always helpful to put a face to a name. We hung out at Chris' home with Mariko and their twins (girl/boy fraternal) and had a nice bbq lamb dinner. They were hospitable and even broke out the champagne to celebrate our engagement. All in all an enjoyable evening but John and I are struggling with staying awake both due to the last couple of days which have consisted of train, car, bus and plane travel and the thought of tomorrow morning's early flight.

Upon reflection of our past month, we've had an amazingly incredible time. We have seen and experienced so many things together. Having to work our way out of a couple of the more challenging events and enjoying the beauty and idiosyncracies of the various countries has been wonderful, exhausting, funny, frustrating but overall, unforgettable. It'll be sad to leave all the experiences behind and we wish so much we could let you see them through our eyes. I hope the blog has helped but its never the same second-hand.

All that being said, we're both looking forward to winding down and coming home. It's been a trip of a lifetime but life is always more comfortable back home.

See you all soon!

Miss you all!!

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Photos

Di & John
In case you forget what we look like...