We’re home, and just about ready for Christmas. Which is just as well as today’s Christmas Eve. There’s a couple of parcels at the Post Office to collect, and some wrapping to do, but that’s it. We arrived home yesterday afternoon with all the usual holiday detritus - cases, dirty washing, some clean clothes, holiday souvenirs, duty free etc., the results of a food shop, my MIL and her Christmas luggage. To say the car was full is an understatement, but success in the Tetris-like puzzle meant that there was also room for three humans in the car too, though in reality my seat was never in doubt!

The flight home from Barbados was long (eight and a half hours) and while It was the same length as the outward flight, a little bumpier too. There’s something about homeward flights that make them appear longer, perhaps it’s the prospect of tidying up after a holiday, and the washing, rather than the anticipation of what’s to come, who knows?

FLOWERS IN THE FESTIVE RECEPTION AT OUR HOTEL IN BARBADOS

It was a much emptier flight back, which makes sense as over the past few days the arrivals in our hotel noticeably increased with people arriving to spend their Christmas in the sun. We’d opted to pay for seats of our choice on the way back, choosing an aisle seat each, which was a real treat as I usually end up with the ‘middle’ seat and therefore spent the flight in that panic over who has the “rights” to the “shared” armrest and avoiding overspilling onto a stranger. Turns out we didn’t really need to, but after a good flight out and really friendly and polite seat neighbours on the way out, we didn’t want to take the risk, especially with an overnight flight.

And so, just like that our nine night trip came to an end, marked of course with a final rum or two, and a lighter than on the way out there case to be checked in, who’d have thought? I knew that with some cosmetic duty free outward purchases, and some bottles from the Mount Gay rum distillery and only half a kilo of our luggage allowance to spare I’d need to be canny. Turns out I was cannier than needed as our case weighed in at a comparatively feather-like 19.5kg, some three kilograms lighter. Our hand luggage though, was much heavier, and we did that whole non-verbal pretence of “it’s not heavy at all” which could actually be one of those Very British Problems.

Unlike our previous visit to the island, we got out and about beyond the rum distillery and local Fish Fry, though we did those as well.

We met up with my mum and dad when their ship was in port at Bridgetown, visited the Mount Gay rum distillery (again) though this time arrived in Bridgetown by local bus and spent time at the fantastic Hunte’s Gardens and botanical Andromeda Gardens, taking many pictures in the process.

I’m sharing a few of these below, but expect to be sharing much more in January, along with my ritual “best posts” and look back of the year.

But before that, let me wish you a Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year, and thank you for reading and supporting my blog this year, I very much appreciate your company in what, quite frankly, has at times been another bonkers year.

I suspect that (spoiler alert) 2020 will pretty much be the same!

* Many more photos to come!