I'm Stateside, Finally.

Hello friends, I finally made it back to the US of A yesterday, 24 hours behind schedule, thanks to those gosh-darned "evil-doers." I left India early Tuesday morning and got to London Heathrow after a 10 hour flight. I was lucky enough to fly into the terminal that got shut down and evacuated due to a suspicious package. We sat on the tarmac for 5 hours before they let us get off the plane. I was impressed that no one freaked out on the plane. At least they turned the entertainment system on and we got to watch movies.
We got off the plane and were instructed to pick up our bags. This meant I had to go through customs. Now I can officially say I've visited England. I got the stamp and everything. I assumed I'd be able to check my bags and not see them again till I got to Minnesota. Wrong. I got to carry them all over Heathrow.
Heathrow is a giant airport and over 6,000 people were either evacuated from terminal 4 or waiting on planes that arrived at terminal 4. So, all these people were milling about. Luckily I learned how to push through crowds in India. I got my flight rescheduled. All the hotel rooms in the area were taken except for a $600 one.
I had to go to a different airport in London. I bought a bus ticket and then the driver didn't show up. Sigh. I waited and got on a later bus. I arrived at Heathrow at 1:00 pm, got to Gatwick at midnight and "slept" on a bench in the basement of the airport.
I checked in for my flight in the morning. The lady at the desk printed my boarding pass, got my luggage all ready and then told me there was a problem with the ticket I was issued the day before. Time for a meltdown. I started to cry. As far as I'm concerned it was a problem she should have been able to take care of, but apparently she wanted someone who'd been awake for 24 hours to take care of it. I got it sorted out and eventually made it to Dallas. I got home about 7:30 last night after a grand total of 55 hours in transit--from when I walked out of my door in Mysore to when I walked in the door in Minneapolis.
I feel crappy still. I slept the night, but woke up at 6:00. I did an abbreviated yoga practice this morning, had a physical and had my bridesmaid's dress fitted. I slept for 4 hours this afternoon. I'm hoping the 2 days in transit screwed up my body's internal clock so much that I won't be super jet-lagged.
It feels weird and not weird to be home. It's nice to see my family, obviously.
I'm freezing in all this air conditioning. Is it really necessary to make the indoors 68 degrees???? It's weird to drink water from the tap--this is an act of suicide in India.
It's nice not to be a big, white, moving target anymore. I was in the airport having dinner last night and for a second I thought someone was behind me asking me for money. Nope. It was all in my mind.
It was lovely to sleep in a comfy bed. And it's so quiet here!!!
Anyhoo, friends, it's good to be home. I'm sure I'll start to miss traveling once I have the energy to do anything more than think about sleeping.
Hugs (in person, for some of you!),
Lauren