Epilogue:

We both slept badly that last night, in anticipation of our early start, and were dressed, packed and refreshed with instant coffee before the alarm went off at 3 am. The shuttle arrived at the end of his pickup time window; we were glad we had arranged for the earlier schedule even though we were still too early for check in.

Our flight was better than that experience about five weeks ago. This time we flew via Abu Dhabi, Sydney and on to Christchurch, whereas the earlier one had flown out of Christchurch via Brisbane, Singapore and Abu Dhabi. We were only twenty four hours in the air, and our transits were all less than two hours, but even this did not make flying from one side of the world to the other a fun activity. I should have taken the sleeping pills purchased before leaving Christchurch, but did not, perhaps in fear of missing an inflight meal; a terrible confession. 

It took nearly a week to recover the jetlag, but this experience, like childbirth, will fade in time and we will be ready to face it all again.

In summary we had to agree that the trip, while motivated, or instigated, by a sad event, turned out to be excellent, and has whet our appetite to do more travel within the United Kingdom, because although my husband is English born, he left when he was in his very early twenties, before he had ample opportunity to get to know his home country, and for me, I know only what I saw over the past few weeks, and the one week I spent meeting his family six years or so ago.

And what did we learn during that time?

•          That England is not the hellhole portrayed in TV crime dramas.
•          That there is a huge amount of sparsely populated countryside.
•          That not everyone lives in high-rise slums or grimy terraces.
•          That England and Wales are not ideal for motorhome travel; better to travel with a car and caravan if this style of travel suits you best.
•          That bridges in the UK are not labelled with the river name, a frustration for map readers.
•          Signage on streets is often non-existent, again a frustration for map readers.
•          That the English love their televisions and hardly ever turn them off.
•          That the English are potty about their dogs, but this I knew anyway.
•          That sleeping pills are best ingested on a long haul flight rather than riding in the depths of one’s handbag.
• ·         We had covered 1,759 miles in the hire motorhome, equivalent to about 2,814 kilometres.
•          And that I want to go back.