home, home on the range...

i rested for less than two hours. got up at 6, got all my stuff ready, and walked to the metro station. lucky for me they couldn't sell tickets. don't know why, i just know my trip was free. :-) rode the metro to the train station, found my train, got on, and rode to London. on the train i had a soda and two croissants with chocolate. YUM. in London i got on a different train to take me to the airport. in the airport i had to take a train to the North terminal.

finally, i got in a line to check my bag at the British Airways counter. this line was huge, but moved rather quickly. i had plenty of time, so wasn't worried about the wait. the next big line was security. this checkpoint was for bags. once through there we went to another checkpoint just for shoes. finally, i was out of lines and ready to go to the gate. but in London they don't let you go to the gate until a particular time. so you wait in the main area where all the shopping is, looking periodically at a screen to announce your gate number. i bought fine chocolate at the Harrod's store, bought a smoothie, and changed the rest of my euros into dollars. then my gate was listed, so off i went to my gate where i got in another line. this line checked my bag again, AND patted me down. wow. they take this stuff seriously, that's for sure.

i'd been upgraded for whatever reason to the Plus section. this is the section between first class and economy. the seats semi-reclined. there was two to three times as much leg room. there was a leg rest and a permanent cupholder. a remote control that popped out of the arm even! very comfortable despite being in the middle seat. we were served pretty good food, had decent movies to watch, but i was so tired i didn't pay much attention to much of anything for those 10+ hours.

we safely arrived in Houston late. then i got in a long line for customs. and finally found my mom outside waiting for me. we got home around 8 p.m.

i was so tired and so happy to be home and so ready to go to bed. *sigh* i figured out i was travelling for nearly 21 hours. that's ridiculous!