It’s been such a long time since I’ve either worked a flight home, or gone home on days off. In fact it had been over 3 and a half months which is such a long time for myself. In my August roster I was given a flight to Glasgow, but I tried my luck on the swaps page and someone accept my swap for the afternoon flight to Manchester.

Departing at 14:35, it was 7 hours and 10 minutes over to Manchester International Airport, and I was also flying my lovely Auntie Julie and her family back from Dubai, I didn’t even realise until after I had swapped! I was also fortunate enough to be able to take them upstairs to Business Class for a drink!

My lovely Mum and Sister came to pick me up and we drove back to Leeds where my Dad was waiting with a Chinese for us all!  I definitely deserved it after that long and busy flight. After stuffing ourselves until we could eat no more, it was time to give my little sister a present. Over the past almost 2 years of flying, I’ve been gathering together the ultimate University starter pack from all around the world. As I don’t have another chance to give this to my sister before she heads to university herself in September, it seemed like no better time than the present (haha, get it? Present?).

After this it was time for bed, ready for an early morning wake up to pack as much as possible into my 24 hour layover at home.

The next morning, we had decided with it being such a beautiful day we would drive up to Knaresborough in North Yorkshire. It took just under an hour to get there, and it was so nice to be behind the wheel again. I hadn’t driven in quite a few months.

Walking down to the river, we rented a paddle boat for an hour and took out to the water. It’s a lot more difficult than it looks rowing around, especially when you’re rowing for all three of you!

We all had a turn at rowing around the water, with my Mum panicking every time we swapped into the rowers position. Knaresborough is such a quaint little place, and it was nice to slowly drift up and down the river admiring the beautiful houses along the waters edge, and watching the trains go over the tall arches of the bridge and see people fishing along the waters edge. Although it was quite busy, I’d forgotten it was still the school holidays back in the UK!

Feeling pretty tired after quite a strenuous arm work out, we pulled back into where we picked up the boats and went to meet my Dad who was also joining us for lunch during a work break.

It’s such a charming village and there are many beautiful houses, all with impressive views of the river. Knaresbrough is the sort of place you wouldn’t want to live in whilst you’re young as it is too quiet, but would be the perfect place to settle down in. That’s what I love about Yorkshire, its got so many beautiful little places like this, right on your door step.

Feeling pretty peckish, we walked along the river to Marigold Cafe where we managed to grab a table with a scenic view.

I opted for the sweet chilli and lime chicken breast with avocado, pitta and salad and me and my Dad shared some chips with aoili. The food was lovely and we all washed it down with four tea pots of Yorkshire Tea! Would there be any other choice?

With my Dad needing to get back to work, and myself wanting to see my grandparents before I had to go back to the airport, we polished off our lunch and walked back to the cars. Not before stopping for a quick ice cream of course!!

After a lovely catch up with my family, who sent me back to Dubai with SO MANY treats and snacks – not good when I’m trying to diet before my holiday, but thank you very much you guys! It was sadly time to make my way back to the airport.

A quick coffee in the hotel with my fabulous Mum and Sister, and then it was the over night flight back to sunny Dubai. I had such a brilliant trip home, I’d missed it much more than I thought and nothing beats some quality family time especially when the sun is shining! Can you believe the sun held out for me??

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