Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Sunday July 1, Homeward Bound


Since last night I accidentally deleted a group of photos so I am distressed, and trying to duplicate the ones from around the hotel. Mallory and Gladys departed at 3am for the airport - they are flying to London to attend the Concert for Diana which I might consider feeling jealous about, but the logistics seem daunting at the end of a trip.

The rest of us leave at a more respectable 8am; Sam Steven Leo and I are all on the same flight to Newark so we do not yet have to cope with saying goodbye. At the counter Leo and I are scolded for not having our e-ticket receipt, and we hold our breath as the 3 bags are weighed. Believe it or not, we are under the limit. Steven and Sam - with a different airline rep - are not reprimanded for not haivng a ticket receipt, given a form to fill out, made to check the bags they wanted to carry on, and given tags for the packpacks they are carrying on. We are amused and confused by the different procedures.
Security is higher than usual because of recent events, and so the process is more lengthy and everyone is carefully checked out. ONce we are though the check point I buy a bottle of water - but then as we get to the gate there is ANOTHER security check with frisking and shoe inspections and bag searching. They take away my water, but it doesn't seem to be smart to question that. The flight is supposed to depart at 1115AM, and at 1130 people are still arriving at the gate. We're very curious about that. About an hour later - and still people ariving at the gate! - we board, only to sit on the tarmac for awhile longer. Leo and I know we have missed our connection in Newark. It's going to be a long day.
On the plane Leo and Sam sit together playing cards and listening to iPods; Steven and I sleep and watch the movies. I don't have a book or a magazine (the only English magazines available in the airport were Playboy and a couple of fashion mags) so it is a *boring* 7.5 hours.
In Newark Leo and I collect our bags - We make it through customs without being charged or penalized for the suitcase full of wine (it's really not that much, I just could never figure out what I am legally allowed to bring back) - and lug them to the Continental terminal to confirm our flight to Boston. We have 90 minutes to kill so we scoot over to Steven and Sam's terminal to wave to them from behind the security line they had already passed through, before riding the AirTrain back to our terminal and settling in at the gate.
For a trip that only requires 35 minutes in flight, the journey from Newark to Boston took forever. Waiting to board, waiting on the tarmac, waiting to take off.... Where I once envisioned being home by 4pm now I see it will be almost 8. Returnign to reality and everyday life is never easy!
We land in Boston and our bags are among the first off the plane. Unfortunately the new suitcase is wet and smells suspiciously of white port... sure enough a litre has broken and flooded the case.

Since that's the worst thing that's happened to us in this whole wonderful adventure there's not much to complain about.

Now it's on to camp for Leo; Costa Rica for Mira; work time for me. Milo is still in Turkey, and I will have the chance to see him briefly before Mira, Leo and I head to Morocco July 27... stay tuned!

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