Unpacking the souvenirs

Hey peeps- I am back home after a wonderful holiday- I will cram a post full of photos at some point, but not today! We left Denver yesterday lunch time, arrived in Newark (New York) and had about 3 hours there, before we flew home. The flight was so bumpy, and the headphone socket didn’t work, but that turned out OK as I put on my big headphones and loaded up some film podcasts, put on my eye-mask and managed to doze for a lot of it. We landed just before 10am and were so speedy getting through (even though they did an extra passport check as soon as we got off the plane)- we were home before midday. I usually have a sleep in the day (just for an hour or so) but I felt OK so have pottered about. Mainly unpacking the fun things!

We are a little obsessed with collecting magnets for each place we visit now. We realised too late that we bought 2 of the same style (the old poster styles for both Glacier and Mount Rainier) although at least the shape of the mountains is different (and accurate!). We’re going to need a bigger fridge!

In Victoria in Canada we went to an amazing Coffee/ Tea/ bakery shop called Murchie’s– they did all sorts of tea lattes and you could even have almond milk! There was a shop attached and they had one of those cool tea infusers for much cheaper than I have seen in the UK, so I bought one. It seems to have survived the flights OK!

We also visited David’s Tea (we saw one in Boston but it was closed when we were there)- we tried some amazing iced teas, and I ended up with some black mint loose leaf tea, and a pouch of some amazing smelling apple tea (which you can eat- the lady recommended putting it on porridge once you have brewed the tea). She also gave me some great hints on how to make iced tea, and also how to like green tea (apparently the water should be off the boil, like for coffee, as the boiling water makes it taste bitter, so I might have to have another go at trying it!). It was such a cool shop, with shelves and shelves of massive tins with loose leaf teas- all the flavours and kinds you could image (except black cherry tea).

In Glacier park they used these posh tea temples (Tea forte) which I loved, and when I saw coconut chai latte tea in the shop I had to get a pack!

While wandering around Leavenworth I was given the hard sell on some Chukar cherries (in that she let me try a few samples, and they were amazing)- dried cherries with no preservatives or anything, so I bought one packet coated in dark chocolate, and then one lot flavoured with almond. We found a Trader Joe’s and I bought some coconut chips, and some chocolate for us to have on holiday, but we didn’t have any of it so it came home. Plus pb, and dark pb cups of course.

I also bought non-food related items! Some cute PJ’s (Huckleberries were everywhere- they are similar to blueberries but aren’t cultivated)- they say “I’ll be your Huckle-beary”- we saw lots of bears in Glacier so I thought it was appropriate too. Plus some Huckleberry honey (honey, huckleberry juice and pectin)- I got a bit obsessed with huckleberry flavour things while we were away!

Last but not least, I could not resist the cups. Andy’s one is in the middle, and the other two are mine. The Yellowstone one is a minty green, but that hasn’t come out well. Plus a spoon rest (for when we make tea but the dishwasher is running).

I have had quite a productive day- sorted through the post, hung out one lot of washing, unpacked some bits, and booked a shop for tomorrow.

I feel like my eating has been totally messed up though. Yesterday we had a cereal bar for breakfast before heading to return the car etc, and then at the airport we had an early lunch from Caribou coffee (the huge “Pumpkin season” poster grabbed my attention)-a piece of pumpkin bread and a spiced pumpkin soya latte, plus some fruit salad to eat on the plane. Our flight from Denver was about 4 hours I think but then the time-zone changed from Mountain to Eastern time, so I think it was later than it felt. Or maybe the other way around. Anyway we needed some dinner so bought pb&j’s at the airport, and shared a bag of popchips, and then right before the flight I had a chai latte (two latte’s in one day, not good!) as psychologically it made me sleepy, plus we shared a brownie. I dozed through the food service (and we had not managed to book a veggie meal anyway) but I did have a fruit salad and mini criossant before we landed. When we got home this morning I was starving so had some tea and toast, but I suppose that was really lunch time? I know all the advice is to get back to your normal routine asap, but I think right now it is maybe 8 or 9am back there, and it is coming up to 4pm here, so it is a bit adjustment I suppose.

How have you been? We had internet access in a few places and I have been reading some blogs but I am sure I have missed some things.

How do you cope with jet lag?

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15 thoughts on “Unpacking the souvenirs”

  1. Hurrah you’re back! Welcome home 🙂 Your trip sounds absolutely amazing, so looking forward to seeing lots of awesome pictures! I love those pjs too, so cute. I know exactly what you mean about getting messed up eating wise, changing time zones always do that to me! I remember when my cousin came home from Australia and she insisted on spag bog for breakfast because it was her dinner time! So funny to see her tucking in at 9am!

  2. I love those PJs – absolutely adorable 🙂

    I’ve never been on a plane (the whole magical exploding eardrums thing…) but I can imagine how long it must take to adjust. I’d just curl up with a mug of tea (so jealous – the one time I was sent some DavidsTEA I absolutely loved it, and I am the ultimate coffee drinker as opposed to tea usually) and try to get some rest!

    xxx

    1. Poor you with those ear drums- scary.
      The best thing about the tea shop was that the assistant asked what I liked, fetched teas that she thought I would like, and then adapted it as we went (eg the blueberry tea smelled too sweet for me but she realised I loved nutty ones)- like a personal shopper for tea!

  3. Wow love all the stuff you bought. Especially the mugs. You do like your tea haha 😉 and the spoon holder is such a good idea!!
    I hate travelling and jet lag. I just end up eating too many meals I think haha. But it doesn’t take too long to readjust and get back into the swing of things (ahh how quickly holiday fever ends hehe). You just feel a bit tired I guess. Looking forward to the photos 🙂

    1. You need another holiday to get over the jet lag! I am sure I eat too much when going west as you repeat the same hours again.

    1. It really is! I think just unpacking the good stuff is the way to go, but we had to put the cases back in the garage so it all had to be done in the end!

  4. Welcome back! Can’t wait to hear more about your trip, looks like you bought a lot of nice things. I’m rubbish with jet lag, I think the trying to get onto the local time, eat/sleep at local hours is probably the best way to go.

    1. I shall bore everyone with a huge photo post soon 🙂
      Yes the advice is always to have meals etc at the time of your destination asap, but that is often easier said than done!

  5. Welcome back!
    Our thing is to collect a magnet from each place we visit too. Relatively inexpensive but still a small and attractive reminder of the place we visited to display in the kitchen!
    Sounds like you had an amazing trip. Looking forward to seeing some pics! 🙂

    1. Snap! Our fridge is getting full but it is such a nice reminder to see every day. Although we only started doing it about 4 years ago, so there are places we went to longer ago that we didn’t get magnets for.

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