Around The World and Back

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Man alive...time sure flies!!!!! Safely back in NZ after a whirlwind visit to the UK...

Had such an awesome time...was great to have the whole family together for Rach's 21st!!!!

As Dots and I were sitting at the B&B in Shrewsbury eyeing the closest door and discussing the best method of ensuring that Rach got a full on double suprise (she wasn't expecting either of us to be there) she popped through the other door and ended up suprising us...not sure how long she was there for...when I spotted her she was standing open mouthed and the first words she finally uttered were "but you're supposed to be in NZ". I did offer to go back but was told that it would be OK for me to stay...

My mom knew that Dots would be there and so she was all excited to see my dad's suprised face...she wasn't expecting to see me and so I robbed her of that photo opportunity...I've only been away for 5 months but there were tears all round (could possibly have been coz Dots has been away for a year...hmmm)

Shrewsbury was awesome...very quaint little village with loads of shops and stuff... my brilliant sense of direction managed to get a few of us back to the B&B in 20 minutes...the others did it in 5...I am no longer permitted to navigate 😉

Once all the birthday celebrations were over we headed to Aberystwyth in Wales to drop Rach at home and after that it was back to Southampton to visit Nelson (our dog).


Was so cool to catch up with friends...so sorry to those I missed out...I just ran out of time...

I left Heathrow on the 11th of August...exactly one day after the suspected terrorist were arrested and an attack allegedly foiled...that was fun...check in queue was snaking round forever and people were armed with clear plastic bags that had nothing in them...phones and books were being confiscated at the security check points...you could, however, buy books at the duty free shops and take these on board...

It was great getting off at Dubai...no luggage in the overhead compartments and so we were off the plane in a shot...passengers boarding in Brunei, Dubai and Brisbane were permitted hand luggage and so every time I boarded clutching my tiny clear plastic bag the airline staff would point and say "you're from London"... There's definitely something to be said for hand lugagge...you can take deodorant...after 31 hours of travelling I finally arrived in Auckland smelling pretty funky!!!!

I was through passport control in a second and was thinking that things were to good to be true...they were...I stood at the lugagge conveyor belt until I was the only person left and there were only 2 suitcases going round and round...one of the luggage dudes came over and asked me for a full description of my luggage...when I explained that it was a black trolley type suitcase he pointed to one of the 2 bags still going around and asked if that was it...the guy is a genius...surely when faced with a choice of 2 bags anyone would notice if there bag was one of them...through gritted teeth I assured him that the bag wasn't mine...after an hour and a half I finally left the arrivals area (passing customs was a breeze...you can't really get held up for suspected smuggling if you don't have any lugagge)

My luggage finally turned up last night...just over 36 hours after it was supposed to...am wondering if it even left Heathrow when I did...the lost lugagge man gave me a phone number I could call and everytime I called it I got to leave a voicemail...think the airline staff are now well acquainted with the melodious sound of my voice (yip read Calvin and Hobbes yesterday)

Still prety jet lagged but it's getting better...trying to figure out if I wanna get a "proper job" or do random things for a while...decisions decisions....

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