There's no place like home!

Hello again everyone. We are in fact home now, but thought we should get you filled in on the last few days of our travels before we arrived back on U.K. soil on the 15th! We were so tired when we got home from the airport that we didn't feel up to finishing the blog and then we've been in demand visiting relatives and having the unfortunate task of unpacking our bags (at least it was for the last time - although at one point my room looked as though a bomb had exploded in our bags and just strewn our belongings everywhere)! Well, we'll get on and get you updated on our last few days.

SATURDAY 11th August

We had to leave the hostel by 07.30 this morning, as we had to make our way to the Grand Canyon National Park Airport in Tusyuan by 09.30 at the latest. we ended up making the journey in really good time, so popped to take a photograph by the entrance sign to the park before going to the terminal to check in for our scenic flight (thank goodness we weren't having to throw ourselves out of the plane this time)! When we arrived, we got checked in and ended up being asked to wait until about 10.30 to go up, when we would get flown around in a plane, with just the two of us in (and of course the pilot as well). Finally the time rolled around and our pilot took us out to the aircraft (which turned out to be just like the plane we sky dived from, although it had 3 extra seats in this one). We were soon up in the air for an hour long flight over the Canyon. It was absolutely amazing to see the Canyon from this perspective and you get more of an appreciation of just how big it all is! We flew over the north and south rims of the Canyon and just had the most spectacular views, it was wonderful! The only down-side, was that I didn't take any travel sickness tablets and the ride was rather turbulent and so I wasn't feeling 100% after a while, but still manages to enjoy myself (although was relieved when we got back on solid ground). After having enjoyed the Canyon from above, we decided to go into the park and go on a trek along the Bright Angel Trail, which takes you down into the Canyon itself. We decided to go to the first rest-point, which was 1.5 miles into the Canyon (as the crow flies) and then head back up, as if we went to the 3 mile rest-point, then it would have taken 4 to 6 hours to return to the car, by which point it would be around 19.00, which we felt was a bit late! It was really hot work, even going downhill, but we finally made it to the stopping area and found a nice rock to sit on whilst eating lunch. It started to pour with rain, which was welcome relief from the heat and so we had a nice cool atmosphere to start the climb back up in. We took lots of time getting up, walking at a nice slow pace and stopping to take lots of photos - so rather than dripping with sweat and being all red and worn-out (like the majority of the other walkers), we made it to the top feeling pretty good. The views from inside the Canyon were really cool and it was amazing to see how far down we had descended. Seeing the almost sheer walls rising up next to you, is very impressive. Once at the top of the Canyon again, we decided to drive to some of the viewpoints we missed last time we went to the Desert-View Rim. We'd stopped a few times before making it to Lipan Point, where we found lots of other photographers who were waiting for the sunset, so although it would mean a late night, Steve and I decided to stay and watch too and take some photos. I had to drive down the road to use the loo quickly before it all started happening, but on my return I found out that a man had fallen over (if he'd been any closer to the edge when he'd started falling, he would honestly have ended up falling down into the Canyon itself - it was a very close encounter). He'd ended up with a nasty cut on the head and a rather mangled elbow, as well he managed to completely wreck thousands of pounds worth of camera equipment. So that was all pretty shocking stuff, but he was taken back to his campsite where he could get medical assistance and we stayed to watch the sunset with the others. Unfortunately the sunset was as spectacular as it could have been, although it was still incredibly pretty. There was lots of haze in the Canyon, which caused the light to be refracted, so the red rocks didn't glow with the orange colour of the setting sun, which was a shame, but we managed to get lots of cool pictures still. By 20.00 it was all over and feeling rather hungry and weary we made our way back to Flagstaff to have a very late dinner and to get some sleep!

SUNDAY 12th August

We had a slightly disappointing day. We decided to drive to Sedona, as we were hoping to be able to do some nice walks etc. We started off at a church, which we thought had been hewn into the side of a cliff and would be quite basic and rustic etc, however it turned out that the Church was in fact made out of concrete and was rather modern in design. It was quite an unusual building, but there were some lovely views of the surrounding area. We then made our way a bit further south to Montezuma Castle. This is just amazing, it's another pueblo built into the side of a cliff, but this one seems to have almost no access to it and is built very high up - it's amazing that this construction could be achieved! There was also another larger Castle almost next to Montezuma, but this was built lower to the ground and also was burned to destruction, so that all we can see of this structure now, are some fallen walls and foundations. So after exploring this intriguing site we headed back into Sedona and found a couple of view points, but ended up not being able to go for any walks - the main reason for this being that the temperature had risen to over 100 degrees Fahrenheit! After stopping for an ice-cream we made our last scenic stop of the day and went to the viewpoint over Oak Creek Canyon, as well as finding a place to stop and paddle in the water as well! We felt a bit disappointed with the day, as we didn't see or do anything of any particular interest and we wish we'd gone to the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest instead, but by the time we'd realised going to Sedona was a bit of a dud, we wouldn't have been able to make it to the Painted Desert and back again. Once we'd got back to Flagstaff we ended up popping out to dinner at the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store. It was a pleasant enough meal, although compared to when I was there last time, the service is much more rushed and feels less personal, which was a little disappointing, but the food made a welcome change from pasta with sweetcorn and tuna in a tomato pasta sauce!

