London: 18:40 Tuesday 1st August. 

Flying in over London we could see the landscape out of the window as we circled to approach Heathrow. I felt strange; a mix of excitement about what's to come and grief about what I've left… how did we get here… what have we done? The distance feels suddenly quite great.

There was only a small queue at Passport Control, and the sound of our passports being stamped with a thump was marvellous. We’re in!!

All our luggage appeared on the carousel within about 5 minutes, and we had nothing to declare, so we were through customs without a hitch. We jumped in the pre-ordered cab and were at our hotel by about 8:00pm.

All the preparation was worth it, because everything went really smoothly. Perhaps the stars are aligned for us too?