I’m going home

I wasn’t sure this trip home would happen. After a lot of visa drama, I hadn’t thought I’d be able to get back to Canada to see my family. Then it worked out, and there I was in a very hot room in England, almost packed and due to fly the next morning.

I’d been living in the UK for seven years and tried to visit Ontario each summer, although that didn’t always work out. This time I was excited and nervous. On the previous year’s trip, I’d been ill for the entire visit, with the worst illness I’d ever had. I wanted this one to be different.

The flight wasn’t what worried me

I’m a nervous traveller, but I’m not afraid of planes. It’s the other parts that get to me: being late, missing the flight, dealing with customs. Before leaving, I needed to finish packing and try to get an early night, with all of that going round in my head.

It was going to be a long day. I thought the car was collecting us around five in the morning for a morning flight, then we had about eight hours to Toronto ahead of us. We’d arrive in the afternoon because of the time difference, and still need to stay awake for the rest of the day. Mum would collect us, followed by a couple of hours driving home.

I found the flight to Toronto worse than the journey back to England because it happened during the day. Eight hours of daytime flying sounded very boring. My plan was to bring my Nintendo Switch, because I’d been playing Tears of the Kingdom and loved it, along with a charging cable. I also wanted to download true-crime podcasts so I could listen while playing. A nap was possible, but I didn’t think it was likely.

I slept through take-off, briefly

The flight was fine, although we sat on the tarmac for a good hour. I was so tired that I actually slept through take-off. I thought it was a combination of the travel anxiety and getting up in the middle of the night.

Unfortunately, I woke about ten minutes later, so it hadn’t done much for me. Customs went fine, Mum picked us up without any trouble, and we made it home. The things I’d been anxious about had gone smoothly, even if I still felt very jet-lagged and couldn’t quite work out the day or the time.

A little bit bored sounded good

Once I was in Ontario, my plans weren’t particularly elaborate. The previous visit had been swallowed by illness, and I’d done absolutely nothing. This time I hoped to see family and friends, and do some Canadian things while I was there.

I also wanted to be a little bit bored. Quiet time sounded good: hanging out by the pool, sitting outside and taking it easy. I wasn’t arriving with a huge list of activities to complete. Being able to enjoy the visit without getting ill again was what I was hoping for.

The backyard, then the rain

At home, we’d just had a thunderstorm, and things were already starting to dry in the heat and humidity. Summer in Ontario had arrived with me. While I was outside in the backyard, rain started again and I moved the camera under cover. Soon it was coming down heavily enough that I wondered how we were going to get back to the house.

The backyard had a family story of its own. When I was fifteen, I’d come home from school to find out my parents were moving us. They’d seen this house and the view from its backyard, and decided that was where we were going. We’d done a lot of landscaping since then, so it didn’t look exactly as it had when they first saw it.

The rain came down hard for a couple of minutes. I didn’t mind a bit of rain as long as I wasn’t sick. I was hungry afterwards, but didn’t feel as though it was an ordinary eating time. It was jet-lag time, with my body not quite caught up to where I’d arrived.

Settling into the visit

When I filmed again the next day, the storm had become bad enough that much of the earlier footage wasn’t usable. Now it was sunny. There was still some haze, but I could see farther than before, and it was a beautiful day outside.

I still had work to finish indoors before going out to sit in the sun. So far, I hadn’t got sick, and I was keeping my fingers crossed. After the uncertainty about getting home at all, and the miserable previous visit, family time and a quiet afternoon were things I was very excited about.

Watch my journey home to Ontario.