Saturday 18th June 2022

I was not allowing myself to get too excited to fly to the UK after a year, as I know anything can happen and we never know if everything can and will go to plan.  Well, on this occasion it did.  Exactly as we hoped. 

Since we had a plentiful baggage allowance I ordered fresh fruit to be delivered at the last minute, the kids got their clothes ready the day before and we put everything in piles around 4 big suitcases in the living room for Steve to pack in the afternoon.  Systematically and logically, he was done in an hour or so, no space wasted and no bag over the individual weight permitted of 32Kg.

I managed to wash all the bedlinen and it dried nicely. We had chicken Caesar salad for our dinner and a friend came to say good bye to us. Emilka had about 3 hours of sleep, Misa stayed up playing computer games and we did the final jobs before getting into the taxi at midnight.

The airport was quite crowded as always at that time of day (a majority of long haul flights leave Colombo in the early hours of the morning), but we had priority check in and within minutes we were in the business lounge and the kids at Burger King having snapped up Steve’s suggestion of a treat!

Steve came back from the bar with a big glass of what looked like lime and soda to me but which turned out to be probably five or six shots of his favourite Cointreau liqueur; the barman didn’t use a shot measure and being unfamilar with this drink simply put in some ice cubes and then filled the tumbler up before Steve could stop him!  After all the stress of finishing work and getting ready to travel going down to the wire it was nice to see him quickly mellow and relaxed for the rest of the journey. Both planes were nearly full but we sat close to the front each time.  We all tried to sleep but, only me and Steve had breakfast. 

In Doha, we had 2.5hours wait so as we were passing Harrods Tea Room I said to Emi: “Let’s have a treat and let the boys go to the VIP lounge!”.  That is exactly what happened.  The most expensive bottle of water, cappuccino and salmon sandwich we have ever had, but it was worth it, making memories.  The boys had a tasty breakfast and a shower in one of the best business lounges anywhere in the world and we reunited just before our second flight.  Movies, music, sleeping and eating at each of our choices.

It is so easy to travel with two very well travelled teenagers, each knowing what to expect and what to do.  A pre-booked taxi was waiting for us at Heathrow and there had been no problem with luggage despite what we’d read in the news about a disaster the day before (and which happened again a few days later).  Indeed, one of our suitcases was the very first one on the belt.  The others followed quickly behind.

The journey to Steve’s parents was as planned via a motorcycle clothing shop with a huge range to choose from, Steve needing a new helmet as they invisibly age and lose their protective abilities over time, and Misa a complete new set of gear ready for their long ride to my hometown of Krnov and back; at 178cm tall and with size 43 feet he has greatly outgrown his existing gear since last summer.

We had a lovely reunion with grandparents, and the requested sausages, mash potatoes and baked beans as our family first dinner in the UK after 12 months.  Lovely, as was a night of deep sleep and waking up to a beautiful morning.  It was so good to be back and we hope to have an equally lovely summer 2022 with family and friends. 

Rennie