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Finally, almost 3 days late, we arrived back into Manchester Airport at 3:30 am.

It's hard to describe the experience of the last 10 days.  We are still rather shell shocked from the whole saga of late departure, missing suitcases and then the drama of the initial flight home.  It may take a few days to assimilate things and put them in perspective.

I tried to phone P&O to start a claim for compensation in relation to our lost suitcases from the start of the holiday, which thankfully were in baggage reclaim on our return.  Looking at the various labels attached to them it was apparent that they had been sent out to Antigua (our initial embarkation point) via a British Airways flight, a few days after the start of our holiday and too late to catch up with the cruise ship.  At least washing dirty clothing was minimal given the limited amount of clothing we actually had with us on the trip!

Just after lunch we had a call from P&O guest support.  This was in relation to the return flight saga and our unexpected stopover in Bermuda.  The young man I spoke to was expecting to discuss this aspect, but I took the opportunity to start a claim for our mislaid bags, which really ended up preventing us from being able to enjoy the holiday, in large measure.

We caught up on sleep.  L went to bed when we finally returned home at about 6:00 am.  I was still wound up so went to the supermarket for some provisions.  I slept on and off during the day, while catching up on some TV (so I'll have to do that again!).

Press coverage has widened and I had the surreal experience of being recognised by some fellow travellers who had done an internet search about the turbulence on the flight and found my Blipfoto post.  The media have mainly copied the original article from the Bermudan press, so there are a number of inaccuracies that have been amplified.  Many claim it was clear air turbulence that caused the drop in altitude.  That doesn't tally with the lightning that could clearly be seen through the windows of the plane, during and after the incident.

Just glad to be home!