So good to be home...

Well we've been home almost a week now. I don't know where the time has gone.

We arrived at Sydney Airport at 10:00 pm on Thursday night to a cast of thousands. It was wonderful to see our family and all our friends who were able to make it to the airport. Really it was above the call of duty since it was so late at night I hadn't expected anyone but family to come out. It was really special though to see everyone and share our happiness. Thank you so much to those who were there... and apologise for being so dazed and confused. I really felt like there was no connection between my brain and my mouth so I just couldn't form the words I wanted to say.

We struggled out with our mountain of bags to find that my dear dad had a surprise for us... a new car. Most dads would bring a teddy bear for their new grand-daughter - my dad brings a car. It just added a new layer of shock to my already shocked brain. There it was, a shiny, brand new Honda Odyssey with the baby seat installed all ready to take us home. Crazy! But wonderful!

During the next few days we tried to re-adjust to life at home. It was so good just to be home, in our own home, with our own familiar things around us. Just to cook in my own kitchen, wash in my own laundry and shop in my own supermarket... those simple tasks we take completely for granted... they were all put into a new perspective for me.

Marianna has settled in beautifully, enjoying her new room, her new cot, highchair, etc. She seems to know she belongs there.

We had a simple family Christmas lunch at our house (thanks to my beautiful sister and mum who brought all the food - we just contributed the house). It was so nice to spend the day with family. Then Boxing Day at my dad's new apartment. Again, it was lovely day... even though I couldn't eat anything - we've had a stomach bug sweeping the family, starting with Jason, which leaves you very sick for a few hours then very weak and lethargic for 24 hours.

We've managed to visit a few friends in the last few days to show off our gorgeous daughter. She is very social and seems to enjoy meeting new people and getting out and about.

I am keen to establish a proper routine but it is difficult until the silly season is really over. At the moment Jason's mum and her friend Doug are staying with us and we are doing lots of socialising so it's hard to get the whole family into our normal routine. Really we probably won't get into it until the school holidays end in late January.

I won't be writing in this blog anymore as our journey is officially over. I have my normal blog which most of you know about. If you don't know that blog but would like it (you poor unfortunate people, really you should get a life... LOL!) please email me at blanter@ozemail.com.au and I will be happy to share it with you.

Until our next journey... goodbye and thanks for reading!

In the immortal words of Michael Buble...

Another aeroplane
Another sunny place
I’m lucky I know
But I wanna go home
Mmmm, I’ve got to go home
Let me go home
I’m just too far from where you are
I wanna come home...

I couldn't have said it better myself Michael!

But seriously, I want to send my best wishes to Dave, Mel, Seb and Stacey who are anxiously waiting to travel to Colombia to bring home their gorgeous new daughter Valentina. I hope that she is recovering quickly and that you will be with her soon. We're thinking of you.

It's Tuesday late afternoon and we are the business end of our big trip. After this I will head back to the hotel to finish packing and relax. We will be picked up at 8:30 am tomorrow and our flight leaves at 12:25 pm. Bring it on!

Yesterday afternoon, after my last post, we wondered around central London. Jason was going to go on the Beatles tour but decided it was too hard to leave me with both children. Will is being less than obedient at the moment and even with both of our constant attention he is constantly in danger of tripping over or running into people - long story.

We found a small carnival of rides in the middle of the theatre district and Will enjoyed an hour or so of rides - including on a giant chicken on the Merry-go-round. Then we got the tube to Knightsbridge and Harrods. Oh my god, what a place. Really it's just like a very very upmarket David Jones but because Christmas madness is upon us it really is like the depths of hell... a very expensive hell. We didn't go everywhere because there simply wasn't room to move but we did see a very plain man's jumper for £360 and pheasants in the meat section of £57 / kg. While it looked outrageous to me there certainly was no shortage of willing shoppers handing over their hard earned. We wanted to have afternoon tea but there were queues for the queues for all of the eating counters, including Krispy Kreme... sheesh!

