Home time!
It's been over a year and a half since we've been home! We meant to go home for Christmas last year, but Covid got in the way. It nearly did this year too, but we caught it in November instead and were fully recovered in time to travel in December.
We flew out on Saturday morning. Our first flight from Ontario to Dallas went very smoothly, and we arrived in Texas in time for our connecting flight. But this was where the trouble started.
Our flight out of Texas slowly got more and more delayed. Apparently, there was a fault in the plane and they ended up having to get us a new aircraft, which turned out to be smaller than our original plane, meaning 28 people would not be flying with us today. There was some chaos and confusion, and some passengers very angry about being bumped from first class, but we were able to get on, and our plane started out from the gate six hours after our planned departure time. This was fine by us, we'd miss meeting Kyle in London to go ice-skating, but we would still be in plenty of time to get to our visa appointment at 10am on Monday.
However, as the plane reached the edge of the Texas runway, it stopped for several minutes. After waiting stationary for a while, we got an announcement from the captain that the baggage hold had made a weird noise and we had to go back for maintenance to take a look. They couldn't find the reason for the weird noises, so we all had to get off the plane and they re-scheduled the flight for the next day. By this time it was 3am, but they gave us a complimentary hotel for the night, a taxi voucher and a small meal voucher. We did the maths, and the new flight time would get us into London for 6:30am, just in time to make it for our appointment!
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| In our hotel room |
We went to the hotel and got a few hours sleep and a shower, and then were back to the airport after check-out. As we were having breakfast/lunch, we got an email that the flight had been delayed again! This now meant that our arrival would be very tight. We had planned to stop in the London train station to get the passport photos we needed, but now we had extra time in Texas, we decided to go out and get them done while we waited. We got an Uber to a nearby pharmacy, paid for someone to take and print our photos, and took an Uber back.
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| Seeing the sights of Dallas |
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| On the plane, but not optimistic at this point |
We landed in London at 9:58am Monday morning, and immediately started running across town. There were no lines at customs and we just about managed to get onto the train Wi-Fi to let our families know we'd arrived. We made it to the embassy at 11:30, left our bags with Kyle who had offered to hold them for us during our appointment and ran inside, just as they were starting to pack away the entrance signs.
The appointment lasted a couple of hours, but we were seen and approved, and were back on schedule!
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| A couple of very relieved people |
We could then start our tour of various families. We went to Biggleswade and had dinner with Mitchell's Dad, then celebrated Mitchell's birthday on Tuesday with Mitchell's mum. We had lunch and games, and then went to do an escape room, which was Dickensian Christmas themed. It was fun and after we did the main challenge and saved Christmas, we got to use the extra time to solve extra clues and see how many coins we could collect.
After that, we all went for dinner at a Thai restaurant and Mitchell met some old lab mates for a drink.
Wednesday we went to go and visit my Grandad in his care home and then went out for lunch with my Grandma. Thursday was my Dad's birthday so we went for a rainy walk and out for dinner and bowling (which he won easily).
Friday was Thomas' birthday, so we played video games, and then on Christmas eve, we began our rounds of Christmases.
Saturday we went to Mitchell's Dad's and got to see his Grandparents. I also went for quick walk and catch-up with Nia, who was also in town visiting family. Sunday we went to Mitchell's mum's and Monday it was back to my family for afternoon tea where I got to see Uncles, Aunts and cousins.
Tuesday we went back for afternoon tea leftovers and then I met my friend Max for coffee. On Wednesday, we got lunch at Greggs, which we have missed a huge amount (it was almost a weekly occurrence when we lived in Nottingham.) We were then picked up by Dael and Sarah who took us to see their new house in Norwich. We stayed two nights, playing board games and catching up.
I thought I might be allergic to their cat (which I haven't shown signs of before) as I was very sniffly, but as we got the train back, I wasn't feeling too good and had a nap when we got home, thinking it must just be a cold instead.
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| Tried the new vegan cafe in Biggleswade |
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| Went out for dinner with Mitchell's birthday voucher |
I woke up for dinner and we went out to spend a birthday voucher for Mitchell. It was all very nice, but as I was getting ready for bed, I suddenly felt very ill and spent the whole night dashing to the toilet.
I spent the next day curled up and missed our new years eve plans, but felt better the next morning, but still very weak. Unfortunately, this does mean that I was not sniffly because of a cold, but probably sniffly because of the cat :( Apparently, Sarah had the same bug, so we're not sure what exactly caused it, but we definitely caught it from somewhere in Norwich.
After New Years, I went to go and see Callum and Poppy's new house for an evening of games, and then in the morning, Mitchell's mum drove us down to Wales to go and visit his Great Aunty Philo, who after 9 years together I still hadn't met. We went out for lunch and watched the sun set across the sea. On the way home we even had time to pop in and see Mitchell's cousin in Hitchin!
On the Tuesday evening, Mitchell braved the train strikes to go and visit Nottingham and had a lovely time with all his friends.
I stayed home, but met him in London the next day to pick up our new visas and then we met Kyle and his girlfriend Annie for lunch. We were meant to meet her when we went ice-skating, but had missed that, so it was nice to finally meet her too! We went for a little walk along the Thames, but then had to get the train back early as the strikes meant there would be no trains after 5pm.
On Thursday it was my Grandma's birthday (yes I have a lot of birthdays in this season!) so we went for lunch and then I tried on my wedding dress for the first time in three years. I'd forgotten quite how pretty it was and am looking forward to wearing it come April!
On Friday I had a makeup trial in preparation for the wedding, and then we were up in various lofts, finding wedding stuff and putting our winter clothes back in storage.
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| I also went for cream tea with my mum |
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| Chip helped pack |
We had a final evening and then went to bed early for our travels the next morning. We were up at 4am to drive to the airport. There was no traffic and we were checked in early enough to get breakfast before we boarded. Logistically, the flight was smooth, but physically it was a bit bumpy as we crossed over Scotland because the weather was getting stormy. But we arrived on time and made it through Phoenix airport for our final flight. This one was only slightly longer than an hour and we landed in California on time. Our friend Marine picked us up, which was very nice of her, and then we were home!
It was a crazy three weeks, but we got to see so many people and do so many things! We'll be back to do it all again in a few months, but next time we might avoid Dallas, Texas.
All our love,
Emily and Mitchell
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