The long road (air route) home

I’m home, and it feels good. Here’s the day of travel that got me back to Southern California:

Shuttle to Athens Airport: My driver, provided by the games GOC, arrived 15 minutes early. Goodbyes were said to my team members, now new friends, and I loaded the car with my bags. My driver (I can’t recall her name) was a nursing student, just graduated. She signed up to volunteer for the games as part of the Medical team, but was assigned to be a driver (in the Transportation Services) instead. Which is good, as she really knew the streets of Athens. To avoid traffic, we jetted through side streets and back alleys. At one point, she even knocked the mirror off of a parked car as we flew down a narrow street.

Flight 1: Athens to Toronto. This was about 10 hrs, 45 minutes of blah. I dozed off and on, watched most of the in flight movies (Date Night, Beastly, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules, The A-Team, Win-Win). It was a crowded plane, including all of SO Team Canada coaches and athletes. Thankfully, the flight was uneventful too. Just long. And the haze I was in for most of yesterday allowed me to ignore a lot of things.

My 2hr layover, in Toronto, was spent going through customs three different times. Apparently, they only booked my luggage to Toronto (not all the way through to LA as they should have). I didn’t find this out until after I was in line for US customs. I then had to clear Canadian customs, get my bag, check back into my flight, clear US customs, clear security, then board the plane. Got in a good workout and became very familiar with the terminal.

Flight 2: Toronto to Los Angeles: I was dead tired. It didn’t help that, when it became a tad turbulent, the flight attendant spilled a pitcher of water onto my lap. Understanding that it wasn’t his fault (it was very turbulent at that time), I still snapped at him. The head flight attendant came over to offer me a free drink (alcoholic), but I didn’t want anything from any of them. I was tired. Again, I dozed off an on, and before I knew it the plane had landed.

Michelle met me in baggage claim, and we promptly headed to In-N-Out for a long awaited burger (oh so good). Then to home, where I fully appreciated a long hot shower (in my own home), and a long, good night’s sleep (in my own bed).

Feels good to be home.