For anyone who's still looking at our log, we're back! Terribly sorry about the last two weeks. We never got round to posting anything while we were in Finland and then we've been so busy since we got back that I've only just found time to write this. Here, then, is a summary of what we've been up to on the final leg of our adventure.
So, you last heard from us when we were in the Philippines still. Having had a wonderful stay, we sadly bade farewell to Stephan and boarded the plane to Singapore. There we had about an hour to spare in which to experience another terminal of the best airport in the world. It almost lived up to our experience of the previous terminal, this one having, among many attractions, a butterfly garden (see right)! Then it was onto another plane to wave goodbye to Asia. It was very sad to be leaving, but it felt like it was about time to be heading home.
And fortunately we had a 12-hour flight to cheer us up! I'm not joking: as we probably mentioned before, the selection of films, TV programmes, computer games, music and unlimited food and drink was amazing and we made the most of it. Hooray for Singapore Airlines!
We arrived back in London (raining) and returned to Rickman Hill. It was fairly late by the time we got back, but we had much to do. We were leaving early the next day to fly to Finland and had to do a speedy repack before we could go to bed to snatch a few hours' sleep.
This all went to plan and the next day we set off early for Gatwick - the two of us, my parents and Katie. For all of them, it was their first time in Finland, so we had an exciting week in store. We did all sorts of things, introducing them to the Finnish countryside and cuisine and, of course, certain key Finnish people. Of course, we took a good look at the barn and spent a good deal of time sorting through the things in it, effecting quite a remarkable transformation. We had great fun mowing the lawn (some of us enjoyed using the lawnmower, while others enjoyed watching them enjoying using the lawnmower). We met up with the grandparents on several occasions for coffee or lunch. We visited a few local sights and spent some time in Vasa, where we happened to coincide with an unusually large market day. We explored the forest a bit and sampled the berries (quite a lot). We had a full tour of Bragegården - the museum of rural life where Hanna's grandmother works, where we also had plenty of her widely-renowned waffles.
We went to skären (summer house on Replot) for a couple of days, where we had some lovely weather (for the time of year). While there, we visited Klobbskat, a little harbour on Replot, and had pizza at Café Compass.
On Sunday, we went to church in Vörå, giving my family a chance to see the church where we'll be married next year. Naturally, we had a sauna every night, giving my family a good induction into this wonderful tradition. Down the bottom there are lots of photos of what we got up to.
Having had a lovely week, we got back to England and the next day Hanna and I returned to Edinburgh. Our adventure was unequivocally over - we were back in Edinburgh, exactly 2 months, 2 weeks and 2 days since we left it. With nearly 1,500 photos and far more exciting memories, not having fallen foul of any diseases or been hit by any tuk-tuks, not having lost our passports after all, or anything else for that matter (except a blue sponge ball), amazingly enough we reached the end of our Southeast Asian adventure.
Photos of Finland
