The weeks between the book launch and the trip blurred into a sequence of logistics, security briefings, and the slow, deliberate unpacking of adrenaline. The high of the event had faded into a quiet satisfaction, replaced by the practicalities of closing a chapter and opening a suitcase. I had expected to feel a void after the launch, a sense of anticlimax now that the public performance was over, but instead, I felt a gradual lightening. The weight of the book was no longer mine to carry alone; it was out in the world, doing its work. My work now was to rest.
The morning of our departure arrived with a clarity that felt deliberate. London was gray, the sky a low ceiling of clouds that promised rain but hadn't yet delivered it. I woke up before the alarm, my body tuned to the rhythm of t
