387 days… 1 leap year and 3 weeks of travelling. Of course, day 1 of the adventure was always journaled as being in Delhi, when in fact day 1 could have been leaving the UK. BUT, by the time we noticed that little blip in our counting we were already a hundred days or so into the journey and my parents were printing out the blogs, and unbeknownst to us, so was Tracey. So, the adventure has come to an end and so too have tales that have filled books and cyberspace. 
Writing the blog entry for this day a few weeks later, it is still fresh and clear the day we came home. The simplicity of the airport, the familiarity of meeting Nicola in the arrivals hall (thank you Nicola for collecting us, #1 Third Wheel), the navigation of the route back to Raynes Park, seeing the same buildings still under construction. All of it made us feel like we had never been away.
We stayed at the Travelodge down the road from the flat – one of the few projects in the area that got completed in our absence – as our tenants hadn’t technically left yet. But, we later found out that they had been in the US for almost 6 weeks and the flat was being repainted in their absence. We could have moved in home straight away. But, the hassle they had given us during our year away was continuing. Ugh! [Insert sad emoji face and a sigh of despair] Lots of bits and pieces to slowly put right in the days that have passed and more still to do… the single biggest problem they caused was not paying Thames Water and other bills. Poor management by the letting agent and a fault in the Royal Mail redirection service meant we had come home to letters from debt collectors and bills that weren’t even ours. But, that was not part of day 387 and shouldn’t be included in this eulogy.
A spot of breakfast with Will and Nicola and we headed off to the storage locker. Still too early to check in at the hotel, we rummaged through the contents of the bin to get at work/interview clothes and essentials we’d need in our first few days. Dragging it all back to Raynes Park was tiresome and jet lag and such was kicking in. A nice warm shower, a bit of daytime British tv and we managed to get through the afternoon. A kebab from the lovely Turkish lads down the street for dinner and it really was starting to feel like we had never been away. 
Friday 28th October 2016
Arriving at the airport with ease, we were checked in all the way to London Heathrow and soon jetting off to Kuala Lumpur for Christmas our transfer. The airport was very well organised and sign-posted, but with the previous flight slightly delayed, there was a small panic of transferring terminals in time to catch the adjoining flight. We needn’t have worried as clearly half the flight was already on the one we had just come on. Typical.
Less than 24 hrs and we would be on a flight back home. For myself, I was back in the UK in June/July; Katherine being away for almost 13 months. We chatted about highs, lows and everything in between. A surreal dinner and evening and the penultimate packing of bags (there’s always a last reshuffle in reception).
Wednesday 26th October 2016
On the ferry, we found seats near the front left (i.e. towards the bow on the port side), remembering what it was like to sit downwind of someone who hadn’t wash in a month and the door to the deck slamming constantly on the last trip. So, it was an easy cruise to the mainland with rock formations and small islands becoming more frequent as we got closer to our destination.
Stopping at a sizeable bus stop/restaurant, we were the only tourists who braved the local noodle soup. Everyone else opted for meat on a stick and/or Pringles. We did get an ice cream as a treat as well – more expensive than the meal. 
Tuesday 25th October 2016
The south west stretch of the island has a nice trail that leads to some quiet beaches and stunning views. We headed off with plenty of water and some snacks. We had been told about Jansom Bay from a tattoo artists’ wife trying to small talk us in to a tatt the other evening. Waking through several resorts (very odd) we made our way to the infamous bay. With huts nestled behind giant boulders and shrouded in trees, the entire ‘U’-shaped bay was dotted with tiny platforms for a secretive abode experience. The area was beautiful, with a few metres up or down the trail giving unique glimpses of crystal clear water, gently rolling waves, lush green trees and palms and a selection of boulders in various sizes.
We did venture out, eventually, for the premise of lunch and stretching our legs. It was also a chance to stroll around downtown and scope out a shop for a small project we thought about. The shop however was closed, so we settled for an ice cream. A rather awkward moment in the 7 Eleven where a tourist had clearly broken something but was refusing to pay for it, blaming a staff member for pushing something through from the other side at the same time. It meant either something on the top shelf (can’t imagine anything delicate being broken) or a drink in the fridges (they’re connected to a giant cool room behind to stack items easily). Either way, exit stage left and enjoy the ice cream before it melted in a heartbeat.
