04/03/2020 - Madrid to London, England!

We both managed to sleep reasonably well on the flight, the travel day has actually been quite a welcome rest after the last week or two! We took our eye masks and earplugs out just before landing, and were off the plane and into Madrid airport before we knew it. It felt immediately different, it is really difficult to explain how, but there were more people that looked like us (Europeans) more people talking our language, familiar shops, clean bathrooms, crisp cool air. We felt really safe, and enjoyed being able to flush toilet paper! It was even weird that the tap water was really cold on our hands. We ended up with a coffee and croissant from Starbucks - definitely not the most impressive coffee of the trip! We wandered around the airport using the WiFi and spending some euros I had found in my purse. We bought a sandwich for later and I even scraped enough coins together to buy a nail varnish, which is very exciting! The three hour stop over flew by and before we knew it we were boarding our onwards flight to London. We ate our sandwiches as soon as we took off and I got to work on starting to update this diary, which is slacking a bit after soaking up the fun for the final week and a half. The tears have stopped and we are excited to get back now. Looking forward to crumpets and peach squash, and of course looking forward to seeing everyone soon!

The flight was so quick, we were landing before I had updated the diary too much, still lots of work to do! We hopped and skipped off the plane, excited to get back home and to see everyone. It was grey and raining outside, of course! We were through passport control so quickly with our e-passports, best border crossing all year! Then we collected our bags, which turned up soaking wet. We walked through and were met by mum and dad with a big bunch of daffodils, and by Joshs brother Peter. We went to costa and had a coffee, I enjoyed having some frothy milk which I haven’t had much of whilst we have been away! We said goodbye to Josh and Peter - it is going to be so weird being apart from Josh for any amount of time as we have been in each others pockets all year! Dad drove us through traffic to Shenfield where he then got out to get a train as he is going straight to work tomorrow. Mum drove us the rest of the way home. We stopped at a huge Tescos to pick up some crumpets and other bits. Our supermarkets are so huge, and at such contrast to South America where they still visit a bakery for bread, a butcher for meat and a market for fruit and vegetables. I kept saying to mum, imagine showing them our huge hypermarkets! I have genuinely had to stop myself from saying hola or gracias to people, which is a bit funny, but I’m sure I will adapt back very quickly. We drove on home and it was nice to be back in Brook Lane. I offloaded all my laundry, looking forward to everything being properly clean finally. I couldn’t help but fiddle around in my room for a bit, it is so nice to be reacquainted with all my things! We had a quick bite and I enjoyed a hot bath, and hopping into bed all cosy with some hot water bottles. England is so cold!