We were up at 7 and down to breakfast by 8. Can't pass up a free breakfast. Then we checked out of the hotel, the clerk called us a cab and we left for the airport by 9. The driver and I had some Spanish conversation but he spoke good English so he used that most of the time. We made good time to the airport since it was Sunday morning and little traffic.

Check-in for our flight and luggage was crowded but we are priority plus so we go to head of the line. This time Mom's packing was pretty good and all our bags fell under the weight limits except for one which was 2 pounds over. They let it slide. Next security, which went well. Then we had 2 1/2 hours to wait before our flight takes off. Stopped for apple turnovers and coffee.

It was a quick flight from Barcelona to Paris, an hour and a half, and we got on first with business class. They served us a meal but why on such a short flight. Landing in Paris, we had a long walk to our departure gate but soon after we got there, they changed the gate and everyone had to walk back to a new gate close to where we started. Mom had a lot of walking but used the pedestrian movers so she kept up. Then our flight was delayed for 45 minutes because of a crew problem. We got on board at 5pm instead of 4:15pm and took off

Karen liked the service. New movies, Champagne, unlimited beverages, even cognac. The French seem to serve foie gras within every meal but we never saw a goose in our travels. This flight is about 11 hours to San Francisco and it's long no matter what but we're anxious to get home. It's been 7 weeks and we've seen and done so many things but Mom misses the cats and the house and the family.

Super Shuttle picks us within 15 minutes of us exiting the terminal. Our baggage took a while to get because in France they didn't tag it priority. We went right through immigration and customs. The ride home went via the bay bridge and while it was our first trip across the new span, the traffic was terrible. First stop Emeryville for another passenger, then us. As we arrived, everything looked good. The guy dropped us and our luggage and left. Our spare key was missing but we easily gained access through an unlocked door. Looks like Cindy must have cleaned up a bit for us since it didn't look bad after such a long trip. The cat house looked nice and the cats were glad to see Karen. She missed them. Cindy bought milk and cookies for me to get me through the night. They were on the table with the balloons. Thanks.

So it's 9 at night but our bodies are on European time which is 6 in the morning so we need to go to sleep. It's been,as they say, quite an "adventure". We visited many different countries, experienced their cultures and met so many people from Europe, Australia and here in the US. Mom wants a more relaxing, less demanding trip next time so we booked her favorite, 30 days to Polynesia. I'll probably go crazy with some much idle time but she was a trooper, held up through it all and I won't really mind watching all the girls running around in bikinis in Tahiti.

Thanks to Cindy and Boomer for watching things and handling some affairs for us and to all of you that read our blog. Your comments were appreciated and enjoyed by us throughout our journey.

Bon Voyage