Settling Back In…Our First Three Weeks Back at Home

Life has been pretty busy these last few weeks. We have been settling back into life in Wales, the boys have started back to school (all but Flynn…more of that later) and Dave has started a new job.

Almost three weeks ago we landed back in the United Kingdom, officially ending our trip around the world.

For the last time, we grabbed our backpacks off the baggage conveyor belt, this time at Gatwick Airport, and headed out to get a rental car for the journey back to South Wales.

We were all excited to be back in the UK but sad too that our fantastic world adventure was over. After three and a half hours we were pulling up on the driveway of our house…which we hadn’t seen for eight months! We were greeted with balloons and banners welcoming us back home. My very excited mum and brother were at the door popping party poppers as we arrived. It felt great to be back.

 A PERIOD OF RE-ADJUSTMENT

This past three weeks has been spent getting settled back into “normal” life. We arrived home at the start of the Easter school holidays which meant the boys had time to get used to be being back at home, before going back to school. Dave on the other hand had just two days before he started work. We knew it would make it tough on him to come back so close to his start date, but we wanted to stretch our travels as far and as long as possible.

Our first full day at home was a lovely one. We visited many of our local friends for a catch up and welcome back. It was wonderful to see them all after such a long time away. We also went out for a late Sunday lunch with our families, recounting many stories from our trip. That first weekend passed in a blur as we caught up with family and friends, many of whom we hadn’t seen for eight months!

It did not take long to get into the groove of Abergavenny life. We were back in our own house, sleeping in our own beds. Everyone was thrilled to be back in their own room and their own bed, happy to finally have their things around them again. The boys were delighted to have a garden again, so much so that once they’d dashed around the house, up to see their bedrooms, they immediately went outside.

That first week was a whirlwind, seeing family and friends, shopping for new clothes (Dylan had grown out of everything!), organising a car, opening eight months of post (you’ve never seen so much post!), unpacking and doing mounds of laundry. The benefit of being busy meant we have little time for the post-trip depression to come creeping in.

Since then things have started to settle down. Dave has started his new job with Slalom Consulting and is busy with this new challenge. He is away throughout the week, something we are all having to get used too. It is very different when you have got used to having someone around all day every day! It feels strange to me to once more be dealing with the children alone.

The boys have started back to school, well two of them anyway. Dylan and Logan have gone back to their old schools, Dylan in Year 8 and Logan in Year 6. However, Flynn’s year group was full, so for now I am continuing to home-school Flynn. This is another change that we will have to get used too. The three boys are all excited to be back at home, seeing their friends, re-joining their various activities, playing outside and getting back to school.

As we re-assimilate back into “normal” life I have found it toughest. After all the travel planning and fast pace of life whilst on the road I am finding it hard to revert back to life at home. Daily life seems a little mundane to me at the moment! And i’m constantly cold!

I have found it hard to find the motivation to update this blog. To me, the blog feels like a different life, my travel life. Now that I am back in Abergavenny, I am having a hard time incorporating my old “travel self” into who I am here. I have a list of topics to write about but find it very hard to sit and focus on these. I’m sure that will change in the days ahead as we establish more of a routine.

Our plan is to continue with this site and add to our travel experiences and advice. We started this website as a platform to keep friends and family informed of our travels but it has been so enjoyable and we’ve had such great comments that we’d like to keep it going. Can we become one of the few family adventure travel bloggers…? Can we live in one place, balance work and school, travel, and run this website? Watch this space and follow our new journey.