Our holiday to blighty!

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Andys powers of persuasion worked on his director, which resulted in a few extra days holiday to go back to England for L&O's wedding. We eventually touched down at Heathrow at 6am on Wednesday July 18th.

My sister Charlotte picked us up at the airport in her new sporty little number, and as we drove we thought of ways to wake my mum up without giving her heart attack as she would still be in bed AND she had no idea we were coming home! We got back to the house and Charlotte went into the bedroom to wake mum up, telling her she had overslept and she had best get up for work. Once Charlotte left the room, I then went in and said, 'Morning mum, fancy a cuppa?'. She looked at me confused, as Charlotte and I look very similar, and raised her head of the pillow. I really believe she thought she was dreaming...then she screamed and hugged me and just kept kissing me. It really was pretty emotional. By 7.30am, we were all sitting in the garden drinking tea and eating bacon sandwiches. It felt good to be home.

Later on that evening, Dad put the BBQ on and we pigged out on burgers, hot dogs and anything else did we could get our hands on that we had not eaten for the last 9 months. I think I personally demolished a whole pack of Mr Kipling apple pies! Friends and family came round to see us and we drank wine and exchanged cuddles and kisses.

The next day we got up early. A combo of excitment and jetlag, we went for a walk along the river from Twickenham to Richmond and sat on the green eating Marks and Spencer sandwiches. I dont think I will ever enjoy a sandwich as much as I did that day on the green!

Fast forward to Sunday, the big day; Lyns and Ollie's wedding. The sun shone and it was so nice to see everyone. The bride and groom looked so beautiful and happy and my reading, 'On your wedding day' was a success. Only on the last line did my voice do a little quiver as I looked at Lyns and she was crying. We were so happy that we were able to share their special day with them.

The next morning we drove to Essex to visit Andy's parents and Uncle and Aunt. We sat and chatted, drank tea and ate lots of nice cake before heading to an Italian restaurant in the evening. The next morning we went for a walk and visited the village famous for JC paintings. After an enormous lunch we headed back to my mum and dad's.

The next of couple of days were spent with family, re-telling funny stories from our time in Korea and enjoying each others company as we realised it may be another 6 months or so before we were to see each other again. We had a great time, our only regrets were that we didnt get to see more of Andy's family and other friends.

On Saturday 28th July we headed to Hong Kong.......

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