The two restaurants we normally venture to were closed/closing, so we tried a new joint. Writing all over the wall said to try the curry, but we didn’t trust the quality of the food at such a late hour and opted for noodles. They were awful, soggy and tasted of powder mix. So we got chocolate to compensate for the disappointing dinner and watched the last two episodes of Dexter Season 3 before bed. 
Our Israeli friend jumped in the water with no mask on and no reg in his mouth. Descending down, I did worry about the dive site we had come to. The description of pinnacles and loads of marine life were non existent as we swam over white sand with the occasional clump of sea weed. Clearly, we had descended in the wrong place and it took us about 5 minutes to find ‘the White Rocks’. A great dive site for beginners as it clearly had lots to see at not very deep depths. In fact, I think our maximum depth for that dive was 17.8m. A very bizarre dive profile as our guide kept taking us up and down over the reefs rather than around (I’m going to blame the fact that my ears now hurt on this rather than the fact I probably shouldn’t have been diving in the first place…). Loads of nudibranch and a couple of clown fish families were interspersed with Christmas tree fans and blue spotted sting rays. We even found a juvenile moray eel that was proving how aggressive he was by trying to eat my underwater camera. Newbie DM didn’t bother checking our air consumption until 26 minutes into the dive (FYI, when I did my DM training, I checked people’s air every 2 minutes – like an OCD freak!!).
A nice 45 minutes dive, just a small amble around with some nice coral and fish. It was fun. Getting back on the boat, however, was not! Holding on to the ladder as the boat swung up and down was the most intense upper arm work out I’ve ever done, made even harder by the ladder snapping as I dragged myself out of the water. Fortunately, the rope was holding the two pieces of metal together but no one seemed overly worried about it when I reported it. Swapping our tanks over, Israeli guy decided he didn’t want to do a second dive, stating that he was too tired (aka too hungover – his one dive buddy didn’t even wake up to join us today). 
Back at the surface, she seemed a bit too giggly about the deco thing and didn’t seem to take the whole thing seriously so we decided no more diving with them! The dodgy equipment, the lack of checking my c-card, the poor dive planning and the disregard for considering the computer deco function was just a bit too much. Felt bad because our DM is clearly enthusiastic about what she does but it scares me that soon she will be an instructor. Or maybe I’m just pissed off that I never got to complete my pro diving qualifications because of my crappy ears. Back at the dive shop, we tried to pull our guide to one side to have a quiet word but she was whisked away before we had a chance – maybe the more experience instructors knew what we were going to say. Paying for our dives, we headed back to the main port to grab some lunch before heading back to our hut for a shower. Used coconut oil on our hair to make it soft after the sea salt abuse, so watched an episode of ‘Dexter’ as it soaked in. A lazy afternoon of reading, playing games, watching films and snoozing filled our time before we headed out for dinner. Found a little cafe next to the beach that played a film if your ordered food. As the only diners, we enjoyed Masaman curry and fried rice with fruit smoothies whilst we watched ‘The Draft’. Surprisingly more enjoyable that I was expecting, the film passed away the evening until bed.
Another free ride in to town, we arrived well before our ferry was due to depart. Thus, we exchanged our travel agency docket for our stickers and ferry tickets. Plenty of time for Pad Thai noodles from a little stand in the ferry terminal grounds. Queued up in a well organised system and found seats out of the way with the air conditioning keeping the cabin a bit cooler than outside. Screams from some lads outside kept annoying people as it was a bit like crying ‘wolf’, everyone thinking that something had happened, but that it was only them messing about on the stern. We arrived and joined the throngs of people milling down the jetty to get out in to the town. Katherine and a few others were misfortunate to be stuck behind some girls that couldn’t even lift their backpacks, let alone get it on themselves. We eventually met at the end of the walkway and proceeded to walk in the direction of our resort. Another case of wrong location on the part of Booking.com, the owner of Happy Bungalow wasn’t impressed that this issue still hadn’t been fixed and hundreds of tourists want to walk through his establishment to find a non-existent resort. We did find our place (he knew exactly where it was) and settled in to a cosy little hut.
Trans Travels 