Epic Journey Home

• Epic by Faith No More
• Snow (Hey Oh) by Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Stuck In The Middle by Stealers Wheel
• 500 Miles by The Proclaimers
• Long Road To Ruin by Foo Fighters
• Just When You're Thinkin' Things Over by The Charlatans
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If you'd like a musical accompaniment, listen to the above tracks.
They've all got some some relevance to this post.


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You can see here the route I took - you might need to zoom out to see it.

After a great week on Lanzarote (photographs to come), relaxing, catching up with my mam and dad and challenging my preconceptions of the island, we left for home on 1 February.

1 February
We drove from the apartment to the airport in the hire car, which we then dropped off. Unfortunately, things then began to go awry.
Cross-winds at the airport meant our flight was delayed.
The incoming flight from Newcastle was unable to land.
Four hours after our departure time, we learned the flight was cancelled.
As I had to fly to Beijing the next day, I decided to try and keep moving.
I talked my way onto a flight to Manchester.

2 February
We arrived in Manchester at 02:00 in the morning.
After wandering round the airport trying to find a train, or hire car back to Newcastle, I managed to find a 24-hour hire car office. Terminal 1 if any gets caught in the same situation.
By chance, there was also a guy (originally from Louisiana), who had arrived from Cyprus in Manchester and was having trouble getting his hire car for a drive to Hexham.
To help me stay awake and to do him a favour, I agreed to give him a lift.
The drive was basically gruelling.
Heavy snow, no sleep, an unfamiliar car, and a long drive meant I didn't get back to Gosforth until 08:00.
All during the drive home I knew that the snow was a serious threat to my flight, due to leave at 12:15 from Newcastle to Heathrow.
My fears were realised when I checked on-line and saw that the flights to and from Heathrow had been cancelled.
I went to the airport and was rescheduled onto the next flight to Beijing, which didn't leave until Wednesday, instead of Monday.
A quick trip to the shops for a haggis (don't ask) and other provisions to take to Beijing and I was back to the airport to collect the parents off their rescheduled flight from Lanzarote and to return the hire car.

3 February
Something of a day in limbo really.
Packed for the journey, bought a few more provisions.

4 February
Because I had checked flights on the 3rd and some between Newcastle and Heathrow had been cancelled and delayed again, I went to the airport and took the 09:20 flight, instead of the 12:15 that I had been booked on. Arrived at Heathrow at 10:30 and then mooched around terminal 5 for the best part of 6 hours.
Boarded the plane at 16:45 and was very happy to discover I'd been upgraded to Club World, so had a bed as well as really nice food and drinks.
The bed made all the difference and managed to get about 5 hours sleep, instead of drinking half a bottle of whisky, which was the routine on the last flight to China.

5 February
Woke around 08:30 China time, as I say the bed on the plane made all the difference.
We landed at 11:00, half an hour late.
Collected baggage and then took a taxi back to the apartment.

It was a fairly epic journey, but due to some good luck, I was unaffected by jet-lag.
Had a good meal last night, certainly missed the food (after Caroline of course).
Today I'm mainly just tidying and pootling about - looking forward to the coming weekend.