by Philip

And then, all of a sudden, we are home!

Yesterday began with a wonderful breakfast of pancakes (known as hot cakes) in a nearby cafe which has been operating for at least 40 years with friendly staff and great food. Then we packed our bags – we had intended to put each pair of panniers in a laundry bag (as we did on the way out) but couldn’t find any, so went with plan B which was to use quite a lot of cling film to wrap the panniers, then use bright red duck tape to secure them. This was all hot work! Liz went for a brief walk and then we departed for the airport via a very efficient Lyft taxi. San Diego airport was light and airy and the queues short. We bimbled around the shops for a while, then found a window seat looking out over the apron with muffins, tea and coffee while catching up on our AirBnB reviews.

The plane was on time, and we had seats in an exit row so had unlimited leg room. The flight was a little bumpy over the Rocky Mountains but otherwise uneventful and we landed 25 minutes early. The bags survived unscathed, and we came home via the worst taxi ride we’ve ever experienced – but at least traffic was generally OK! 

We were greeted by Andriy and Tadei, our Ukrainian family who have lived with us for the last three years, who have done a wonderful job of looking after things while we were away – including mowing interesting shapes in the lawn. It feels a bit surreal being back – did that all really happen? We will need some time to adjust and settle back into normal life, and we want to ensure we remember and reflect on what really has been a remarkable, astonishing, exhiliarating adventure.

We would like to thank everyone who has been following us here, cheering us on from the sidelines. We have only been able to do this trip through the generosity of friends and family at home who have looked after Liz’s mum had any intervention been required. Thank you too for supporting our two charities – it has been nice to add that as a level of meaning to this trip, and we’ve raised around £1,000 for each charity which is amazing.

This is the last blog post – at least until the next adventure – where next?

With lots of love from two weary travellers,

Liz and Philip

xxx