getting home after 3 years of seperation

February 2019 was the last time I went home to the UK, I never imagined it would have been almost 3 years until the next time I was reunited with my family and friends.

Before the world fell apart due to the pandemic my plan was in September 2020, a year and a half away from home, to head to one of my best friends dream wedding in Italy at the start of the month then head home to England until my school year started back in in October.

Of course no one expected the pandemic to get so terrible, whats more none of my fellow expats living in Japan expected the government of the country we were calling home to lock us out in we left. The fear of not being able to return to my life here terrified me so much I made the painful decision to not attend the wedding and not to go home. From then on the uncertainty of when I'd be able to go home continued to grow and as time went on I felt myself slipping into a downward spiral of anxiety and homesicknesses.

As 2021 went on I was seeing more and more stories of fellow expats able to return to their home countries and return back into Japan so I began to grow hopeful as the prospect of possibly being able to go home ..

Roll around December 2021, just beforfe the new varient that was running rampant around the world, especially the UK, and my husband and I decided to take the plunge and buy our tickets to go home for 3 weeks. I was ecstatic, I'd felt myself falling into a slight depression being seperated from loved ones for so long, my parents getting older, and friends starting their own families and living spread around the world. This decision was the light at the end of my tunnel.

Preparations

Both my husband and I have been double vaccinated so in that aspect we had no trouble. It was just a long journey to get all the necessary documents prepared for our departure, and a lot of money for a part time restaurant worker. When we booked our flights the UK didn't require a PCR test upon arrival, which can get quite pricey, however as we got closer to the departure date the rules changed and it became necessary which bumped up our costs a little more.

The documents which were needed for departure from Japan and arrival into the UK were are follows

 ・Vaccine passport, issued from your local ward office
            -Your vaccine passport is written proof that you have recieved both doses of a vaccine recognized by your destination country 

 .Negative PCR test 72 hours before your flight
            -We took our PCR test at TMC Osaka Namba, which cost roughly 10,000 ¥

・Day 2 test booked
             -Option to do at the arrival airport or at the location you'll be staying at. You must have your day 2 PCR test booked before your departure so you're able to fill out your passenger locator form, without this you can't board your flight! Your day 2 PCR test can be done and sent off within 2 days of your arrival

. Passenger Locator Form

With these all prepared you are ready for your flight, yay!

Finally, departure day!

Barely able to handle my excitement to finally get home, we rushed off in the morning to get our pre departure PCR test then head off to work, as I couldn't get anyone to cover my shift haha! Half an hour into my shift my manager shows up shocked as anything as to why I'm at work on the day we fly and sends me home straight away. I head out to do last minute shopping and finalise all the documents we need and wait for our PCR results . About 2pm rolls and and bam, NEGATIVE. My heart lifted as if the weight of the world had been taken off it.

Our flight was at 23:30 so we arrived at Kansai Airport at about 19:00, far too early but I'm one of those fliers that needs to be there far earlier than necessary. The international departures floor was a ghost town, it seemed as if our flight was the only group checking in! We check in, showing the staff all the documents, which of course took a little longer than usual but was pretty smooth sailing. Checked in with no problems we have a quick smoke before going through security, getting really excited as the difficult part had now passed!

We whizz through security, ready to hit Duty Free and a possibly a cafe to pass the time only to find only one small section of the Duty Free open, so head decided to head over to our departure gate and wait it out over there.

 Between Kansai and Singapore our flight was pretty empty, we had a whole row to spread out to ourselves. I'm one of those people who can’t sleep well on planes to begin with but the plus the excitement of getting home, there was no way I was sleeping!
We requested the vegan option on the plane and wasn't disappointed in the quality of the food. A few films later and we arrive in Chiang Mai Airport, we are let off the plane with no issue are are free to find our way to our flight transfer location, only once being handed a wristband by airport staff to show we are transfer fliers. The airport was busier than Kansai but also here there were some restaurants and attractions were closed. The time comes and we head through a small security check to wait in our departure lounge, exhausted but buzzing to be on the final leg of our journey! Boarding time!
This flight was a lot longer, about 13 hours from Singapore to the UK but plenty of films and two meals to fill the time.
We land in Heathrow Airport about 15:30 and disembarking the plane was pretty simple, no departure order or anything. Straight off the plane and through immigration, same as always. My husband went through the immigration electronic passport reader first, no problem; come to my turn it seems like most of them broke down for a good 10 minutes of so, which slowed the process down a bit but other than that, plain sailing! Because of the slight delay with the passport control our luggage was already coming out and my husband grabbed our bags. Ready to go through nothing to declare and meet my parents who were waiting on the other side, I was like an excitable child on Christmas morning waiting to see if Santa brought the present they'd been waiting for!
Well it was a reunion full of hugs and tears and so many "I missed you"'s than I can count!

Thanks for reading! I'll write again soon about our time getting back from The UK to Japan!

またね！♡