The excitement of going home...

Russell's guest blog. 

One of the issues of living a long way away is that trips home are a major event. They have to be planned months in advance, tickets bought, an itinerary developed, family notified, visits planned and finally a countdown of the days to departure. 

We have now been through that process for the first time, and as I write these words Leanne and Alice are ensconced in their seats, on Korean Airlines Flight 121, 13 minutes into their flight with 7,973 km left to run until their early morning arrival into Sydney tomorrow.

You'd have thought Alice might have done a little study when she
had time to fill  in - but no, a game of tetris was all she could manage!

The more astute among you will have fathomed the reason as to why I can be writing these words and publishing them online as the flight is taking place, and that's because rather sadly, I am not with them. Making a change such as we have necessarily entails forgoing the leave built up in the previous job, and starting from the very beginning again. And that's just where I am. Consequently I have my own little countdown in progress, and, dare I say it, there's just 181 days left on mine...
But this article is not about me, it's about the excitement of going home after a long absence, to re-connect with family and friends, to see familiar sights -and particularly the familiar sounds of the Australian version of English as she is spoke! And as long as Alice and Leanne enjoy their time at home, then I too will enjoy the experience through them.

Airports are either one extreme or the other. To the weary business traveler they are mostly functional, cavernous, aseptic places to be transited as fast as possible. To the less frequent traveler they are much more exciting, ripe with the hope of the journey ahead and it's ultimate destination. Today was both happy and sad for all of us I think.

The old couple...

It was 150 days ago that we touched down in Seoul, peering out of the windows of the plane at the patches of ice and snow alongside the runway, fresh from the warmth of an Australian summer, and wondering what we had let ourselves in for... In the subsequent months we have worked our way through a number of issues, we have found an apartment, negotiated the traffic, worked out public transport, survived the worst of the breath-takingly cold winter, we can mostly get what we need at a supermarket (although some things are still a "lucky dip"), Alice has completed the latter half of year 10 with distinction, and we are getting to know a few people. In short, we have survived the change thus far, and we have much to be thankful for.

Happy to be going home?? Just a little bit...

Going home is exciting though. No matter what new experiences we may have, amazing sights we may see, places we may go, home will always be important and there will always be a spring in my step when I begin the journey homeward.

Through security and off home. Enjoy yourselves. You deserve it!