During our travels we have changed plans as we go, apart from our two organised tours we have mainly played it by ear, as they say. This has worked out really well, with us visiting some places we hadn't even heard off before we left home but found out about on the way. This has also given us the flexibility to change the time scale of what we were going to do, for instance we were going to stay longer in New Zealand but decided to pay our daughter a visit in Bulgaria instead for Christmas.
During November we concocted a cunning plan to go back and visit family at home for New Year, first footing them as a surprise on Hogmanay. Hogmanay is New Years Eve in Scotland, where family and friends get together to celebrate the start of a New Year by visiting them or being with them as the bells ring at midnight. Going to family and friends houses at the start of the year is called first footing where you traditionally take a wee present, such as shortbread biscuits and a drink to make a toast for a good year ahead.
We were going to tell our son, who is staying in our house while we were away, well it was only fair to give him a chance to tidy up! Also we would need to hide there for three days prior to NewYear as the flight we were going to get was on the 28th of December. Apart from him it was going to be a surprise for family members but then we tried to organise transport in Scotland. We were going to get flights to Edinburgh that would be fine but from there it was tricky to get tickets to Arbroath. So, in the end we asked my sister if she could pick us up, which thankfully she did and actually it was lovely getting off that plane and having a friendly, familiar face to greet us and help us with our bags.
It was strange travelling through familiar streets and seeing sights we already knew after so many months away and it was lovely to get back to our own house and our own bed. Now hiding from my mum and dad really began in earnest, we arrived late at night so that was fine we sneaked in easily enough but it was keeping them away from the house which was the problem. On the first day our son decided on a pre-emptive attack and went to visit them, as they have a tendency to pop in for a cuppa and a blether with no warning. Reassured by this we relaxed we put the fire on, let Hank the house rabbit out to play, David was on the laptop, washing machine was on the go and I was busy sorting things out. Then a messaged ping through from our son that they were coming down anyway , so it was action stations switching off everything , catching the rabbit and then hiding in our room. What a palaver, but quite funny we had one other moment like that during our hiding spell but at last the moment came when we could be released and it was lovely to meet up with mum and dad at my sister's house.
During November we concocted a cunning plan to go back and visit family at home for New Year, first footing them as a surprise on Hogmanay. Hogmanay is New Years Eve in Scotland, where family and friends get together to celebrate the start of a New Year by visiting them or being with them as the bells ring at midnight. Going to family and friends houses at the start of the year is called first footing where you traditionally take a wee present, such as shortbread biscuits and a drink to make a toast for a good year ahead.
We were going to tell our son, who is staying in our house while we were away, well it was only fair to give him a chance to tidy up! Also we would need to hide there for three days prior to NewYear as the flight we were going to get was on the 28th of December. Apart from him it was going to be a surprise for family members but then we tried to organise transport in Scotland. We were going to get flights to Edinburgh that would be fine but from there it was tricky to get tickets to Arbroath. So, in the end we asked my sister if she could pick us up, which thankfully she did and actually it was lovely getting off that plane and having a friendly, familiar face to greet us and help us with our bags.
It was strange travelling through familiar streets and seeing sights we already knew after so many months away and it was lovely to get back to our own house and our own bed. Now hiding from my mum and dad really began in earnest, we arrived late at night so that was fine we sneaked in easily enough but it was keeping them away from the house which was the problem. On the first day our son decided on a pre-emptive attack and went to visit them, as they have a tendency to pop in for a cuppa and a blether with no warning. Reassured by this we relaxed we put the fire on, let Hank the house rabbit out to play, David was on the laptop, washing machine was on the go and I was busy sorting things out. Then a messaged ping through from our son that they were coming down anyway , so it was action stations switching off everything , catching the rabbit and then hiding in our room. What a palaver, but quite funny we had one other moment like that during our hiding spell but at last the moment came when we could be released and it was lovely to meet up with mum and dad at my sister's house.
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