Going Home

AH! Don't you just love the ring of those words..."Going home!" No, not just heading back to your lil' abode after a day's work or after dinner with friends but travelling thousands of miles to go home, as in home sweet home Malaysia.
 
As the holidays roll around, many are getting ready to do just that. While I love going home, packing's not my cup of tea. I love the shopping and finding all those presents but ugh!...having to squeeze everything into those two piddly little bags to weigh only 50lbs each can be rather daunting! Sometimes it's easier to squeeze water out of a stone. Often the requests from home can be odd. My Filipino coworkers have told me they pack cans of Spam when they return to the Philippines. I pack blueberry bagels, chocolates with chili, CDs, vitamins, Korean DVDs, Trader Joe's trail mix, No Pudge Brownie mix, Jello mixes, a bottle of vino, just to name a few.
 
But once you're done with the packing, finished up work at the office, turned on your out-of-office reply on Outlook, said your "See you in a few weeks time!" to your coworkers and friends, schlepped everything to the airport and you're finally on the plane.... AH! Tick, tock, tick, tock, the countdown begins! Those hours on the plane sometimes can be grueling but fortunately, I am one of those who just need a few minutes and I can conk out at a snap of finger. Occasionally, I'll wake up for meals (Angela's travel tip: Order a special meal like vegetarian, so you're one of the first to get served, ha!) or watch movies, but if I had it my way, my prefered mode of travel would be to close my eyes, click my heels like Dorothy of Oz, and be there in a jiffy.
 
After what seems like forever, there's nothing like waking up and then hearing the pilot announce that there's only a few minutes before touchdown. As I try to comb my airplane seat hair (if you've ever travelled, you'll understand this!), use concealer for the eyebags, and brush my teeth to get rid of bad breath (and look at the flight attendants and ponder how they remain so alert and eyebag-less looking, grrrr, grrrrr, how dare they!?!), it never fails, going home is really exciting stuff!
 
And once the plane has landed, there is that adrenalin-rush! OK, it's also the heat and humidity. Then you clear customs with those "friendly" people who never seem to welcome you home, the doors open and you push your trolley of luggage outside and you try to find at least one familiar face in the sea of people.
 
"Angela! Angela!" I hear a familiar voice, see a familiar face. I see more familiar faces. Family. Hugs. Kisses. (and I think I also hear a "What did you get me?!) AH!!!!!! I am home.
 
Here's wishing all those travelling home, happy packing and a safe and bon voyage!

Submitted by Angela Woon