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During our short stay in Chihuahua we unfortunately didn’t find any of its namesake dogs, just some nice buildings and restaurants making it a pleasant last stop in Central America.  The following day we took a bus to the Mexico, USA border and had our most tricky crossing of the whole trip.  We were so delayed that our bus left without us, but a taxi ride later we were in El Paso.  Early the next morning we boarded our 30 hour Amtrak train ride to New Orleans.  Great food, views and loads of leg room made for a fantastic trip.

3 days in New Orleans was a great way to end our honeymoon.  We ate the most amazing southern food: Mark’s favourites were the Poe Boys, subs bulging with meat and gravy.  I loved the jambalaya but I think my favourite had to be the Beignets, square doughnuts covered in icing sugar, ridiculously messy but very moreish . In the evenings we visited loads of live music clubs and heard everything from blue grass, to jazz and traditional blues.  In the daytime, once we could drag ourselves away from our gorgeous hotel room, we explored the French and Garden quarters admiring the beautiful buildings on both street car and foot.

Our last day of the trip was spent driving our hire car to Houston in the worst thunder storm I’ve ever seen, not much fun when you can’t even see the road markings on the very busy freeway. Arriving safely but with a hell of a lot more grey hair then before we settled into our last Denny’s meal of burger, fries and chocolate milkshake.

The flight home in 3 stages was long and boring but it was all forgotten as soon as we saw our welcome party; waiting with balloons, flowers and smiling faces. Despite all of the amazing things we have seen and experienced, there really is no place like home.

Our 13 months of honeymoon has been the trip of a lifetime and a great test for the marriage!  We are blown away with how much we’ve managed to squeeze into the time, 21 countries, 152 different beds,  25 flights, and more hours on trains and buses than we care to remember.

Thank-you so much for everybody (blogchops especially) who has posted comments and made us feel we’re not so far from home. As the next chapter of our life begins keep checking the blog in case we feel the architecture of Nuneaton and our visits to Tesco warrant a post.