So just got some souvenirs (one bag full = one week's wages) and decided to walk back to our street to have an early dinner at the steak house down the road. It was a great walk, apart from Will complaining about being tired and wanting to go to the hotel not go out for dinner. We enjoyed a very nice dinner steak dinner for about three times what it would have cost us in Sydney and went back to the hotel to relax. Jason then decided he wanted to have a beer in a "real" British pub so he went off down the road - where he met three Aussies and a guy who used to play guitar with the Rolling Stones (???).

This morning we slept in or at least lazed around since we didn't have any sort of schedule (for the first time since we've been in England). At about 9:30 am we went down the road for a big (all day) breakfast at the very English cafe (staffed entirely by Eastern European young girls, a lot of that here). We got two giant plates of chips, sausage, bacon, egg, baked beans and half a big baguette. I shared mine with Will and still barely got through it.

Then we walked down to the Musuem of Natural History which is only about two blocks away. It was a great way to spend a few hours. Will particulary loved the moving, roaring model of the T-Rex and had to go back twice to see it. Then we walked through Kensington Gardens, past the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain, which was very peaceful and nice - not exactly what I may have designed, but still very nice. Then we continued all the way through the Gardens into the city to the Hard Rock Cafe (Jason's pick of course). Despite myself I had a great time. There is memorabilia everywhere and I liked seeing guitars owned by The Ramones and The Sex Pistols. The food was also really good and Marianna sat happily in the high chair playing with her plastic spoon and bopping to the ear splitting music. No visit (to anywhere on our trip) would be complete without a stop at the souvenir shop and this was no exception.

So here we are... at the end of our crazy, wonderful, tiring, exciting, amazing trip. I can't really believe we've survived and haven't killed each other and are still on speaking terms. We've even managed to have some wonderful, memorable times along the way.

A few memories of England:

* The COLD, the mind-numbing, bone-chilling COLD.

* The best hot chocolate ever, with whipped cream and a Flake, enjoyed in a tiny, quaint Portsmouth cafe in a cobble-stoned back street on our first misty afternoon. Oh, heaven.

* Chichester Cathedral... really beautiful.

* Portchester Castle...

* The London Eye...

I feel all things considered we've done really well to see a lot in a short amount of time with two children in tow. While everyone we came across gave us yet another list of things we REALY SHOULD see or SHOULD HAVE seen I think we've seen quite a lot. We've been lucky with the weather - no rain - which has allowed us to be out and about everyday, despite the cold.

I can't wait to get home and see the photos and watch the video, maybe then I'll feel I've actually lived this trip but at times it has been an out of body experience.

Goodbye England... hello Sydney, Australia. Have you ever seen Sydney from a 747 at night?

Bring on Global Warming I say!

I really don't know how people live here! I mean it is bloody freezing. Today isn't quite so bad but yesterday was just ridiculous. I had on a long sleeved t-shirt plus a cardigan plus my fuzzy wuzzy super warm cardigan (which is as warm you ever need on the coldest day in Sydney - on it's own) plus my suede jacket plus hat plus gloves plus scarf and I was still absolutely freezing. I felt like the Abominable Snowman or the Staypuff Marshmallow Man (for the Ghostbusters fans).

We did the double decker bus tour of London yesterday and despite the cold it was really great. We got off at the London Eye and had a "flight" on that. It is really spectacular. It was a very crisp clear blue-sky day so we got to see for miles and miles. Fantastic. Then we got off and took a ferry ride up the Thames River to the Tower of London. Again, very enjoyable and a beautiful view.

The problem with London is there are literally too many things to look at, it's top heavy on the beautiful, historic buildings department. You need a swivel head to see everything as you go past.

We didn't go inside the Tower of London but had a walk around the outside. We then caught our bus again and finished the tour. It was very enjoyable and sitting on the warm bus was just what we needed as we were all tired by then.

We got back to the hotel, regrouped, put Marianna in her stroller and went for a walk up to Kensington High Street. It was very busy and crowded so we turned around and found a little Italian restaurant for an early dinner. I have to say prices here really are horrific. I try not to do the maths but it's hard not to feel like we're being ripped off left, right and centre.

