The last thing you want as you head to the airport for a night flight home is news of impending storms and connecting flights being cancelled.

After four incredible days in Senegal, it was time to head home.

As we settled into the minibus for what turned out to be two hours to get us to the airport, news was filtering through of the impact of Storm Darragh back in the UK. The parkrun feeds on my phone were busy with news of cancellations, but then some of our group started to get notifications of cancelled onward flights from Paris and no real options to re-book.

Would I get stuck somewhere on the way home?

Once at the airport, there was just time for pizza before our slightly delated boarding began. For the next six hours at least, there was nothing I could do about the next leg of my journey. I closed my eyes and amazingly got a few hours sleep before landing in Paris at about 6am.

I was back to Pret a Manger for breakfast, then waiting anxiously for a couple of hours, holding on tight to my passport after my oops moment on the outward journey.

Luckily, the flight was called on schedule and we set off just a few minutes late. The pilot described conditions in Birmingham as “a little bit special” – only slightly unnerving!

I had a window seat, so spent most of the flight watching the clouds. No inclination to read much on this flight. Blue skies over Paris quickly turned grey as we headed over the channel – and then there was nothing to see as we were encased in clouds for the rest of the flight into Birmingham.

With a few extra bumps and a very strong crosswind, we were on the ground. My expectations of just how bad the landing was going to be were definitely exaggerated … I’ve experienced much bumpier landings. Great work to the pilots of AF1164.

And after that, it was all the smoothest of exits from the airport – straight through security, suitcase collected within a couple of minutes, one of the first onto the carousel. Across to the train station via the monorail and ready to get on a train,

But it turns out that landing in 50 mile-an-hour winds was the easy part… 3 hours after landing, I finally made it home. Cancelled trains, over-crowded trains, trains not letting anyone board, slow moving trains and a flooded car park just a few of the obstacles between me and a cup of tea.

But I was eventually home – and that cuppa was much appreciated.

What a week; what an experience. Travelling to Senegal with Sightsavers was an amazing opportunity. I hope there’ll be another one in 2025.