I'm back!

I've been back in Oz for 48 hours and the jetlag is still very much with me, but it's about time I updated on my first trip back to the Motherland since I moved here. And what a wonderful visit it was! I caught up with so many people and did so much that I barely had time to breathe, but I absolutely loved it and definitely made the most of the quickest three weeks of my life.

When I left Sydney I felt almost anxious about how I would feel when I got 'home'. Would I suddenly be hit by homesickness and not want to come back to Sydney and leave my family and friends again? And, if that was the case and I then decided to move back to the UK, how would I cope without my lovely Aussie friends? Talk about worrying about things before they even have a chance to happen! And that didn't happen of course. As much as I loved every second I spent with the many special people in my life over there, I didn't feel any urge whatsoever to abandon Australia for the UK. I'm not going to win any prizes for being a Great Brit, am I? I think I left my patriotism at the airport.

Talking of airports, the first thing I saw on arriving at Heathrow was a massive pink and glittery banner reading: "Welcome back, Jen!" being weilded by my lovely, grinning dad and my best friend/unofficial second sister, Danielle. At last, I got my Love Actually airport moment! It was fantastic. Second impressions of London were not so good, struggling with my 21.5kg suitcase up and down stairs on the Underground with not a single gentleman or offer of help to be seen. Then onto the dirty Tube carriage which stank of BO and burgers and was full of miserable-looking, unfriendly (and in some cases, unwashed) people. Yuck. Luckily when I arrived at my aunt and uncle's house in their leafy suburb, it was all pleasant again and dinner with them and my long lost little sister Kate, was great.

Then followed three weeks of meeting and greeting friends I hadn't seen in over a year (I'll have to summarise or this will be the longest blog in the world). Highlights included the wedding of one of my best school friends Bonnie and her now husband Phil in Cardiff. A beautiful bride and a great day all round, plus two nights in nice hotels with my sister and plus-one for some quality gossip and catching up.

Then there was meeting my quite frankly GORGEOUS six-month-old god daughter Genevieve, aka Bob (don't ask), for the first time. A relaxing two days in the country were spent hanging out with her, her mum (my good friend Kelly), dad and brother Roan. Three year-old Ro's vocabulary had increased one hundred-fold since I last saw him and even when he would bang on my bedroom door at 6am shouting "Auntie Jeno, is there a monster in your room?" he was still adorable. Sort of....

I spent the most time with aforementioned best friend Danielle, who, amazingly, took two precious weeks' leave from work to spend with me. We had a great time and I can't wait for her to come over here and spend Christmas with me and our friends Matt, James and Jo.
Then there was the girls' day out to Paris with Lucy and Ruth. It's amazing how much (food) you can fit into one action-packed day! Fantastique!

Around 40 wonderful peeps turned up to my Back From Down Under Party at a Covent Garden bar and although I felt like I only spoke to each of them for about 5 minutes, I was really touched to have so many there. If only the music hasn't been quite so loud (I'm showing my age).
So many lovely, memorable times were spent with people inbetween, I can't possibly list them all. Suffice to say I left feeling incredibly lucky to know so many great people who are great friends and great company, many if whom went out of their way to spend time with me.
The only regret I have is not having met baby Troy (although I did see his mum, Lou when she was a week from 'popping' so I almost did!) before I left.

But it's good to be home. The most important thing that trip taught me is that Sydney is home now.