Jersey, United Kingdom

Some people say that all good things have to come to an end, Tim and I definitely don’t believe this to be the case. Instead, sometimes all good things have to be put temporarily on hold for real life to renew passports, work to top up the travel fund and to have a go at normality again to see what we have been missing.

After over 3 years on the road we had no idea if we could cope with reality again, a 9-5 routine, a job, responsibilities and a good old English winter.

Tim had managed to secure a contract and was starting work a week after we returned home, I on the other hand had lined up a couple of interviews and had no idea if I would be able to find work. Thankfully with the power of ebay I had bought a selection of new work clothes so was all set to head to an interview at 8am the day after we arrived home. Thankfully we didn’t seem to be suffering too badly with jet lag as out inflatable bed in the middle of my parents lounge floor was no place to sleep until the afternoon.

My first interview on my first day back on the rock was possibly one of the best interviews I have ever had, thanks to my amazing friend Elodie who had sold me to the directors, it was more a case of when can you start than anything else, I had a great feeling from the company and amazingly a week later I was turning up for my first day back in the office as a Fund Administrator at Saltgate.

Tim was all set for work with his contract signed, however he had one small problem of having nothing to wear, at all. So we set out to find him a suit, a few shirts, a pair of shoes and raided dads’ wardrobe for a selection of ties to see him through his contract.

With the start of work looking we relocated from mum and dads floor to our friends Jon & Tim who kindly lent us their spare room and we began days of buses to town and days in the office.

Sadly within days of being back in the office it was like we had never left, which is a huge relief as we could have forgotten everything we knew over the last 3 years and that would have been a little awkward to explain to our bosses!

As always, this may have in some respects been a return to reality but it still had a touch of the Currie traveller days to it, we had been offered a house sit for some friends who were off to Australia for 3 months so we had a rabbit, a tank of fish and a cat to look after. It was amazing to have a base to call our own for such a long time and we can’t thank Ray, Rachel and Hannah enough for letting us look after the house and the fur and finned babies. We always have a habit of falling head over heels in love with the animals that we look after but Billy the Burmese cat was such a special little man he won us over within days and had well and truly found his place sleeping under the duvet directly between us like a little hot water bottle. We knew that we had won Billy over as he brought us a present on evening. When we were happily relaxed on the sofa watching tv and just about to head to bed after a long day in the office, Billy brought us a live mouse which he kindly deposited on the floor and lost interest. We then spent the next hour trying to manoeuvre the sofa to expose and catch the mouse. He went into a speaker behind the tv, he went into a space behind the chimney, he hid in the curtains and eventually we managed to catch him with the power of a pair of fencing swords?! No we didn’t impale the poor mouse; they were surprisingly just the right height to wedge under the sofa and guide the mouse out into my waiting biscuit box. Needless to say we then watched Billy far more carefully when he entered a room especially when he was hopping into bed with us!!!

The timing of our passports being full and needing to be replaced could not have been better as being home in December meant we got to spend our first Christmas in 3 years with our families and our first New Years Eve in 3 years with our long suffering friends. We played silly games, we dressed up in silly outfits, Tim had proper nan cooked turkey Christmas dinner and we got to enjoy the fact that our friends are grown up and living the high life by drinking fine wine and eating good food to see in the New Year. I had my birthday and got to celebrate with my one day older than me best friend for the first time in years and we got to spend our wedding anniversary in one of Jerseys best hotels in the brand new and stunning penthouse suites thanks to my amazing mum and dad. All in all we could not have picked a better few months to be at home. We got to catch up with friends and family although with work in the mix there were barely enough days to see anyone as much as we would have hoped but still we had some fantastic lunches and dinners filled with laughs with old friends.

