Luke Heath-Edwards

We spent our final night in Phuket packing our bags. Our weight limit for checked in luggage was 25kg, and carry-on was 7kg. It took us multiple hours to figure out how to get everything to fit within the weight limit! Plus my cheap handheld luggage scales broke halfway through packing, so I had to MacGyver a makeshift repair.

Our tactic was to bin as much we didn't need (packaging, old clothes), then store all the excess weight in the carry-on luggage. Our final weights for Frankie and me were 24.5kg and 24.9kg, but our carry-ons were 10kg and 8kg, slightly in excess. Very luckily, the carry-ons never got weighed at the airports so we were able to bring all the excess home!

Although, we did have to scoff a whole bunch of our Japanese snacks before the flight to reduce our weights. The Butterbeer from HP World was pretty gross and weighed almost 2kg so very glad we got rid of that!

We spent our final morning getting ready and then going down to the restaurant for a final breakfast. Knowing it was going to be a long day of travelling ahead, I stocked up and had a hot breakfast, then a sweet breakfast, then a plate of fruit and yoghurt.

The staff were lovely and took all our bags down to the boat for us. On the other side of the water, our taxi man, Mr. Superman, was waiting to take us to the airport. Mr. Superman had been our loyal taxi driver since Day 1 in Phuket. He took us everywhere we needed to go, and he was very punctual, quick, and honest. He suggested some tourist attractions too, including the Pearl Factory and the karts. It was nice to round off the trip with the same guy who picked us up from the airport at the very start.

Then began the looooong trip home. At Phuket airport, there was some outage with AirAsia that meant no one could check in. There were over 50 of us waiting in line at the check-in counter for them to address the outage issue. We waited 1.5 hours until they decided to just manually check people in by taking photos of our passports on their phones. A bit stressful, but I knew we'd get on the plane because they wouldn't leave with us and all the other 50 people in the same boat.

The first leg was only a short 1.5 hour flight to Kuala Lumpur. For some reason we weren't sitting with each other, but it was short so we didn't mind. It was just a small plane (6 seats across) which made it pretty uncomfortable with the limited leg room!

At KL airport, we had a 7 hour stopover which we spent going through security, getting food, charging phones, etc. All the usual airport stuff. In fear of having limited legroom on the next flight too, we were trying to contact all the help desks we could to buy an upgrade to the exit row seats. We tried for a long time, but had no luck so had to stick with our original seats anyway. We boarded the plane and we're happy to see that it was a larger plane (9 seats across) and actually had a more comfortable amount of leg room. BUT - we didn't get any food on this 9 hour flight, and there were no in-flight entertainment screens?!?! Overall not too impressed with AirAsia so we know for next time to pick another airline. We tried to sleep for most of this flight anyway as it was now night time. Got an hour here and there, but it was pretty disrupted sleep.

We arrived in Sydney the next morning around 10am. This was only a short 1.5 hour layover, so we literally got off the plane, walked in a big circle through security, had time for a quick toilet break, then pretty much had to get right back on the exact same plane again. We were both exhausted now after the poor night's sleep, but we were now only 3.5 hours away from home which gave us hope. The flight was much the same as the previous one. We tried to stay awake this time to sync our body clocks with Auckland time (which didn't really work in the end, our sleeping schedule was still out of whack for a few days after this!).

Finally, we arrived back in Auckland. Baggage claim took a long time, then we had to declare our snacks and teas, but not too long after, we were ready to go home. Mum was waiting with a beaming smile for us in the parking area and we caught up on the ride home. We had to pick up my car from the Stevenson's house which had gone flat after 3 weeks of not driving. It took us a while longer to jump start the car but we got there in the end.

Once we got home, Alfie was so excited to see us that he was shaking and whimpering. We had picked up pizza on the way home, so scoffed that and then began unpacking. Frankie took the next two days off work, and I took three days off, which was much needed!

What an awesome honeymoon we had. It was so cool getting to travel Japan with my best friend. It was a place we'd always wanted to travel to since we first met. And it exceeded expectations! We are already thinking of going back! And Thailand was so idyllic and relaxing, the perfect way to end the trip. Every single day was just packed with so much fun and we have so many great memories that we can look back on. It's hard to pick a single highlight when every day was fun and unique. Shoutout to my travel buddy wife who made this experience unforgettable.Read more