Having our travel adventure cut short because of covid border closures was pretty strange, though we were reasonably primed for it since so much had changed over the course of the trip already. I mean even just from being in Phoenix and starting the planning stages in early 2020 of lining up all the Workaway hosts for the first 6 months of our trip, and then literally ending up not going to a single one of them. And then just all of the covid changes from the beginning, let alone in the last few months of being the UK, trying to figure out where we were allowed to go next. I really didn’t think we would come back to the U.S. though until right up until the end of our 6 months in the UK (you are allowed 6 months in the U.K. as an American tourist). I mean we didn’t even buy our flights home until February 1st, barely 3 weeks in advance of our February 26th departure. We were looking all over the map for alternatives, but the border closures were harsh.

We were ready to leave Perth (Scotland) though by the end of our two month reservation there. Our Airbnb was painfully small and the combo of no outdoor space + the Scottish lockdown was just a real bummer. We binged the shit out of How to Get Away With Murder - all six seasons in about…..3 weeks? So that’s how it was going towards the end and we were definitely ready for a change.

Kris officially quit his remote I.T. job in early February, a few weeks prior to us leaving Scotland, so us actually leaving and him taking that travel week off to get back to the U.S. pretty much signaled the actual end of his employment and connection to the team, which was really cool. He’s been trying to get out of I.T. for ten years, and even has quit a couple of different times, but it’s never stuck due to financial constraints - he always had to go back in some capacity whether it was for a part-time gig, a one-off project, etc. But this time it’s different. And this time it was heavily based on our progress with crypto investing, as well as a phased approach to leaving his actual job - with the final bit having him only working about 10 hours a week anyway. It’s funny how this big travel adventure served the purpose of travel, yes, but really - it served the purpose of launching the next phase of our lives.

Like could we have stayed in Phoenix and just moved directly to Maine to live on the bus? Of course. Would we have done that? No. It really takes a big shakeup to get you to actually make the changes. And had we gone right from our condo in Phoenix to the schoolbus in Maine - would it have worked? Probably not. But moving to the bus after 6 months of travel, we were so primed. We were stripped down emotionally, we were already used to being without our “stuff” and being in spaces that weren’t our own - so the bus was an actual upgrade from that. We were happy to be grounded in a place for an indefinite length of time where we could really nest.

So. The travel home to the U.S. On our final day in Perth we woke up in our Airbnb and just did all the final morning things and left around 10 to walk to the train station. The first train was just an hour, to Edinburgh, where we had a 40 minute wait until the second train which was taking us all the way to London. Turns out the train originated in Edinburgh so it was actually already in the station and we were able to get on pretty quickly. It was a lovely first class train and shortly after departure we got our free lunch and drinks and snacks. It arrived at St. Pancras in London which is one of the most beautiful stations. London was so busy, it was crazy. We only had to walk a few blocks to our hotel, which was super cute.

We got settled in our room and went right back out because I knew if I showered and changed, I’d never make it back out. So we just left right away to walk around and get dinner. It was really fucking strange walking around. I don’t know. It was weird. We were only in London for one night so I didn’t want to “waste it” and I wanted to go out for a bit. We came upon a Leon and just got food to-go from there, not wanting to push our luck with what was or wasn’t open due to the restrictions. We were walking and ended up walking in a circle instead of towards the Thames like we had intended. Kris would’ve been fine just going back to the hotel, but I really wanted to sit by the river. I felt like that river spot on the banks of the Thames is just a quintessential London spot and would be a good place to still go in covid times to just sort of “feel” like we were in London.

So we just uber’d down there so as not to wear ourselves out. We got out of the car and walked across the bridge like always and it was just….off. We walked down along the south bank near the Eye and the energy was just palpable. We sat where we normally sit and it just felt like all the life was drained out of the city. It was even darker than normal, like they didn’t have all the lights on and you weren’t supposed to be there. We had mostly been in the countryside, so this was the first time I had really felt the weight of covid and really been somewhere that it was so starkly different. I felt so deeply sad and maybe I just needed to feel that and that’s why I was insistent on going out. We sat there for a minute and ate and then very quickly made our way back to the hotel. Suddenly I didn’t want to be out at all even a little bit, even on our one night in London.

Thankfully the hotel was comfortable enough and we bought snacks at a Sainsbury’s on the way home so it was nice to shower and just get into the big king size bed and chill out. The bed unfortunately sucked ass though. All style and no substance that hotel was. Thankfully it was just the one night.

The next morning we woke up and after our sad ass London experience the night before, we decided to just order room service instead of trying to go back out again. We first ordered coffee and it was brought to our door in to-go cups, but was actually really delicious. Then once the restaurant opened, Kris got a full english and I ordered a plate of pastries. Then we started slowly packing and getting ready. We went downstairs and called an Uber and the first driver who came wasn’t wearing a mask and once we were in the car he said that he couldn’t for medical reasons. I wasn’t comfortable with that even a little bit so we got out, cancelled the ride, and called another driver.

