It's a wanderful life, so it is

It was only when a fourth border officer at Krakow Airport came over to examine our passports that we started to think that this was getting serious.

46 days earlier, we had crossed from Bosnia into Croatia and we remembered the journey well. It was a beautiful drive and the Bosnian guard beamed when we told him how beautiful his country was. His Croatian counterpart smiled and nodded us through. And that was when we made our rookie Brexit benefit mistake that was coming back to bite us.

The three Polish border officials could not see from our passports when we had last entered the Schengen Zone because there was no stamp when we crossed from Bosnia into Croatia on 12 July. “What other evidence do you have? A flight document, perhaps?” “No, sorry, we drove across the border.” Things were getting tense when I summoned all of my Irish smarm and said, “I can show you our Google photos?” And so we found ourselves surrounded by border officials, scrolling through our holiday photos. “This is us in Sarajevo. And this is us in Split.” There was much relief all round when this allowed them to let us pass. And a hard Brexit lesson was learned.

I hadn’t seen Jamie and Meadhbh (Meadhbh and Jamie)’s new house as they didn’t move in until the day after we left for Tirana. It exceeded my high expectations and is absolutely perfect for them. Plenty of rooms and gardens and sheds and space and countryside. The previous owners obviously believed in quality so it was in ideal walk-in condition too. As a treat, Jamie had gone to the trouble of sourcing Angry Orchard cider for us on the internet: not easy as it’s a real pain to get in the UK. 

Meadhbh and Jamie have been integrating gently with the neighbours, showing their best side, as you do.  Mhairi and I soon ruined that when our friends, Alan and Jane, came round for dinner on a Thursday night. The drink flowed and the company was lively and when we wrapped up at 1am, loud goodnights were shouted between taxi and doorstep. We may have ruined all of Meadhbh and Jamie’s good work but perhaps the locals will feel sorry from them because of their noisy parents!

We caught up with one of our best pals, Lesley, in Edinburgh. The great thing about cities is that the local characters rarely disappoint. One young couple was on their second tree of pornstar martini cocktails when we arrived. Eventually, they realised they had too many drinks and were determined to share these with Lesley but she handled the situation with ease. Meadhbh was less than impressed though!

Jan and John, Meadhbh’s in-laws, came to visit for an evening and we enjoyed an entertaining evening putting the world to rights, as always. We were also a bit better behaved than with our previous visitors. 😉

Meadhbh and Jamie’s house is equipped with security cameras, which take photos when it suspects an intruder is nearby. Mostly these are of cats but it snapped Mhairi when she was in the garden doing some weeding. Jamie remembered a similar famous image and was kind enough  to use his computer skills and share the output with us!

Poor Keira had undergone an operation on her leg and wasn’t allowed to jump up or to climb on the sofas. It’s especially hard on her because she is a princess and loves sitting on the sofa cushions.  Fortunately, after quite a few weeks of recovery, she was able to get back on her throne!

We had such a fantastic time and it was really nice of Meadhbh and Jamie to host us. Our next stop was Maybole but for only two nights so we didn’t need our backpacks. Instead we posted them to Belfast using Parcel Force for only £7 each. An absolute bargain that allowed us to travel light for once.

Once in Maybole, we caught up with more friends and family. We had a great afternoon with our besties, Lynne and Rod. It’s such a privilege to have the kind of friendship where you don’t need to ‘catch up’ because it feels like you saw each other yesterday. We also had an evening with Fiona, Crawford and Leo. It’s when you see how much a child has grown that you realise how long it has been since the last visit.

More importantly, we got some quality time with Jeannie, Mhairi’s mum. This included a couple of nice lunches out. Big shout out to both the Carrick Centre and The Greenside Inn for lovely lunches! We finished the round of visits with a surprise catch up on the train with Mhairi’s cousin, Bryan. We had a lovely time with him, comparing our various travels over the years.

It was now time to head to Belfast for more fun and frolics with friends and family.