Mr Phil - Returned

The whole week and a bit went by in a blur. It was a great but rushed trip home - not exactly a holiday! - and I only wish I had extra days to spend more time with everyone. Still, it would never have been long enough. A condensed summary:

The first leg of my journey saw me leaving the hotel at 5:30am; still dark outside and the main entrance to to the hotel had been closed off for maintenance so I had to go through a side corridor straight from an Argento horror. The taxi took me to Air New Zealand check-in and the whole experience with the company was excellent; great service, polite staff, comfortable seats, delicious food (tubs of Haagen Dazs!), and a fantastic entertainment set-up. Coupled with the price, I would recommend anyone to fly with them. The only shock I found when boarding was that the flight was 13 hours! That's longer than to Tokyo, and must be due to the curve of the World. Still, the view from my window was spectacular - we followed the sunrise the whole way - and I can't ignore the fact that half of the journey was over China; it's massive, to say the least. However, with the sunrise in tow, it wasn't so easy to sleep.

I was worried about Heathrow as it's not the easiest airport to deal with, but I was into the arrivals hall within 15 minutes of embarking. Bless Oli for being there with coach ticket in hand - sans chocolate - and it was great to spend some time with him as he was off to Rome the next day on a Uni trip*. The National Express man let us take the earlier coach which was much more convenient. I was trying to avoid trains as much as I could as I knew they couldn't compare to Asia in efficiency/cost. Mum met us at the coach station briefly before we rushed off to get changed and meet the family for Natasha's Bat Mitzvah. It was great to see everyone although it was the middle of the night for me and I don't think I was the greatest company. Still, it was nice to see everyone well and enjoying themselves. My room had been redecorated, and looked very nice.



The next day was more of the same with a family lunch and then a big party in the evening. I was mentioned a couple of times as travelling the furthest. Sunday we had some family over for lunch and then I took some presents over to the Kurts, which they looked great in. That evening Martin, Dad, Barbara and myself played a board game and some Wii.



My last day in Bournemouth. I met some friends of the family in the supermarket and they were asking how everything was. The girl in front of me in the queue overheard that I had been in Tokyo - she had taught English there as well, a few train stations away from where I had been based! Another one: I went into the new Asian shop in Winton to see if it was Japanese, Korean or Chinese. I spoke Japanese but the man was Korean and didn't understand; however, he asked me to translate a few of the Japanese products for him!

I visited Grandma Stella in the HLH and then had a mooch around Bournemouth, buying a few souvenirs for Keiko's parents - fudge, tea etc. Nothing much had changed** and it was a bit overcast so the beach wasn't at its best.



I saw Grandma Jean and was welcomed with about three tubs of biscuits and of course the much-missed ice-cream. If anyone can think of a way to ship frozen food across the world, I would be eternally grateful!! As mentioned, it was so nice to see everyone and catch up; I don't have much news as it's all on here, so I was far more interested in hearing other stories.

That evening, Barbara took me to the station and I met up with Mum, who had a "subtle" sending-off by the Bentleys. Another National Express trip to Portsmouth for the overnight ferry to France. This one was not so customer-friendly.

---

The Trouble With Bob: We had to change at Southampton for the coach to Portsmouth Ferry Terminal. We were dropped off at the coach stand, which was closed up and not even a bench to sit on. It was grim and shady, and being Fireworks Night, explosions were going off around us. 20 or so minutes later, a coach turned up with the sign to Portsmouth. The driver - the now-infamous Bob - let all the passengers off; only a handful remained on-board. He looked right past us eagerly waiting to climb on as if we weren't there. (I don't exactly remember the exchange, but it was something like this:)

"Is this the bus to Portsmouth Ferry Terminal?"
Bob lets out an angry sigh. Mum hands him the tickets, which he stares at before ripping a part off and chucking it on the floor. He turns around and walks to the back of the coach. We both stand there, confused as to whether this is the coach or not. "Well, is this the coach to Portsmouth?" "Fine. I suppose so." He grudgingly opens the luggage door and watches us as we clamber about to put the suitcases in the hold. We left Southampton not actually sure if we were heading towards our destination or whether Bob was off elsewhere. To pass the time, we considered some explanations: 'Bob was not having a good day so decided to drive straight to the pub instead', 'Bob decided not to go on his route, as he couldn't be bothered'.

Well you know what, Bob, IT'S YOUR JOB!

---

We did make it there, and waited around for a bit before setting-off on the Ghost-ship; we had a whole seating area to ourselves to sleep in. The next morning we were picked up by Keith and Sam; a rather splendid dog from the Rescue Centre that Mum volunteers in. He jumped up on me and thus began our friendship.

The few days in Buais were relaxing, with a visit to the market, playing Ball-y with Sam and eating Baguettes. However, it was freezing, as was England. It was still shorts and t-shirt beach weather back in Hong Kong and I was glad to have purchased my new big coat from H&M. About Wednesday afternoon, the whole jet-lag caught up with me and I conked out for a good 12 hours or so! This is a stick:



One day we went to Paris, an awesome city that has so much class and culture. We went up to the La Defense - the business area to the North-West, in a direct line with the Champs Ellysses and Arc de Triomphe. Huge glass buildings surrounded a central plaza which we sat on and ate, wait for it, baguettes.




Some more exploration of the city, including the Latin Quarter and we were on our way back.

I said my goodbyes at the airport, flew RyanAir to Stansted, a one hour flight and then my last coach to Golders Green where I met up with Fi, Rae, Gem and Ian. So lovely to see them, and to know that they were all doing well with careers/life in general. A meal and some drinks at the Pub later and then we crashed at Fi's house.

My flight home wasn't until 9pm so Andrew drove down to London - thank you! - and we spent the day doing the Touristy thing. The mission was to eat traditional fish and chips as I craved it. Could we find one? Not a sausage. (Not even mushy peas!) Sushi restaurants occupied every other shop, as they have done in Hong Kong too, but no good old cod and chips. How depressing. We also walked past - being nearby purely by chance - the Nova office where I interviewed. Their sign was still on the wall, but it was all shut up and their bell wasn't in operation. Shame.



Heathrow wasn't as breezy the second time around, with chaos in the check-in gates, and ridiculous amounts of safety checks, with a girl who seemed to enjoy telling people that they couldn't take this, and they couldn't take that through with them. In front of me, a mother wasn't allowed a full bottle of milk for her child but was allowed four half-filled bottles. Where's the logic? And to top it off, you can buy more of the same at an increased price in the (duty free) shops. We also had a ridiculous shoe check. One girl behind me who reminded me of Catherine Tate's "Am I Bovverd" Lauren, was confused:

"What is it?"
"They check your shoes"
"Issit"
"They smell them"
"Issit"
"Yeah, and if they're suspicious they lick them"
"Really? You jokin' me?"

Expecting a long wait at security I was actually waiting in duty free for a long time before my flight was called. Another thing I should mention: departure gates seem sadistically far, with walks up to 30 minutes; there must be a more sensible layout considering old people and children.

The flight home was fine and I slept most of it. As mentioned, I stepped straight back into Asia and it felt as if the whole trip had been a dream. A great one at that, and I hope to be back soon!

*a bit of an ordeal
**except the big big news of Haagen Dazs to Ben & Jerrys in the Odeon.