Anyway, this morning we went to the Australian High Commission and got Marianna's visa. All very easy, no fuss. Our last beaurocratic step. Since then we've been wandering around London. We had a Cornish Pasty for a late breakfast in The Strand and now we're at an Internet Cafe just near Traflagar Square and Nelson's Column. Amazing that old and new combine here so effortlessly. Jason is going to do the Beatles Tour this afternoon and I'll probably head home with the kids.

Jason says he doesn't recommend travelling to London with a 6 year old. Will has had his "testing" moments but that's to be expected I suppose.

Anyway, we arrive home on Qantas flight QF 30 on Thursday 22/12 at 9:35 pm. However, if anyone is thinking of coming to the airport please check with the airline as our plane will probably have to take off from Heathrow and then refuel again at another British airport due to the petrol tank fire here at Heathrow.

Can't wait to get home! Thanks to everyone for your comments. They've been great. See you all soon!

Last stop... London...

Here we are in London, well, South Kensington to be precise. We packed up our zillion bags and had a lovely drive down the M3 to sunny London this morning. Where we're staying is very nice, lots of beautiful old buildings and trendy shops and restaurants. Haven't done too much exploring yet as Jason took the car back and was gone most of the afternoon and I had laundry to do. Took the kids for a walk around the area but it was bitterly cold so we couldn't walk too much.

To recap... On Thursday we picked up Jason's cousin Diane and her friend Pam and we all drove to Chichester to visit Diane's other daughter Carrie. Carrie and her boyfriend are renovating a houseboat at Chichester "marina" (not a marina as we would know it) and it was really interesting visiting the houseboat and going across the canal on a little raft thingy (for those of you who know how "adventerous" I am, you would laugh at my face when faced with this prospect). Then we drove through some very lovely "typical" English country roads (narrow with dense hedges on either side and quaint cottages peaking from behind the hedges, occassional pub around the corner) to her current house. This was a lovely place called Dolphin Cottage - again very typically English (Jason had to duck not to bump him head on the doorways and lightfittings).

Carrie put on a lovely lunch for us and then we set off to visit Chichester proper. This is a lovely historic town and we visited the very old (11th century?) Chichester Cathedral. Beautiful and amazing. Then we had a very quick walk through the town which was beautifully lit up for Christmas, with a quick stop to buy JB another little pressie. As it gets dark here at about 4:00 pm our days are always cut short.

Thursday night we went around to Jason's nanna's for a final family get together. All the aunties and uncles (except for Stephen who we saw on the weekend and who lives too far away) came over and we had a very nice evening. It was sad to say goodbye as we know we won't see them for some years (who knows when really).

Friday we picked up Jason's nanna and took off for Surrey to visit his cousin Glen. It was mean't to be a straightford journey of less than 1 1/2 hours but due to heavy traffic took more than 2 hours. It was lovely to see Glen and his wife Mim and their two boys. Of course Will took straight off to play with their toys and we had a cuppa while we decided what to do. We ended up going into their local tiny town for lunch at The Crown which is apparently one of the most haunted pubs in England. We didn't see the headless ghost (I'm sure they have more a problem with legless people, rather than headless ghosts) but we did have a nice lunch. Then we again headed off to visit a beautiful old country house set on huge parklands with deer. Will was very happy to see some reindeer but we couldn't hang about too much as it was so cold I couldn't believe it and the wind was bitter. So we said goodbye and headed back to Portsmouth.

Now it's Saturday late afternoon and I've popped down the internet cafe (luckily there are plenty around here) before we have dinner. We're going to have a famous London curry tonight. Hopefully tomorrow won't be quite so cold and we can do some exploring. I'm looking forward to pottering about Harrods as it is only up the road from here.

You'd think I'd be tripping over internet cafes...

...but they are as rare as hen's teeth around here. It really is a problem to keep in touch at the moment but I've finally found one here in Portsmouth, near Jason's grandmother's house. Jason, Will and Aunty Jan have gone off to go up in the Portsmouth Tower thingy (which we ran out of time to do yesterday). So Marianna and I have gone for a walk around the shops and found this net cafe tucked away in an optometrist shop (???).