The next driver was fine and it was so fucking novel to be just getting in a car to go to the airport. I’ve never done that before. It’s always been a bus to the tube to the airport or something like that. It felt weird driving through London, seeing parts that were lovely and familiar and wanting to get out and walk around - like passing by Regent’s Park. But at the same time - the park was super busy and I think that would’ve felt uncomfortable. What a fucking bizarre time to be alive.

We got to the airport and followed the signs to first class. Did you know first class was a whole different part of the airport? I thought we’d like go to a different desk and then have to go through security and just herp derp to wherever the first class lounge was.

Nope.

With first class, you are ushered over to a small kiosk outside of a large, backlit wall with a secluded entry. Once your ticket is checked, you are sent behind the wall, which reveals basically another fucking world. I mean. It was insane. There was soft lighting and lovely music playing, there were plentiful desks and no lines and it was just kind of a mind fuck. We ran into one tiny snag where our Covid test print outs didn’t show the date the results were received….like what the fuck does that matter anyway if the date of the sample and the negative result is in there? But anyway, we just pulled up the email showing the date receipt and it was fine. It’s all that anxiety though, all that unknown that just makes traveling at this time so fucked.

Anyway, okay - so once we’re all checked in, we walk over to another kiosk where another lovely person checked our documents and then sent us around the corner to a super posh and extremely private security checkpoint. What the actual fuck? It was like first class through the fuckin roof. Again, no lines, nobody up your ass, no kids, no stinky losers rushing you. It was amazing. AND THEN. You’re ushered further down the path right into the first class lounge. You don’t even have contact with the regular airport at all. It was such a fucking dream.

The lounge was pretty baller and we sat at a spot with two cushy lounge facing another two cushy lounge chairs with a table in the middle. And of course started ordering, beginning with some Seedlip mocktails, which I’ve always wanted to try.

We had a couple of hours in the lounge basically just eating and drinking and using the posh bathrooms and such. Kris split his pants, which was sort of funny. They split just high enough up in the crotch though that he didn’t actually need to change into his dirty ass back up lounge pants that just so happened to be in my backpack. Ha.

And then the flight. Well first - the airport itself was dead ass empty. We walked up to the gate and it was like arriving at the gate hours before a flight to the other ten early birds, and then it fills up properly as the flight gets closer. But in the case, those ten stragglers were the only other people on the flight at all. So there was no boarding, everyone boarded all at once. We got stopped oddly inside of the vestibule going to the plane and they did a full on security check bag search and that was sort of annoying. But once we got on, we were two of three people in business class so that was super chill. The seat was so comfy and there were so many little nooks to put all of your stuff. The overhead bins were massive, there were pillows and a duvet and a flight kit with a super soft mask and fancy lotion and it was just lovely.

The service was insane and everyone was so nice. It was just cocktail after cup of tea after snack, it was just endless fun times. I was bummed it was only 6 hours. I could’ve stayed on twice that long. I just watched the first season of better things and part of Wild and was just ballin’ my ass off at the end of it when a flight attendant came up to check on me, it was so awkward. Ha.

And the meal was nice. It was hot and in a real dish and had some nice ass chocolate mousse and nice bread and more drinks and it was just the best. I put some snacks in my bag to eat at the hotel later. And before you knew it, it was over.

Back to reality in the Boston airport where we got our bags and then proceeded to walk ass fucking far through the terminal to the hotel that ended up being the wrong hotel that we only discovered after Kris got all the way up to the desk and they couldn’t find his reservation. We were at the Hilton and should’ve been at the Hyatt. I called the Hyatt and asked if they had a shuttle and they did so I said we had fucked up and gone to the Hilton and could they pick us up there and thankfully they could, but fuck. Walking all that way with our 600 pounds of crap was a real bummer.

But the Hyatt was nice and a super easy checkin and they even had an official “quiet floor” that we were on and the bed was gigantic and actually comfortable and overall it was just weird to be back in the land of $4 water bottles. We were super jet lagged so pretty much just went to bed and then woke up ass early as the sun was coming up the next day.

We made shit ass Starbucks pod coffee from the strange little off-brand Keurig plastic coffee maker in the hotel and it was actually better than you would think. We ate that last of our snacks and then Kris showered and got ready and went to get the rental car around 7am. I finished packing and then went and met him downstairs with all of our shit. They had upgraded him to a little pickup truck, which was higher up and super comfy and nice. We went through the McDonald’s drive thru, which was so novel. Then we went through a Dunkin drive through for coffee and donuts to really fuel the drive north to Maine. It was uneventful and really pretty and we stopped along the way to pee and buy more crap snacks before arriving at the rental car return spot at a podunk airport about 30 minutes from Rob & Amy’s house in Maine. Amy picked us up and drove us around near their house and then eventually we went to the actual house and got settled on our new home: the bus.

Leaving the UK & Landing on a Schoolbus in Waldoboro, Maine {February 2021}