le fin.

so that is it. on day 16 we headed back to the states and to the extreme heat.

all the trip photos in a nice 2008 travels collection.

here's some leftover snippets.

alcohol before noon. as we waited in the heathrow terminal around 8am, i was enjoying my morning tea, when two older british gentlemen asked if they could share the table with me. i thought it'd be rude if i said no, so i said sure.. but not before looking around and seeing numerous empty tables. but the weirdest part was each guy had a beer in hand. how odd i thought, it's so early.. on a sunday morning.. and these blokes are drinking beer.. but they weren't the only ones.. at least they were drinking 'light' looking beers.. i saw numerous others with guinness. T returned with an astonished look on his face... but shrugged it off. the guys soon left thereafter, and we wandered the terminal until it was time to board.

perpetually delayed. another thing about our trip, was that every plane we took this trip departed/boarded late. like we'd board when we were to depart, than we'd sit on the runway for another hour. the most bizarre is the captain would always say, no worries, we'll make up the time in the air. but really, if they could get us that much faster before, why not do that in the first place. ultimately with the smaller flights between the european countries we'd arrive pretty much on time, despite the late departures. not quite true for the europe/us flight.

seating arrangement. me and T always pick the window/aisle combo and hope that nobody picks the middle seat. this almost never works, especially since most of the flights we take are full. so we always end up giving the aisle away. for the trip back by the time we checked in, there were no combos like that for us to pick, so we went ahead and picked the window/middle. of course the seats in front of us had empty middles as did the seats to the side of us. go figure.
so with having the window/middle seats, there lies the dilemma of having to go to the bathroom. i always feel like a bother having to ask the aisle person to let me out. and even moreso if the person is sleeping. so the guy next to me was a youngish late 20s kind of guy.. sleeping with the whole eyemask/earplug combo. T had already waken him up an hour or so prior to go, and now it was my turn. what do you do? it looked like his legs weren't as spread apart as before. i was like i could totally make it. i played with the idea over and over, while T thought it would be hilarious if i fell on him (he was of no help). so i finally stood up, facing him and attempted to get one leg over.. then i got scared and pulled it back. i did this about 3 times, while the people who were awake and sitting behind us began staring. i finally went for it for real, and got one leg over.. full straddling position. the whole time i was thinking of the game operation, and trying not to touch the sides. now the harder part was getting the next leg over.. which i quickly did, but not before accidently brushing against his leg.. but by that time i hurried down the aisle. T would later tell me that the guy jolted a bit, but fell back asleep... i would have to attempt this maneuver again when i returned.. this time i completed it faster.. but with the less of a brush. i was victorious.

home again, home again, jiggity jig. we made it home safely, and returned to iah to a ridiculous customs line. it seemed i had caught a cold on that last day as well.. which would continue to haunt both me and T the rest of our first week back. we hung out with family through dinner and picked up renji who had a holiday of his own, then headed back to our home to unpack and attempt to relax. work has been crazy since then.. but at least i'm over the cold. cheers!