Being in Jersey in Winter didn’t really seem to be too bad, we were so lucky that December was mild, there was not a flake of snow and no frost until nearly February, but the dark mornings and early sunsets meant that we left in the morning in the dark, arrived home in the dark and spent a significant part of our day on buses. Living in St Aubin, a quaint little harbour town less than 6 kilometers from St Helier. It is hard to believe that travelling that 6 kilometers could take up to 2 hours depending on the weather and the traffic. If the sun was shining it would have been quicker and much more pleasant to cycle the route along the coastal path, but in torrential rain and gale force winds, even 2 hours on the bus was actually more pleasurable, although marginally.

We soon slipped into a routine with the alarm going off at 6, 10 minutes to check my emails and wake up, shower, feed the animals, feed Tim, bus, then work. One morning however this all went awry at the checking emails stage. Rewinding back a little here, when we were house sitting in Brazil and playing blog catch up my friend Lulu sent me an email to tell me to tell Tim to enter the Wanderlust Travel Photo competition. Wanderlust is a pretty big travel magazine in the UK, which generally shows amazing holidays that we can’t afford, but the competition was free to enter and so we both set about submitting 4 photos each into the 4 categories of People, Wildlife, Landscapes and Icons. Fast forward a few months and I had received an email to say that I had been shortlisted for the People category. This basically meant that my photo had been whittled down to the final 10 in the category with prizes being allocated to the top 3. Assuming it must be a mistake I just awaited the email to say that the photo as too small, too old, too anything really, but that email never came. Instead I received emails saying that I should come to London to see the judging and the exhibition at the Excel Centre. I also received an email asking me to tell them more about myself, my favourite place I have travelled, the place I most want to visit and my proudest passport stamp. Again I just assumed that this was part of the process and everyone was filling out the same.

Not wanting to miss a day of work or salary we decided that we would not go to the judging which took place on a Friday afternoon but instead we would go over that evening and would go to see the exhibition on the Saturday. I hadn’t seen any of the other shortlisted photos so had no idea what the competition was like but had no expectation of placing at all, I was just proud to be shortlisted and to have my photo on display at a massive travel expo in London.

That afternoon I was at work just packing up for the day in the run up to 5pm, so I could make a dash home then onwards to the airport. Tim sent me an email to say that Wanderlust were updating their Twitter feed with the judging that was taking place and my photo was on Twitter, this again was super exciting and I then commenced updating Twitter every 3 seconds for any news. On our way home I stopped by my friend Lulu’s house to deliver a care package to get her through the weekend as she had just had major surgery on her shoulder after a hockey
injury. As I got into the car to leave her house I recommenced my non-stop twitter refreshing just as they started to announce the various winners. We are pootling along the inner road in dad’s little Fiat Arbrath and my category comes up in reverse order I start to give a running commentary, well I am not third, refresh, refresh, refresh…. I am not second, refresh, refresh, refresh. My ever optimistic mum is suggesting that it is not the winning it is the taking part, but before she even gets to finish her sentence my refreshing reveals that the winner of the People category is me! Let me tell you there is very little room to jump for joy in the back of an Arbrath with your mum whilst at the same time trying to pass an iphone around 3 people who all want to verify that I am not making it up. I have not won much in my life, in fact the only thing I remember winning is a Sesame Street video in a newspaper crossword competition when I was 8. I have just won the People category in a photo competition that I consider to be second only to National Geographic photo of the year. For me just the winning of such a prestigious competition was enough but with it came a free holiday for Tim and I to Western Australia. OMG, OMG, OMG.

The photo that I entered was taken at S21 in Cambodia, a former prison during the Khmer Rouge campaign headed by the insane and vicious Pol Pot. I remember taking the photo, it was a split second shot, I just happened to be standing in the right place, the monk taking in the pictures was stood in the right place and I took just one shot. The chance of the reflection of the robes of the monk being lined up like they were casting a perfect reflection over the black and white photos was unbelievable, it is only by looking at the bottom of his robes that you can really see that it is a reflection. It is a dark subject matter, with the faces of Pol Pot’s victims staring out, but the serene monk just adds peace to the shot. Never in a million years did I think that this photo could win me this competition.

