A new chapter in life.

To start a new chapter in life you must finish the old one and sometimes that can be painful. I miss things about my job and the people I knew there, as well as the scenery and my apartment and the friends I had outside work. Most I miss my dad who I left behind. I do hope he is going to be ok. Dan, Hannah and Lilia who I love to spend my time with, and Lee who has been the brother I never had.

The day came quicker than I hoped for but like all days they come and go in the blink of an eye. We are packed and ready just counting the hours left in England. After a short goodbye with my mum we were loaded and rolling towards Heathrow in my dad´s van. The m25 was clear for half the journey and then the inevitable happened and the traffic came out of nowhere. It didn´t take long for me to reflect on the travel plan and confirmed that England can keep the traffic jams, the darkness at 16:30 and the damp because we were on route to a new life.




The airport checking was fairly painless but we were told that the travel company had not booked us the seats needed with extra room when taking a baby, Nor the cot for the long haul flight so on the lap he must be.

We left my dad with a brave face but both started to cry when we was out of sight and made our way to the security area. We jumped the queue and breezed through the scan with our baby´s water, perfume, powdered milk, toothpaste and other bomb making materials in about 5 minutes.

After a quick stop in boots for cartons of readymade baby milk and a sandwich we walked the 1500 miles to gate 42 for our flight to Madrid. The flight took an agonising 3 hours, I think the pilot only got to third gear (London to Gibraltar only takes 2 and a half hours).



The connection bus took us on a 10 minute journey to the right terminal and with a very quick toilet stop we were jumping the queue to board the next plane.


The bastards make you walk past first class with fully reclining chairs with side tables and champagne stands to get to your cramped up seat without leg room and then have the cheek to wish you a good flight. After an hour´s run up we took off and as soon as we levelled out the trolley dolly´s were handing out the food. I chose meat and got a leaking tray of beef casserole with hard potatoes. Two very nice people were persuaded to swap seats with us because they had an empty seat to the side which allowed us to put Landon in the middle in a bed of cushions. I had a TV screen with remote that had games, blockbuster films, and sitcoms etc at my disposal but I would had swapped my right arm for a bed of cushions.



When we came in to land we were given the most spectacular display of what Mother Nature can create. The whole flight I had a feeling of ´I hate this and want to get off now´ and when we landed instead of jumping up and relieving the numbest bum ever I had a feeling of ´that wasn´t too bad´ which really pissed me off.

Chile or at least the airport in Santiago has been invaded by USA´s trademark names like Dunkin Doughnuts and Starbucks. All were avoided as it was time for a wash and change of clothes. In a few hours I was going to be hugged by lots of people.

The next flight took only 30 minutes and again Mother Nature was on display as we crossed the snow capped Andes Mountains before touching down again for the last time. Finally I got the ´get out of my way or i´ll kill you´ feeling that only comes with long haul. It felt good!

Screams of joy were heard just before we were bundled and cast aside before Landon was robbed from us and passed around. There were tears a plenty while we walked outside to load up the car.

The feeling was great to be in the car and breathing the hot air and sweating because it meant I was only 30 minutes from our new home.