Plastic cutlery, paper plates and school dinner style trays are just a few of the things I will not miss from my stay at the European games. How I long for a meal with metal cutlery and a solid plate sat at a table made of something other than plastic. Usually it is the food itself that I crave after a long trip abroad, of course I am looking forward to a home cooked meal, but the idea of being able to cut my food and hold it on my fork rather than delicately scoop it up using bendy utensils is incredibly appealing.
The waste at events of this scale depresses me. I had to stop thinking about the affect we were having on landfill sites although I do understand the challenge of catering for such huge numbers. It was the bottles of water that were the biggest contributor with no refill available and the tap water unsafe to drink.
I also crave freedom; I am not referring to Azerbaijan's reputation on human rights but the tight security necessary to keep everyone safe in a multi games environment. Going out without my accreditation firmly around my neck I feel lost. It has become part of getting dressed everyday and I even had to wear it running. I have never enjoyed airport security - imagine being scanned at least four times every day just to go to work and home again. I even had my legs scanned whilst wearing shorts; literally nothing was going to get past their barriers.
I am now one step closer to freedom and three hours closer to home. I have a week in Berlin where I look forward to stepping out with more than one hundred millilitres of fluid in my bag and eating from a solid plate, although the tag might still be a necessity.
