Reflections on the journey home!

It was supposed to be a slow and relaxed final morning. It wasn't. At 4 a.m., FlixBus sent Bengt a message saying that the 11 a.m. departure had been cancelled. Luckily, he happened to see it and with very little notice, managed to rebook us onto the 9 a.m. bus instead. Suddenly, our morning looked very different: wake-up call and everyone ready at 7!

We rushed to defrost our completely frozen breakfast, took quick showers, made our hair-tie coffee one last time, bought some snacks and drinks for the bus journey and our extended wait at the airport. Everyone managed to eat something? Great! Bags packed? Perfect! Then off we went!

As usual the bus system worked brilliantly, and we arrived at Balice Airport around noon. We had to wait a while before we could check in our bags and go through security but everything went smoothly. We were even allowed to bring up to one litre of drinks through security, which was a nice surprise. Both Tilde and I were randomly selected for drug swab checks, but luckily everything was completely routine.

While waiting for boarding, we had something to eat and entertained ourselves with our phones. I started chatting with a friendly Swedish traveller who had just returned from Cyprus and told me it had been around 40°C there. That felt very far away from the evening before, when we had actually needed our jackets in Zakopane even though the days in Krakow had been quite warm. He mentioned that it was around 25°C in Sweden now which made coming home feel even more appealing.

Everyone was ready to go home.

When we asked the kids what they had enjoyed most about the week, Tilde said she loved how beautiful it was outdoors. Freja appreciated getting to see a new city, especially Krakow. Viggo mentioned being impressed by the spa. Bengt said the first hike was his favourite part, although he admitted that it had felt a little more exciting than expected at times.

For me, the best part was probably that we managed to do something together as a family. We definitely have strong personalities and opinions that don't always pull in the same direction, but we found ways to make space for everyone. We allowed time for individual breaks when someone needed them, had some couple time for Bengt and me, did activities that the teenagers enjoyed, and also made sure to include things that suited Viggo. On top of that, we discovered two new cities, experienced the beauty of the mountains and created a lot of memories together. I am genuinely very happy with this holiday.

Thank you, Poland!Read more