Odyssey

This is what's been going on over the last few days:

On Monday I slept most of the way to Los Angeles in the car with my parents. Once we got there we lounged around our hotel room and later ate a wonderful dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. After that, we had a couple of pints at The Scotland Yard pub in Sherman Oaks, then went back to the hotel for the night. I must say...my parents are pretty fun to go out with!!

Tuesday morning was spent taking my mom to a day-long appointment with David Robin where she learned some kick-ass video editing techniques. After we dropped her off (and had a nice chat with Mr. Robin), my dad took me shopping (yay shopping) in Pasadena and then he dropped me off with my great-aunt. She took me to lunch, then took me shopping and then out to dinner (even though I was still full from lunch...eek)

Wednesday was pretty weird. My parents met us for lunch in Pasadena and then I said good-bye to mom and dad...in a parking lot. I won't be seeing them for at least 5 months so it was strange to just hug and say, "see ya." Believe me, there were some tears but we all held it together pretty well. My aunt then took me to run some errands and before going back to her house where I shoved some last remaining items into my already VERY full suitcases and zipped them up. Luckily, I was able to take a short nap (yes, I take naps and I'm proud of it) before the airport shuttle came to take me away.

I got to the airport 4 hours before my flight so there was absolutely NO wait to check in and get my boarding pass...then all I had to do was wait...so i hit the bar. Here's the deal...I HATE FLYING! I'm always convinced that my plane will crash and I will die a violent and fiery death. So getting slightly buzzed is a must.

The flight itself was rather uneventful. Our plane was strangely not full so I didn't feel AS cramped as I normally do but I sat next to a very nice lady who had just spent 17 days visiting her daughter in L.A. There was quite a selection of movies and TV shows to watch so it wasn't that boring either. The first movie I watched was Superbad...which was stupid but I still laughed out loud...a lot. After that, I watched some TV shows and tried to sleep. Unfortunately, sleeping was hard due to babies crying, people talking (loudly), not having enough room, and a sore tail bone (yes...my butt was hurting). I still managed to get a little bit of rest, but not much. Finally, after being given the wrong time by the people in front of me, I decided to wake up and watch another movie. This time I chose The Darjeeling Limited which I loved. Another unfortunate thing happened during this time, though...TURBULENCE...and lots of it. It was actually so bad at one point that the lady next to me grabbed my hand in fear. Fun stuff.

Anyway, blah blah blah...the plane landed, we all had to walk forever to reach immigration and the baggage claim (which caused me to work up a sweat), then I finally emerged in a room FULL of people standing behind barriers waiting to claim their friends and loved ones. Let me just say that this was, by far, the weirdest point in the whole journey. It was like I was on display..."Look at me! I just spent 10 hours on a plane and I feel and look like crap!! Hooray!" Oh...and the whole time I was trying in vain to locate The Bishop (not his real name) amongst the sea of people...luckily, since I was on display, he found me first and waved his arm (thank goodness, because I wasn't wearing my glasses so everyone was blurred and scary).

Two things...(at this point RIGHT NOW I've realized that this silly British keyboard DOES NOT HAVE a number sign!! It's been replaced with THIS: £) Number 1: Remember how I just told you that I had worked up a sweat while trekking across the airport?? Well, I was actually HAPPY to walk outside to the cold and rain because I was so hot inside. Number 2: Remember how I told you a while ago that I hate flying and that I am always convinced that my plane will crash. Hmmm...um...so right after The Bishop found me he informed me that THIS had happened at Heathrow about 2 hours before I landed:



I don't even know what to say...oh, except, THANK GOD THAT WASN'T MY PLANE!!!! Luckily, nobody was seriously injured...but still...

Okay, where was I? Oh yeah...went outside, got into a taxi with all my heavy bags, took a train to Bracknell (may I say that I might just be the only person to actually be excited about arriving in Bracknell...it was familiar yet different all at the same time - oh...I lived here 8 years ago, in case you didn't know), took another taxi to get home and that's it. Now I'm lounging around on Friday morning, safe and sound.