That night I danced to the airport, danced around the Premier Inn at Gatwick, and danced to the Excel Centre where I joined the queues of people headed into the exhibition to see my picture in all its glory. The other photos in my category where exceptional, I have no idea how I won, but I am damn glad that I did. I sheepishly headed over to the Wanderlust crew and introduced myself and I was made to feel like a celebrity. I was presented with a goody bag, given my certificate and headed over to my photo for a cheesy picture in front of it with my certificate. We then proceeded to enter every travel competition that we possibly could at the Excel centre to win any holiday as we figured that maybe we still had some luck to come.

We followed this incredible morning of fame and celebrity with our favourite Londoners the Nolans, we drank, we ate, we drank, we laughed, we drank some more and then I had to literally drag Tim home on the train to get back to the Premier Inn at Gatwick. Earlier that day I had suggested to Tim that it was going to be a long journey home, but was quickly reassured that he was a big boy and he didn’t need to be told what to do. Trust me he needed to be told exactly what to do when he is stood on the underground platform with no idea how to get back to the hotel. In all it took us 3 trains, 2 hours, 1 MacDonald’s and approximately 45 requests from Tim that he wanted his bed. I would like to say that Tim learnt his lesson and won’t make that mistake again, but I am pretty sure that party boy will at some point make exactly that same mistake again.

After an exciting 3 months of house sitting and working, our contract was up and Ray and Rachel were back from holiday so it was time to move on.

We had by this point managed to catch up with all the family save for Tim’s dad who now lives in the UK, so we decided to take a mini break to see him and to see a few other spots on the way.

First off we headed to London and to Orsett to visit the lovely Nolans, we met these loonatics when we were on honeymoon in the Maldives and we have not passed through London since without meeting up for a beer or 10. Since we left on our travels they had bought and renovated a stunning little cottage so we headed to the Essex countryside to see their little palace. What a job they had done, this little thatched cottage was renovated beyond recognition, inside and out and not only that there was a bar at the bottom of the garden. We expected a little old man cave shed conversion with a fridge, but no, the Nolan’s don’t do things by halfs, this was a proper bonefide pub in the back garden, a bar with optics, bar stools, bar mats, a sofa, a huge TV for the footie and rugby and best of all your glass never ever empties for more than 20 seconds without being refilled.

Honestly we have never been so spoilt as by the Nolans, we were fed, watered, driven around, they even gave us their bed and a packed lunch for onward train to London. We always have so much fun with this gang it is unreal. We can’t wait to do it again Chris, Shazza and co!

Our next stop was London Taan, we hadn’t really had any time to explore when we visited for Wanderlust so it was nice to have a day or two to amble around. We caught up with some old travel buddies from Cambodia who treated us to a rather luxurious cocktail in a posh London hotel. We went to the Royal Courts of Justice, the London Eye, the Metropolitan Police Crime Exhibition, Big Ben and even Downing Street.

Our main destination on this tour was to head to Darlington to visit Tim’s dad but I could not bring myself to pass through Sheffield my old University stomping ground without showing Tim around. It had been years since I had been there but thankfully my memory served me well and everything was where it should be. We toured my old houses, my old campuses, we ate in my old favourite restaurant Mamma’s & Leonies where me and mum ate the first night I ever spent in Sheffield and where we had my Graduation dinner. We met our friend Ellen who we had met in Paraguay and had beer, Mexican and escaped from an escape room together. We had eaten our way around the city in just 2 short days but their was one staple food source that kept me going through those long days studying, the Proper Pasty Company. Still every bit as delicious as I remember!

