Cold Caribbean Beers

Where do I start….. the last week has been insanely manic, saying goodbyes to as many friends & family as we possibly could and trying to pack all but the kitchen sink in between. Initially the plan was to try and fit all our stuff (well Daisy’s stuff!) into the baggage allowance we had which was mainly 3x 23kg bags for the hold. However 3 suitcases quickly turned into 4 and then we soon realised even that wasn’t going to cut the mustard!

After packing, weighting, unpacking, re-gigging re-packing, weighing again and repeating the process 3 times over we ended up with 5 huge cases which were as close to 23kg as we were going to get. The dog needed vets visits along with filling out confusing paperwork of epic proportions anyone would think we were transporting firearms! Stressed was understatement.

Thrown into all of this were the mixed emotions of leaving. Knowing that we were taking Daisy away
from family that we’d spent the last 6 months reconnecting with was heart breaking, but on the other hand we were finally returning to our home (Tudor Rose) with our newest family member.I was feeling pretty confused flitting between sadness, excitement, concern, worry. Holding back the tears beca
me a daily challenge except I couldn’t wait to get back to some sort of normality and routine. Which probably sounds a bit odd to all you Land Dwellers, considering you probably think living on a yacht is far from normal!

We turned up to the airport with:

2x 10kg adult hand luggage bags
1x 6kg baby hand luggage bag
1 handbag
1x manbag
2x baby carriers
1x car seat & click in base
1x buggy/stroller with 2 parasols
5x big suitcases
1x Dog Create ………….
And not forgetting 1x Small Dog

With a final weigh in on arrival it was confirmed that all our cases were slightly over, some more than others. The Departures staff didn’t mind as long as we moved some of the weight around….AGAIN, so after some more re-gigging and combined with a trainee on the front desk approx. 1 hour later we were officially ‘Checked In’ ……..
OH NO Hang on a minute there’s a problem “we shouldn’t have checked you in your not on this flight!” …….Excellent. Turned out there was a issue with our booking, the short version is it all got sorted out in the end but as result the cost for our 2 additional suitcases was wiped clean …. RESULT!

Daisy was a little angel for the flight and with some Boobie Milk on take off and landing she had no issues with the changes in altitude, even enjoying a few episodes of Pepper Pig.
Trish & John our AirB&B hosts who by some stroke of luck had a monster truck kindly picked us up managing to cram in all our stuff. Then it was off to the Cargo hanger to collect our furbaby Scrumpy Dog. 11 hours after departing England we were enjoying cold Caribbean beers & Trish’s home cooked Spag Bol. All that’s left now is to get the boat prepped and back in the water so we can finally have our own space as a family!