The Last Embers of Summer

Whirlwind would be the only way to describe the final, final part of Jen moves back to London via the rest of the world. Within a span of, technically, a day and a half, I found myself in two countries and three different time zones.

Shanghai

I returned to Shanghai via Hanoi and with 48-hours left to go and my Dulwich friends having returned to work already, I had a love affair with all things Shangers. I had a massage, shopped at Madame Mao's Dowry, sat down and had two glasses of prosecco at Citizen, one of my favourite haunts. 

I also met friends for a final drink at Le Vin, the tiny, wonderful wine bar with the wonderful waiter and his wonderfully generous pours of wine.

And on my final morning, I rallied the troops to join me for a final epic Shanghai Sunday brunch. We gathered at Isola in the Super Brand Mall to toast two years gone too quickly. Two courses and bottomless prosecco later, the tears at bay, I bid farewell to my friends, hopped in a taxi back to Clare's, grabbed my bags and made for the airport one final time. I couldn't think of a more fitting conclusion to my time there.

California Interlude

My flight out of Shanghai took me back to Michigan via Los Angeles (and a six-hour layover), or LAX airport, to be more specific. Shanghai to LA is a 12-13 hour flight, depending on the jet stream. The time difference is roughly 15 hours. So let's do some maths. I left Shanghai at 6pm on Sunday and landed at something like 3pm on Sunday (technically going backwards in time) only to leave LAX at 9pm the same night and land in Michigan (a three hour time difference from California, 12 from Shanghai) at 5am on Monday morning. Do those numbers crunch? 

To make matters even more complex, my 6-hour stopover coincided with the end of my parents' trip to California to visit family. They finagled seats on my flight back so we could all fly the red eye together. I must have been delirious because I only remember the next few hours in dribs and drabs. I slept not a wink on the Shanghai to LA flight. So when my godfather and parents came to pick me up at the airport and whisk me away to a quick family reunion of sorts, I made noises that sounded like conversation. I remember what the pictures tell me:

 

Back to Michigan 
Once on the flight to Michigan, I conked out in my seat whilst we were still on the runway and woke up at wheels down five hours later. The jet lag, oh the jet lag. But it was my first trip back to Michigan during the summer in years and I revelled in backyard barbecues, cool August nights and, most importantly, reunions with family and friends.

All went well until Winston got skunked. Which is how Jaclyn and I found ourselves in rubber gloves on the front porch rubbing down a yellow dog in tomato juice. With four hands on him, Winston loved every minute of it:

The skunking was a brief distraction from niece watch 2016. Catey was due in early September but having early signs of labour. So as we waited for the newest Avila, I delighted in unpacking my entire backpack and sleeping in one bed for longer than two nights. And finally, on the 24th of August, I made my final flight of the summer: back to London, back to Paul, back to the reality of a new job. The feeling was bittersweet and looking back now, I can't believe how quickly China came and went, how ridiculous Summer 2016 was.

I'm grateful for it all.