Finally we made it to Darlington and received the VIP treatment from Dave. We where whisked around the Toon to see the family that Tim had not seen since he was a kid, we were shown the sights and delights that the North East had to offer. We went back in time to the mining days in Beamish, we saw the Angel of the North, we drove across the moors, we had ‘world famous yellow tops’ in Redcar a beach town that shows the scars of the steel industry with pride and every night we played Bingo, drank cheap beer, ate Scampy Fries and listened to a mix of acts still going strong on the North East club circuit. One evening we arrived and someone asked me if I wanted to buy a Tote ticket. I had no idea what this was but handed over a pound and took 2 tickets. Next up Dave was on the microphone announcing the winner of the Tote, Tim was off navigating the complex world of buying bingo tickets and I am looking at my Totes. “18 and 25 next to each other” Dave announces. I sheepishly call Dave over and ask him if he means like this? To which he takes my tickets, rolls his eyes and presents me with fifty quid. Well that was one pound well spent! You have to admit it looks a little suspicious when the comperes daughter-in-law wins the tote on her second visit to the club, there were whisperings of a stranger in the camp, most of which were said in jest, most!!

Thanks Dave for giving us a wonderful holiday and for taking us to the Primark mother ship, we can’t wait for our next visit.

We were exceptionally lucky to have 3 more house sits in Jersey. A night with the beloved
Bella for Lou and Martin, a week with the adorable Alfie for Pip and Chris and finally a long weekend for Jon and Tim looking after their 2 cats, 2 tortoises, pond of fish and 2 chickens, not a bad menagerie to add to our house sitting CV. We are exceptionally fortunate to have fantastic friends who gave us these house sits and also some that gave us a bed for a night or 7, you all know who you are so thank you for being amazing.

Back on the rock we had one last celebration before we set off on our travels once again. Tim’s Nan and Pop’s (Dennis and Judy) were going to be having their wedding anniversary the week after we left as well as Pop’s 90^th Birthday. So we decided to have and early celebration with all the family. We went to Dip and Dine at the Merton where Nan and Pop’s put us all to shame waltzing around the dance floor whilst we drank lattes and after a delicious lunch we had a little surprise in store for Nan and Pop’s. We had seen their wedding photo on the side a week or so earlier and had been to see the Vicar who had agreed to open the church for us so Nan and Pops could see it again 67 years on and we could try to recreate their wedding photo in the same spot. It was a massive surprise and they were over the moon to re visit. It was the perfect way to end our trip home.

With our bags packed it was time to set off again, and it was super exciting knowing that our first stop was a free holiday courtesy of Wanderlust magazine to Western Australia.

Our first night on the road didn’t bode well, Tim had woken up with something wrong with his ear and he was feeling super dizzy. My camera had not come back from the camera cleaning shop and it was a mad rush to pick it up. On picking it up it seemed that the man had charged me £40 to store my camera for 2 weeks, he had not cleaned it and had given me someone else’s camera bag and to top it off when Tim tried to take it out of the bag he dropped it and smashed my flash.

Not ones to be put off by things going wrong we headed to the Premier Inn at Gatwick for a night before our flight and after a lovely dinner and evening we were rudely awoken at 4:50am by the sound of a fire alarm going off. It started and stopped, started and stopped and started and stopped so we are half dressed and trying to decide what to do. With the alarm finally going non-stop we rush out of the room only to be met by grid lock on the stairs, some people headed down with luggage rushing for flights, some coming back up saying it is a false alarm. We decided to head downstairs regardless and just as well we did it was a genuine alarm, seemingly caused by some idiot smoking in their room. We stood outside and kept getting ushered further and further from the Premier Inn, it was cold and we had no idea what was happening so we decided to seek refuge in the airport terminal. We had left in such a hurry that we didn’t bring any money but Tim had one pound in his pocket and three pound of credit on his Costa Coffee app on his phone. We were at the Costa till and trying to work out how we could buy two coffees when the man in front gave us the extra one pound we needed to have a coffee each. Thank you random stranger, I promise to pay forward that one pound 5 times, you have no idea how much your kindness meant to us!

So our first day back on the road had not been perfect, but we were not going to let a broken camera, a sore ear and a fire alarm ruin our day. It was time to hit the road again, after a Premier Inn breakfast and a refund for our stay because of their good night sleep guarantee, result.

Heathrow, Kuala Lumpur, Perth…. Here we come!

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