Hong Kong to Heathrow

Our final flight went smoothly; descending down through the cloud and over an illuminated London to arrive early on a dark damp October night. Although we had caught a few hours of sleep on the flight, we calculated that we had probably slept less than 6 hours in the last 48. So it was with eager anticipation that we sought our taxi to take us the very final leg to Alex's parents. However we could not find our driver amongst the many who lined the arrivals hall with their surnamed signs...

A phone call later and we discovered that an administrative error by the taxi company meant that there was no driver or car ready to take us. Instead, as fatigue crawled over our eyelids and along our spines, we waited 1 and 1/2 hours for another car to be driven all the way up from Herne Bay. When the call handler explained that the car had been 'upgraded' to a Mercedes as compensation, Alex nearly laughed and said 'a Robin Reliant here and now would be better'. Sat under the stark lighting of the arrivals hall it felt ironic that we had travelled around the world without too much difficulty but the final leg had become unstuck by a Kent-based taxi company.

It was the early hours of the following day when we eventually arrived at Alex's parents. We were completely knackered yet happy. After 6 months and so many hours we were finally home!Read more