We've had a busy few days. Tuesday Jason's Aunty Jan and her husband Barry arrived and we spent most of the day driving around having a look round the place with them. Barry has a GPS which makes it very easy to get around - it literally tells you "100 yards turn left", "at the roundabout take 2nd exit" - quite cool. We visited and walked around Portchester Castle, parts of which were built in the 11th century, so it was pretty special. It's all a ruin now except for the church which still has Sunday service. It was absolutely amazing to walk around such an old place, you could almost hear the ghosts talking to you.

Then we came back to Nan's house and Jason's Uncle Martin and Aunty Sue and her husband Mike arrived. We spent a few hours chatting with them but had to leave as Marianna was getting very tired.

Wednesday (yesterday) we spent the day on the Portsmouth historic waterfront. We took the hovercraft over to the Isle of Wight and came straight back. It was cold and foggy so we didn't feel like hanging about. But at least we can all now say we've been on a hovercraft and been to the Isle of Wight. Then we strolled around, had some lunch at the fanciests Nandos I've ever seen and then Jason took Will on a tour of the HMS Victory (they both loved it) and Barry had a tour of the Mary Rose. Us girls just pottered about and I bought some nice books about Portsmouth to take home.

By the end of the day Marianna was getting very tired and cranky. She is teething and quite grumpy compared to her usual happy self. So Jason dropped me and her back at the hotel and he and Will went to have dinner with Yvonne's old friends Bob and June. They live very close to our hotel and they all went out to The Seagull (one of the MANY pubs around the place) for a steak dinner.

Marianne did not have a happy night though. She was very restless, drinking a bit of her bottle, falling asleep, waking up grumpy, having a bit more of her bottle but not wanting to sleep again, on and off all night. I was very bleary eyed when we awoke this morning.

Anyway, now she is sleeping in her stroller so all is well. This afternoon we are going with Jason's cousin Diane to meet her other daughter Carrie and have lunch at a pub in Arundle. Tomorrow we are driving to Surrey to visit with Jan and Barry's son Glen and his wife and two boys. Glen came out to Australia about 8 or 9 years ago and had dinner with us and Peter and Maureen. So it will be nice to catch up with him after all these years.

Well, not too long now before we head home. As much as I'm enjoying myself here I really am feeling quite desperate to get home. I want my own things around me and to start getting into a good routine with Marianna. I can't wait to see all the smiling faces when we get off the plane.

Here we are in Merry Olde England...

Well, it's been an interesting few days... where to start...

The day we travelled from Bogota to London was a nightmare, pure and simple. Definitely the worst day of my life, well certainly in the top 5.

It started with our bags being searched at Bogota airport. Jason's carefully packed souvenirs were a mess, Marianna was screaming, it was hot, it was horrible... Then we were stopped and searched, passport checked, etc at least another 4 or 5 times at that airport. At the immigration checkpoint where we handed over Marianna's paperwork the girl took forever, calling over another girl, looking at us suspicious... I was getting very stressed and worried. There was even a seperate bag search at the Iberian Airlines gate.

Finally we flew out and the flight itself was OK. Marianna and Will slept most of the way. I didn't of course but I did get to watch Must Love Dogs so that was something.

We expected a 2 hour layover in Madrid (HUGE airport, by the way) but the plane was delayed... and delayed... and we took off about 3 1/2 hours late. Then we had to circle and circle Heathrow Airport, landing at about 6:30 pm instead of 2:30 pm. It was horrendous. We were all so tired, Marianna was very restless and getting hungry. Will was tetchy, bored, annoying, just horrible.

Getting out of the airport was no problem at all but then we were hit with the freezing cold outside. We had to push our 130kgs of luggage through the crowds to the Budget Hire Car bus stop, wait for the bus and then it took over 30 minutes in the HORRIBLE traffic to drive 1 km to the Budget place. Then they tried to give us a smaller car. Jason just went along with them but I chucked a wobbly and demanded the car we had booked and paid for and finally we got it (after hanging about for over half an hour). Marianna was getting to be a very cranky girl by now. She was hungry but I had no water left and no clean bottles. I thought we'd stop at a petrol station so I could get organised but we got on the Motorway and there wasn't a petrol station for about 20 odd miles. Marianna screamed and screamed. It was just awful.

