So it’s t-minus five days until my parents and I are due to land at Heathrow Airport to meet up with my sister and her husband for the first time in over a year. After they moved to London on 2017’s Friday the Thirteenth, the five of us haven’t been in the same room. My sister and I haven’t seen each other at all during that time.

As much as this trip will be a chance for us to see each other again and catch up about 12+ months that we haven’t communicated sans the Internet, it will also help us get the ball rolling and immigration front. I mean we’re already there so why not take advantage of the opportunity. This added stress, though, means planning this trip has been a little more intense than it should be.

I’m kind of glad you can’t see inside my house at the minute; it looks a bit of a state in places. With all the packing all the sorting, packing, and panicking, it is easy to forget that we’re doing this trip primarily as a way to reconnect with the family. From the state of it, you’d think we were never coming back in early April. Still, I can’t wait to be leaving for a whole host of reasons, not least which family & friends. At least, if all goes according to plan we will be moving to England by the end of the year.

To be honest, the end of the year feels like such a long way away.What is truly scary, though, is that by the time we get back we will have not quite eight months before we leave and not quite six months until the end of my degree. As much as I want to be going, part of me can’t face leaving. I suppose this year is understandable when you consider that the only city I’ve ever truly known. I’d say that moving to the UK would have me lose my established support network but when I consider that the majority of the most important and oldest links network are already in England or soon to be going, that’s not entirely true. Still, I’ll be leaving behind some great people.

If it sounds like I’m too eager to leave South Africa then maybe I’ve not made myself clear. There is a lot (and I mean “a lot” that I’m going to miss) but I honestly feel that England will be better for me in the long-run. I know, I know, England is not all puppies and rainbows but I feel that I could have a good life there. Different to the one I currently have for sure but no less happy.

Would I ever come back to live in South Africa? Almost certainly not. There are several reasons for this but one of the biggest ones for me (aside from the NHS, the good attitude towards disability, and family) is simply that I couldn’t face another cross-hemisphere move. Also, if I exclude the people that I know from here, I don’t know any reason I’d want to. What is pulling me back? Nothing about this country, aside from my social network, really attracts me. I’ve never been a fan of nature, I hate beaches (find out why in a future post), and considering my general distaste for Mother Nature I don’t care altogether that much about the weather.

Either way, while this trip might mark the beginning of our transition away from South Africa, I don’t think it’ll be a ‘goodbye’ just yet… perhaps ever. Who knows…