The Big Return

While it is always great to depart off to some great new destination on a trip, coming back to reality is always a downer after one has been in vacation mode for several weeks – shed of all of the worries and stresses of our day to day lives. Yet, of this return to normality, there is one aspect that is of particular satisfaction that is the final, ending moment of the vacation: The Big Return. The Big Return really is best experienced when coming back from an international flight and almost always requires someone to be waiting for you to be picked up at the airport.

Picture this: you’ve just spent up to 24 (or more) hours of travel from your remote destination. You’re tired and probably exhausted from the jet lag. You’ve connected through several airports and have finally made it back to your home airport. You’ve gone though customs and immigration and picked up your luggage. You’re now through those final doors where the crowds of people are all anxiously waiting to spot their loved one and then you see that person who is waiting there for you (in our case, Barb’s mum).

The Big Return. You’re home.

I’ve had a chance to experience this a few times from the opposite point of view and as recently as yesterday. My Dad was coming back from England so I was there at the International arrivals area (with about 2000 other people), anxiously awaiting to see my Dad coming through those doors. It’s interesting that since Dad has gone to England several times over the past few years I have gotten into this routine of trying to figure out when the people from his plane are staring to arrive. Invariably there are the flights from Mexico or Hawaii: people with tans still wearing their shorts and sandals. Then there’s the flights coming in from Asian countries which of course will have predominantly Asian passengers. It’s not until I start seeing a specific demographic that I know that it’s people from a flight from England who are starting to arrive. This demographic is (almost always), a large number of older (60’s +), caucasian, wearing long pants/long sleeves (no matter how hot it is) and usually with a complete lack of any skin colour. Let’s face it, people aren’t going to England to work on their tans. 9 times out of 10 I’m right on the mark about this and Dad soon comes through around this time.

The people from Dad’s flight were about 45 minutes delayed arriving. However I’m sure that when Dad saw me there just outside of those final doors waiting to pick him up, him tired from a long day’s travel, he must have felt the same way that we do and knew that a Big Return is always the best way to finish off a long trip.

Baden