Take-off Time & Hellos

G'day,

So on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 I woke up (after four hours of sleep) to finish throwing things into my suitcase and rushing off to the airport. It was a pretty dapple of a morning - grey, chilly, and somber. We stopped by West Beach before we went to the airport. It was beautiful even though it was a cloudy morning. I always think cloudy days are the best days. And the worst days to get sunburnt. The sea was grey and I think it knew we were about to depart. We got to the airport and started to check in. I was holding up the line because I was trying to fit my wine into my luggage. I had five bottles, but only packed two. I wanted to pack more, but was quite fearful of being over my baggage limit. I wasn't over so that was good. We went and got brekky at Cibo and then got ready to go. I said my good-byes to Helen and started crying again (I swear I am sick of crying) and then we were off. The plane ride to Sydney was almost 2 hours. I fell asleep before take-off. Or maybe that was a later flight. I can't remember. We landed in Sydney and found our next gate. I was about to officially leave Australia. I can't believe 3 months just flew by like that. Snap your fingers and it's over.

We boarded and I thought that this trip was definitely looking up - my seat could recline this time! Throughout the flight I learned that no - my seat will not recline because of the bastard behind me. He would push my chair back up while I was sleeping so that I would be sitting straight up when I woke up. And he kept pushing his knees into my back through my chair. I was not happy and he was lucky I was feeling generous enough to not turn around and rip him a new one right then and there. He then started complaining that Morgan's air was blowing directly on his daughter. Uh - can't your fourteen year old daughter speak for herself? And secondly, how is Morgan supposed to breathe then? I know that I get claustrophobic when I can't get any air on an airplane. Then this man asked me to sit up while I was eating dinner - this wouldn't have been a problem except for the fact that the main in front of me was reclining while eating his dinner. That leaves no space for me to eat or do anything. I had to move up because the flight attendant asked me to, but didn't ask the man in front of me to. And when I say I was reclining, I mean that I was just barely reclining. Hardly at all. But enough to make the man behind me become an ass. And to make the trek seem even longer: there was a man two rows in front of me who farted every half hour and they were raunchy.

That flight was 14 hours. The movies were better this time around: The Express (AMAZING), Frost/Nixon (decent if you can understand Nixon), Seven Pounds, and there was another one I can't remember. The dinner served was really good (especially for airplane food) and the breakfast made M, E and I all sick. They served warm yogurt and warm fruit. Now I don't know about you, but I don't eat warm fruit or yogurt. I don't like yogurt in general, but I will eat it if I have to or if it is the only thing available.

As soon as we landed in LAX and went through customs, I bought some food (clam chowder and a sourdough bread bowl - this made me excited to go to Panera Bread soon!) to make me feel a bit better. Clam chowder was the only thing that seemed relatively safe to eat since Mexican and Macca's would make my stomache feel worse. Customs was relatively easy - I got everything through. The only question the man asked was: do you have any food in your luggage? No sir. I could have packed all my wine then. Darn it! After that we bummed around the gate for a couple of hours calling and texting people before we boarded for the next flight. It was this flight that I fell asleep before take-off. Not the first one. It was a pretty low-key flight and I tried sleeping most of it. I did some sudoku and read about the Maldives and how they will be under the sea soon because of global warming. No more tropical get-away there after that happens. So don't run your car while you go to the grocery store - turn it off. And unplug your appliances when you aren't using them (toasters, cell phone chargers, coffee pot, radio, etc.) because it will save electricity. Walk everywhere that you can. Or bike. Be healthy. Compost.

Before we landed in Chicago I looked at our flight itinerary and boarding passes and saw that the times of the last flight had changed. We would be getting in later! Ugh. So much for Kathy saying nothing changed. I told the other girls about it and we thought we could try and maybe get on another flight that would get us home earlier. United only had this one to Cedar Rapids going so we just stayed on that. The gate attendee did say that it was funny that no one informed us that the flight had changed because they had informed the person who booked our tickets. This was funny to us because the lady who had booked our tickets told our supervisor that nothing had changed. However, my mom knew that it had changed and even had a printed copy of our itinerary from both times we flew.

We hung around the last gate and then finally we were on our last flight! I'm almost home at this time and really excited. I'm sad at the same time, but ready for my bed, to see family and to sleep not sitting up. The flight took only 34 minutes from Chicago to Cedar Rapids and it was great! I slept a bit of it and listened to some music the other parts. We landed and then off to the baggage claim area. Mom and Mike were there to pick me up and so it was wonderful to see them again! We got my luggage (the wine made it through and didn't break!) and were off to Sonics! I love Sonics. It was great and then we took the long way home and just chatted and stuff. I didn't actually walk into the door until maybe midnight. I got to see my cat and gave him a big hug. I sure had missed him. Then I did a bit unpacking and ended up putting it all back in the suitcases where they now sit untouched in my room. Then it was sleep time for me because morning comes early.

Cheers. Until my next adventures abroad! :)