Finally we found one of those huge service stations with all the mod cons. Got fresh water for Marianna and she was happy with her fresh bottle and KFC for the rest of us. It's amazing how much better everyone feels when tummys are full and the baby is sleeping instead of screaming.

Another 50 miles down the road and we found our hotel and suddenly we were all cosy in our lovely hotel room, warm and comfortable, with beautiful beds and a heated towel rack.

After passing out, too exhausted to sleep even, we awoke the next morning to a crisp sunny British winter day. It was gorgeous. A proper English breakfast (with TEA, how I missed TEA) made us feel very human again and we were off to find Jay's grandmother's house.

Can't stay on much longer at the moment but suffice to say we LOVE England and we LOVE Portsmouth. We are having the most wonderful time. The weather has been lovely - crisp clear sunny days (a balmy 8C today). We love the old buildings and the quaint shops and cafes. It is just wonderful. So far we have spent some time with Jason's grandmother Peg and her friend John and Jason's uncle Stephen (who came down from Birmingham) and his two lovely teenage children Emily and Joe. Today we have spent the day with Jason's cousin Diane and her friend Pam. Everyone has been wonderful to us and we couldn't be happier. I'm in serious danger of looking at real estate.

Write again soon. Love to everyone back home!

Memories of Colombia

At every set of traffic lights throughout Medellin and Bogota (and I assume other major cities in Colombia) there are people selling stuff. Fruit - beautiful fresh fruit from the farms (strawberries, cherries, mangosteens??, plums), mobile phone accessories, Christmas decorations... the list goes on. At the toll booths on the mountain road leading to and from Medellin many men sell packets of homemade local delicacies - sweets and most importantly what they call pork rind - pork crackling to you and me. This is a national delicacy and I am amazed that anyone lives past 30. It is quite literally packets of deep fried pork skin, salted, and very delicious (and I'm sure 99% fat and cholesterol). Vicky's husband bought us a couple of packets and of course I had to consume 90% of both packets within two days. I was disgusted with myself but what can you do when that delicous crackling is calling you... " Kathy, we're so crunchy and delicious. You know you want us... come on, don't just sit there...". The most memorable thing I saw "for sale" at a set of traffic lights was puppies. Yes, a litter of gorgeous Chow Chow puppies - golden brown, chocolate brown and gray. Their mum was sleeping under a tree on a blanket and a couple of guys were shoving handfuls of puppies through the window at us. Of course my crazed mind automatically started trying to work out how we'd get a puppy home from Colombia (and as everyone knows we are the worst pet owners in the universe and should not even be allowed to consider the possibility of another pet, let alone a puppy from Colombia). Luckily the lights changed and Vicky sped off. Saved again!

Another important memory from Colombia is women and clothes. Especially in Medellin, but also in Bogota, women, ALL WOMEN, dress amazingly well. Not just well but in skin tight clothes, even those who shouldn't. There must be some legislation in place which bans women wearing baggy t-shirts, worn out tracky daks, or anything which isn't designed for 15 year old anorexic prostitutes. It is 90% skimpy, skin tight and skin exposing. Even middle aged and older women wear cut off tops, super slinky jeans and stiletto shoes. It is unbeleivably. I have felt like the world's biggest DAG the last few weeks. My simple attire of jeans, t-shirts and sneakers just doesn't cut the fashion mustard around here. Even poor people dress better than me. However, when I tried to buy some more stylish tops they didn't seem to make sizes for lard-arses like myself. A few shops stocked an Extra Large but even that was so tight on me it looked painted on (and that isn't a good look). Don't get me wrong, most of the women look fantastic. Their clothes, shoes and handbags MATCH. They wear tasteful accessories which match their clothes. They generally look elegant and very well groomed. I just can't imagine that much dedication to looking good, day in, day out. Who has that sort of stamina? I am just happy if I can put on something clean and comfortable, make up is just for special occassions, and stilettos... forget about it.