A funny thing happened on the way to the airport

Long time no speak. I have many many adventures to catch y'all up on...not least my wonderful trip to Spain and Morocco.

But first, some news.

For those of you who have not heard, I am back in Brisbane. It was rather an abrupt departure from the UK, given as I had a number of trips planned, not least one to Africa, and wasn't going to be here until Christmas.

However, events overtook carefully made plans and I am back home.

Unfortunately, my ticket to Estonia and a second ticket to Africa and Australia were not enough proof for Immigration that I was not trying to be an illegal alien. They took me out of the entry queue; detained me for several hours; threatened to send me back to Morocco from whence I had just come ("Don't worry, you won't have to pay for that flight" ???! "Yeah, cheers"); and eventually agreed to let me back into the UK, sans my passport, for 3 days to pack up my stuff. In my hurry to comply with their order to get out of the UK immediately I admit that I panicked and changed my ticket for Nairobi to one for Brisbane.

Yes, my working visa had expired, but I assumed that a tourist visa would be mine for the taking upon arrival. Especially with proof of departure. Sometimes it is enough, sometimes it is not. As the man explained it to me, it is at their discretion and the visitor has no rights. Also, it was the day the Glasgow airport was attacked and a few days after the latest London bombs were found. Bad luck for me.

So from Fez to London to Edinburgh to London to Tokyo to Sydney to Brisbane I went in the space of a week. It has taken me another 2 weeks to be willing to travel further than the corner shops, I am so sick of queues and luggage and tickets and small, uncomfortable seats with no leg room.

I can now say without gritting my teeth that I am pleased to be back. The jetlag and shock have passed and I am beginning to look about the place and remember why I had planned to come home soon anyway. Even though it is cold (1 degree in Brisbane - that's craziness!), the sky is blue, I have a room to myself (with a cupboard!) and I have many friends. Delightful people who continued to say they were pleased to see me even when I threatened to stab them in the eye if they were happy near me, as I was so miserable. Thanks guys.

The best bit is that I arrived in time to meet my new nephew, William Robert Humber. He is adorable and makes it all worthwhile.

As always, I can be contacted by email, or my new mobile number is 0431 983 483. I'd love to see you or hear some news of your everyday adventures. And I also need a career plan. Anyone with any suggestions of a job I might enjoy, or if anyone is hiding a job in their back pocket, I'd be interested to hear about it.

Morocco

i have so many adventures to catch you all up on....but i am sorry it is not going to be right now...

being able to touch type is a great skill if you want an admin job, but it makes being faced with a non-QWERTY keyboard a bit of a struggle!

anyhum, i am in morocco. kinda similar but not really to egypt. main diff so far being i have managed to keep all my food in my tummy and i am not nearly as hot stuff for marriage proposals. genevieve is the most popular princess in our group so far! she is loving it!!!

lonely planet did not disappoint and once again failed to mention key information....like the difficulties involved in arriving at ferry port, crossing the border and actually getting into morocco from spain arrival point. but whatever, i will just add it to the list of ways that guide has tried to make life harder....they will get theirs. grrr...

so we are in chefchouen and trying to do a desert trek out to an oasis. then there is talk of a music festival by the beach. should be cool.

travel partners are farkins, tamara, genevieve, emma and marvin - a german guy i met in seville whom we bumped into catching the ferry from spain.

back in scotland on 30th.

And suddenly...

...it just kind of clicked.

Ever have one of those days, where you just suddenly go, "Oh, so THAT´S it"? I had one in Florence.

After 2 years with my trusty blue Kathmandu pack, I finally worked out the back straps. For 2 years I´ve suffered a numb to tingly to full on painful left arm whenever it weighed over 10kg (which, let´s face it, it does fairly frequently). I have asked people with the same pack, I´ve taken it into stores and mock-packed it, I´ve had other people play with it and ask on my behalf...no dice. Uneven and painful straining on the shoulders was my burden.

Then, on this special day, as I prepared to heft it on my back one more time, I came across a strap I had never noticed before. I looked and thought hmmmm...this could be it. Voila, no more pain. Sure, it´s still too heavy, but I can deal with that!

On the same day, as I was wandering without having looked at my map for a while, with a vague notion of where I was going. Then I looked, read some names, planned a route, and then arrived exactly where I thought I would in about the right amount of time. Turns out, I can now read a map. Yay me.