Well its now 5.15am and we are in Terminal 4 awaiting our shuttle bus to Terminal 5. It seemed to take an age for the bus to arrive and I must admit to being a bit twitchy by the time it arrived. We have heard mixed reviews of T5 and I think when it first opened a few months ago they still had enormous teething problems...but we were blown away by the sheer size and snazziness of this place.

It was an assault on all senses at such an early time in the day! It was so weird to see a Boots and a WH Smith - we haven`t seen one for so long! Starbucks beckoned pretty early on as we need to keep awake now for the rest of the day to avoid the jetlag from creeping up on us...bring on the caffeine baby!

It didn`t take long for the wait until our connecting flight up to Manchester and the flight was well and truly full. Most of the passengers were Asian students on their way to Uni up North...I am sure this flight wouldn`t normally be this full usually! Mick and I were sat on different aisles but that didn`t really matter for such a short flight. I ended up sat next to a dude who exported Land rovers to China and India...I think Mick and I should have swapped seats. I bet Mick was gutted he didn`t have my seat...

 By 8.40 we were off at Manchester praying that our bags had followed us successfully from Boston ...since we have heard about nightmare stories of lost luggage on BA flights in recent months. When the first bag appeared on the carousel I knew there truly was a god!! Mick`s Dad was waiting for us on the other side and I was a bit emotional when I saw a familiar face after so long being on our travels. Mick was a bit more reserved...its a male thing to be less emotional!

Sunny in Manchester...who would have thought it. Pity the weather didn`t translate to across the Penines in Halifax. By the time we got to Mick`s parent`s place it was overcast and decidedly chilly...just what we have missed about the UK over the last year :-)

Feeling like zombies and probably looking like them too we have spent the rest of the day in a trance and none of this seems real. I am sure after a few days to reflect on being back in Blighty and thinking of what we have done over the last few months I will have more to spill on the blog. So if you are still interested keep reading...

M and S

xx