This is the average length of the human gestation period. It is also the title of a 1995 American romantic comedy film starring Hugh Grant and the length of time that we have spent in Cambodia.
It has been a wonderful 9 months, during which we have experienced the fabulous Khmer culture, seen the most amazing places and have made friends with loads of people.
But as the saying goes “all good things must come to an end”. Which is exactly what is about to happen to our epic adventure.
That dreaded day is nearly here. We have started to pack our bags, which were covered in dust, having been stored under the bed for the last 3 months.
Being organised people we had a very comprehensive “returning home” list. Things, we needed to do to ensure a smooth transition back into the real world. Like getting the cars back on the road. Taxing, insuring and making sure they were roadworthy after being laid up for 16 months. Together with organising our household services along with getting an internet connection proved more challenging than we anticipated.
Probably the most worrying aspect of returning was obtaining employment. This actually turned out to be one of the easiest things to sort out. The search for employment started quite early, registering with an agency. Within 2 weeks of registration, Guy had his first online interview in the bag.
The pandemic meant that online interviews had become the norm in the UK, the only difficulty being, having to arrange them in the morning UK time, as we were 7 hours ahead in Cambodia. As luck would have it the job offers were like the good old British bus service. Nothing to start with, then 2 come along at the same time. Within 3 weeks of starting to look, Guy had a job, which was a massive relief.
Everything seems to be falling into place. With the flights booked for 1st December, we think that we have covered everything that we need to for the time being.
The British Government has now added Cambodia to the list of countries on the travel corridor, meaning we don’t have to self isolate for 14 days on our return.
We are looking forward to our last quiz at the Star Bar in Siem Reap this evening before starting our long journey home tomorrow.