MONDAY 13th August

We ended up spending the day at the hostel. First thing we returned the hire car and then once back at the hostel we had to get packed-up for the last time and after preparing some food to take on our over night bus and to eat at the airport tomorrow, we had to get checked out of our room by 11.00. Once we'd got checked out we were allowed to hang around at the hostel, so we hopped on the internet to check a few things and afterwards had some lunch. We then ended up being 'trapped' at the hostel, as the most enormous thunderstorms began, so we watched a movie, but the power ended up being cut and so we had to sit around waiting for it to come back on! Soon enough though, 18.00 rolled around and we hopped into a taxi which took us to the Greyhound bus station. We got our baggage checked and then queued up and waited for the 19.50 bus to arrive. We were taken straight through to Phoenix, where we had to wait in the very sweaty bus station until 23.50 for the bus to take us to Los Angeles.

TUESDAY 14th August

What a palaver it turned out to be getting the bus to Los Angeles! More tickets than seats had been sold, so despite being told we could board, we ended up having to get off of the bus and reclaim our bags, as there weren't enough seats. So we had to wait around until gone 00.30 before another bus arrived, although this one would make local stops, rather than going straight to Los Angeles. Our bus driver was really snotty with us, which we didn't really appreciate, but there was little we could do about it, so we hopped on board and tried to get some sleep, although every couple of hours we were woken up as we made another stop en-route. We finally arrived in Los Angeles around 10.00 and were told that we could get a shuttle to the airport. However, after speaking to the shuttle firm, we found that there were apparently no shuttles available between 10.30 and 17.30, so we had to find alternative transport. So instead we made our way out onto the street and waited for the metro bus to take us to the metro station. This took some time and there were was a rather bizarre argument going on between 2 people! Finally the bus arrived and we found the metro station, where a gentleman kindly took us into the station and showed us how to buy our tickets (and which were the cheapest) and which trains to use in which direction to get ourselves to the airport. So we managed to get the first train with no problems, but then had to wait for the second train for ages, but ended up getting separated as the doors closed with Steve inside the carriage and me on the platform! We finally managed to meet up with one another again and then found the free shuttle bus which took us the remainder of the way to the airport. So we finally arrived after 13.00 (better than the expected arrival time of around 07.00) and found that we could check-in for our flight 8 hours prior to take-off. We had to queue for quite a while, as it was so busy with late check-ins for the 14.30 flight, but we finally made it to a customer services person and got checked-in and received bag tags. We also were given a free upgrade to World Traveller Plus (bigger seats, more leg room and other little perks) because of our engagement! After getting our bag tags we had to then queue up again so that our bags could be scanned and then taken away to be loaded onto the correct planes. By this time we were really hungry and so had a rather late lunch and then sat and read our books and magazines whilst waiting for boarding to begin. The flight was pretty uneventful, we watched a few movies and had some sleep!

WEDNESDAY 15th August

Before we knew it we were landing at Heathrow airport, ahead of schedule and getting very excited about finally getting home again! However, things didn't go too smoothly and we ended up having to wait for over an hour and a half for our bags to get through the baggage claim section! Finally by about 17.00 we had our bags and were making out into the arrivals section and seeing mum and dad waiting for us with big smiles and huge hugs! It was lovely to see them again and we were soon in the car and then back home, with a lovely huge roast dinner waiting for us - what a way to settle back in at home!

Well we think that's everything that we've done over the past 4.5 months! We've had an absolutely awesome time! It's so hard to choose a favourite bit, as each country was so brilliant for different reasons. We've seen so much and such a wide variety of cultures. It's been a once in a lifetime adventure that we're glad we didn't miss! Hope no-one's got too bored, or been sent into boredom induced comas, from reading all of our rather lengthy blogs! We sent the photos to get developed for today and so we'll try and get an online album sorted out A.S.A.P and we'll e-mail you all the address for it, so you can see what we've been doing (rather than just reading our ramblings). Looking forward to catching up with you all in time and glad to be home (although not so glad about going back to work)!