16-01-04.
We touched down in Manchester right on time. It took us a while to clear baggage reclaim, as our large piece of artwork we purchased back in Paraty somehow had not made the journey with us. It had been left behind at Heathrow and would join us later in the day. As we left the terminal building the first familiar face we saw was Kerri’s, then we spotted Nick, followed by lots of hugging and laughing. It was great to see them both again. They’d brought along a surprise coming home present, which turned out to be sponges for behind the headboard at our parents. I guess this had something to do with the fact they’d both traveled themselves and knew full well that traveling is perhaps the best form of contraception in the world. Six bed dorms can be a real passion killer!
Our first stop was the Mossbrook pub in Mosborough. Nick treat me to a pint of English bitter. I can’t believe I had to travel around the world to finally get a pint out of him! After a year I can’t begin to tell you just how good it tasted. Pure nectar. From there Nick & Kerri drove us to Mum’s. We sneaked down the road and knocked on the back door and luckily Mum answered. She just went white and then screamed in a sort of ascending high pitched wail. I really wish I’d video taped the moment, her expression was priceless. Phillip was just as shocked when he returned home 30 minutes later. This was after him nearly having a coronary when Mum called him to say he had to come home immediately as something had happened, just so he‘d rush back to see us. Next stop was Gran’s. As always Gran handled the whole thing quite coolly; after she finally recognized me! She also managed to scold me for looking so scruffy after a year on the road. Although at nearly 90, I feel I have to forgive her for just about anything! Following Gran we surprised Sarah’s Mum and Dad. After knocking on the front door, Bert appeared at the window and didn’t seem to recognize us – had we changed that much? It was only when he opened the door and saw us face to face that the penny seemed to drop and he realized we were actually home. We got the same reaction from Carole. Strangely, that had seemed to be the pattern throughout the day. There seemed to be a 5 or so second gap between people seeing us and recognizing us, then finally accepting we were actually home. It really was the strangest feeling. The award for the most enthusiastic welcome home had to go to Carol when we next turned up on Dad’s doorstep. As the door opened she just screamed YEEAHHHH! Leaping up in the air and diving on us both! It was really funny. Dad and Hannah all gave the now stock, ‘shock then realization reaction’ before exchanging hugs and emotional laughs. The remainder of our first evening back in the UK was spent along at the local pub, enjoying a few more beers after dining on a very traditional dinner of Fish & Chips! I have to say, “sorry Australia”, you may think you have the best Fish & Chips, but you don’t even come close to bog standard cod and chips from the local chippy with ‘proper’ chip shop vinegar. Fantastic!
The following day we borrowed Bert & Carole’s car and caught up with other close friends, such as Clair & John and also Wendy. We caught up with my Brother Greg at work, which was quite funny as he had no idea we even knew where he worked. Another great reaction came from Chris & Sarah, our friends who had joined us in Chile. We crept up the path and looking through the letterbox I spotted Chris, home alone, working at the kitchen table. I shouted his Chilean nickname (Con leche!) through the letterbox and he nearly hit the roof he jumped that high! Sarah (Fiery) was out, so Chris called her to come home and we managed a second surprise as she walked into the living room to find us there. Absolutely classic moments, it was so good to be back amongst our all friends.
It was the strangest things that we enjoyed most about being home. A cup of tea, a comfortable bed or a hot shower that worked – all of the time! We ate bacon sandwiches, non-stop, for almost a week. Finally came the one thing I’d missed more than anything else materially, Lamb Jalfreize from the Mangla, my favourite Curry house. The bizarre thing was I didn’t actually enjoy it that much. I think all these things seemed so important to us because we couldn’t get access to them. When they suddenly became on-hand, some of them lost their appeal. Music was one thing that was great to be able to listen to again. We played favourite CD’s over and over again; as we did our favourite DVD’s on Carole & Bert’s new Widescreen TV. It took us both a while to get used to not living out of packs. I constantly felt I had to check where mine was, also that I could never totally unpack it. I kept it on hand in the bedroom for about 2 weeks. Adjusting to a secure environment was also hard.
Other things were difficult also. Our interactions with people around us (with exceptions) were very different to those we anticipated. Before leaving the UK, Sarah and I read a book called ‘Before you go’. There was a particularly poignant section about how people would potentially view you on your return; also how they would react to your travel stories and pictures. Although I think the author’s view on why these reactions occur was possibly misconstrued and maybe narrow minded, they still occurred; with almost frightening similarity to the book. We’d changed, people around us just failed to see that. It became increasingly difficult to feel comfortable in large groups or around noisy people. We also became frustrated with people who seemed insular and who’s only level of conversation revolved around what they were doing last Friday night. People would ask about our ‘holiday’. Or another annoying favourite was the constant comparison of our travels and somebody’s fortnight’s holiday in Europe – please! Many would ask a question about our travels out of politeness, feign interest for at least 30 seconds, and then change the subject before we’d even finished answering. We just stopped responding after a while, resorting to ‘yes’ and ‘no’ answers. It seemed nobody genuinely wanted to see our photos either, we constantly felt we were forcing them on people. We began to invent reasons why we didn’t have them ready. Some people would frequently ask to see them, manage half a dozen and then lose interest. Some would pick up a newspaper, one even fell asleep. It was so strange, because while we were traveling our website journal seemed to raise so much interest, attracting over 20,000 hits in just under a year. We just couldn’t understand it. We realized people’s lives had been going on just fine without us, and would continue to do so now we were back. But just a little interest in what we’d just done would have been nice. We felt nobody understood what we’d achieved other than those who’d done the same. We had no outlet, no-one to share our tales with. Sarah and I felt suddenly very lonely and disappointed. I think if it wasn’t for our close friends we’d have struggled to cope with it all and tempers would have been raised.
I can only speak for myself, but I’m absolutely sure Sarah would answer the same; traveling was the best thing I’ve ever done. I would do it again at the drop of a hat. The only thing that eclipsed the whole trip was being able to do it with my wife Sarah. I wouldn’t change a moment of the time or the experiences we shared together. As a married couple we had a very different travel experience to a lot of other people, I personally think a much better one at that.
All said and done it was good to be back. How long that would last neither of us knew. Within a few days we both set out looking for work. For me this started with my old employer. Sarah looked down new avenues for a change of direction. However, I don’t think either of us anticipated what would develop over the next few weeks.
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