1) We were tired

2) The thought of lugging a back pack around for a further 3 weeks brought me to my knees screaming a long winded "NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" and throwing a tantrum that could rival any 2 year old... and

3) Money was running low. And while everyone knows that Thailand is in fact one of the cheapest countries a westerner could visit, we figured we'd be better off bringing our last few dollars home rather than staggering home completely broke.

It was a bit of a kafuffle trying to get home though and we didn't know until the Friday night if we COULD really fly back (remember we left Saturday!) so we didn't tell anyone other than Chris' brother (who happens to be a travel agent and used all his skills to become the saint who got us home!) and of course Luke.

It was a sad day leaving the UK and flying over Europe on route to Bangkok for an hour stop over and then onto Sydney. We'd had such an amazing, fun filled, site seeing packed adventure and caught up with old friends and made so many new ones that we had mixed emotions about leaving. We felt ready to go home, but felt that we were also leaving home at the same time, if that makes any sense? We know that we'll be back again in the not so distant future to visit friends and family, visit the spots that we particularly fell in love with (France for one!) and to visit some of the countries we had to miss this time around (Slovenia and Iceland spring to mind)

As I mentioned earlier, no one actually knew that we were coming home early, so it was great to see the expression on our loved ones face as we surprised them one by one, some screamed, some cried, some I thought were going to have heart attacks (but thankfully didn't... we'll know not to surprise my mother again, sorry mum) and since getting home have thrown ourselves into house hunting, it'll be nice if we can find an abode of our own that we don't have to share with 16 or so others! We're slowly coming back to reality bit by bit and have settled down fairly quickly, which I'm pleased about as I thought we'd find it far more difficult to do, but I think the fact that we were READY to come home helps significantly. We've hit reality so quickly that I in fact did a days work yesterday (shock horror I know!) and we both start properly in a weeks time, but for once we're both looking forward to this.

Our trip away was indeed a 'once in a life time' experience. We know that we most likely won't be able to do such a trip again so we're so thankful, happy and blessed that we were able to do so and would like to thank everyone who helped make our trip possible.

Our family and friends here in Tassie, our employers and colleagues who didn't object too loudly to us taking 6 months leave, to Sven who was able to help us out with some of nitty gritty bits and bobs of traveling(and a few freebies!!) Luke for joining us when we were needing a touch of home (we had a great time!) And of course our friends and family in Europe for their constant, sincere and amazing hospitality: Sue, Patrick, Rachie, Ann, Bryan, Martin, Jen, Anya, Max, Inga, Mari, Mattia, Marco, Lidija, Heidi, Horst, Yanis, Maija and their family, Barbara, Dell and Tony, Kris and Paul for showing us La Rochelle in a way that only the French could and to all those who I may very forgettably and regrettably forgot, I didn't mean to intentionally do so believe me!!

We had a blast, we love you all and can only say "watch this space... we'll be back!!"

The End.

written by  Chris and Emily on September 25, 2009 from Hobart, Australia
from the travel blog: Europe 2009
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It really wasn't much of a day today. A trip to the bank to sort out accounts, last trip to the post office (we can say with all honesty we hate the UK postal system) and... cleaning. SO much cleaning. Not because we're dirty people or anything, we just want to leave Sue and Patricks house as clean and homey as possible, though, in saying that, we did leave a little mess with the packing, which we've cleaned.

We are a little worried about the weight limit we have. We think we could be a little over the limit, so here's hoping that tomorrow when we pop the luggage on the scales they prove us to be wrong and actually reveal us to be underweight, but we wont hold our breath!

So, this is our last blog from the UK, we hope you've enjoyed reading of our European adventure and will continue to follow us as we head to Thailand.

Cheers from the UK.

written by  Chris and Emily on September 11, 2009 from Buntingford, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: Europe 2009
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Once we returned to Chipping Chris and I fell back into bed and didn’t rise again until close to midday, we were knackered! We only had 2 hours sleep through out the night! Once up we pottered about the house, cleaning and looking at the things we had to take care of. We leave on the 12th bound for Bangkok which will be nice and also means we’re closer to home. We’ve enjoyed our stint in Europe immensely, had an absolute ball, but I think we’re both in a way ready to head home now, and dare I say it, perhaps even ready to go back to work… (We’re sick I know! )

A quiet afternoon filled with general pottering and doing our own thing, reading, bath, DVDs and computer games... a nice way to relax before the craziness of proper house cleaning and packing tomorrow and then airports, jet lag and millions of people in Thailand!!

written by  Chris and Emily on September 10, 2009 from Buntingford, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: Europe 2009
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After this we head to Oxford Street where we did a little bit of shopping and then head onto the tube in the direction of Abbey Road.

I don’t know what we were expecting Abbey Road to look like, but it certainly wasn’t a lovely tree lined street in a quiet, nice neighborhood, which to look at, seemed to be a rather expensive area to reside! We made the minute walk to the Abbey Road studios and crossing which was made famous by the Beatles record cover. It was nice to see this for ourselves and to be able to take some photos of the record company, the crossing and the road signs. We spent some time here and then in the little souveniour store that is found just near the tube station.

We said goodbye to Luke then as he was off to meet up with one of his mates who lives in London and Chris and I head off to Portobello Markets for a bit of a look and to find the travel book shop that is featured in the movie “Nottinghill” this worked out well actually as we really did need to visit a travel book store anyhow and pick up a book for our up coming trip to Bangkok!

The market today was completely jam packed with people, it was almost impossible to walk anywhere and after awhile I have to say that this became tiring and frustrating. While the market here was nice, it was nothing like the Salamanca Market back home, which I have to say is first class and the best market I’ve been to anywhere in the world. We looked about here for some time and around the area of Notting Hill, going to a little café for a cup of coffee and a little sit down before heading back to Kings Cross and meeting Luke for the train home later that afternoon.

It was a nice day and Chris and I feel now that we have seen all that we want to see in London. Sure we didn’t get around to doing a few things that we wanted such as the London Eye or a west end play, but those things will be there when we come back which we hope to do in a few years time, we have to save something for then! Luke had a nice time catching up with his friend and is going to catch up with them again later in the week, which will be great for him, there’s nothing like catching up with old mates and having a laugh!

written by  Chris and Emily on September 5, 2009 from London, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: Europe 2009
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