Heading Home - Take Two

We woke up and hit the breakfast room at 6, which was quite an international experience. If dinner was a strange mish-mash, breakfast was even more diverse. There was an Asian section, with miso soup and other things we did not really get. There was a fruit bar, some juices, porridge, and some pastries. The pastries were sort of in the middle of where we had been directed the night before, so we were not sure if we were allowed to get them… but I risked it. Everybody was tired and nobody felt one hundred percent after our difficult day and very late dinner, but we all nibbled a bit, then went back to the room to gather our things. I briefly thought how nice it would be to stay in the hotel and sleep, but going home sounded even better, so off we went. Of course we could not depart from terminal 5, where the hotel is!

Off we went to find terminal 2. I still can't believe how immense Heathrow is. Even though we were literally staying AT the airport, it took us nearly an hour to get to terminal 2. Then the United line was backed up, then security was backed up. Every single scanner I went through on the trip went off, and I had to get searched by hand. The Heathrow lady was by far the most thorough! Then of course, my backpack and Hedge's were selected for further investigation, so they removed my liquids and moved them to another bag, then ran them through some sort of machine. Gabe and I took off as soon as my bag was cleared, while Toria waited with Hedge, while the security lady slowly removed each item from his pack for close examination.

Once we were through security, we were shocked to see signs alerting us that gates in the B30 range were a fifteen minute walk! We debated grabbing food at the EAT store, since Toria is adamant that the airline food exacerbates her airsickness, but the line was too long. We walked/ran to our gate, and saw a Boots near it, so we grabbed random food and drink items and used two of our vouchers. We still had a bit of time when the other two arrived, so we left Gabe with the bags and ran back for a coffee at Nero and let Toria choose some sweets from the Boots. Though we had cut it close with all the line delays, there was a huge group of intermediate -aged kids from El Salvador on a school trip, which delayed boarding, and we ended up waiting anyhow.

The plane was really nice, and though we had been booked for two together, then two singles, the nice Italian lady next to me said that she would switch with Toria, so we ended up together, with Hedge two rows ahead. We took off on time, and the flight was as pleasant as a ten hour flight can be. We all watched several movies, and though I loved the chicken curry, the kids were glad that we had managed to buy the sandwiches. I ate yogurt and some chips, too, so it worked out well. We ended up having several vouchers left over that we could not use, but we had plenty to eat, and that was the point.

We landed on time, but customs took FOREVER. We did not remember having to go through customs twice from last time, but we did customs both before and after claiming our bags. Poor Nana ended up waiting ages, even though she didn't leave until we landed. She let us stop at HEB on the way home, so we grabbed the makings for a few meals, and enjoyed a fajita salad before showering, unpacking, and crashing. I fell asleep in about thirty seconds, to be awoken a bit later by Entergy calling to alert me to an outage. We all slept much better than the last time we flew back from Europe!