We left downtown Ndola on Sunday at around 11:00am. Our flight was supposed to leave at 12:40pm. Yeaaah, that didn't happen. Ah, life in Zambia. Our flight was full, the gate where we waited an hour longer than we were supposed was full, it was a little warm, and I wasn't feeling good. Added to this, I took a 24-hr Claritin D tablet in an effort to decongest AND dry up my nasal system. I'm going to go with that wasn't fun. One of the side effects of this tab is increased heart rate. I was taking a shower, standing there shampooing my hair and could feel my heart racing. Since I'm a dork and was wearing my watch at the time, I took my pulse. I took it a few times because I couldn't believe it. Between 120-140, just washing my hair! I didn't like that. So a hot, full airport with a racing heart was not my idea of fun. Travel time so far: 2.5 hrs.
Johannesburg. Last time I used this airport, it sucked. Big time. And now, I was here on a 6-hr layover. Well, thanks to a delay back in Zambia, it was more like 5 hrs. We wasted most of it souvenir shopping and sitting at this cafe where we watched Wimbledon. Tennis!!!! I know nothing about tennis. I just drank tea and tried not to cough on anyone. Finally, it was time to board our beloved British Airways plane and head to London. Travel time update: 10 hrs.
The Tall One and I scored about as big as two tall people can in peon class- the right 2 seats of a 4-pack in the middle of the plane. I got the aisle and the Tall One had no one next to him. The bummer? Our inflight entertainment was not working. On an 11hr flight!!!!!! Good god!!!!! I ate dinner and slept for real for about 2 hours and then dozed for the rest of the time. Oh!! And somewhere over the Sahara- "Is there a doctor of medicine on board?" YEAH!!! Apparently, some girl in the priviledged seats was throwing up, and I guess they don't let people vomit in priviledged seats. They just needed someone licensed to give a Reglan shot. Putting years of medical school to work, the Tall One... international shot giver. We landed at Heathrow shortly after dawn. Guess what! It was raining in England!!! Travel ticker: 21 hrs.
Back at Terminal 5, I realized that my initial impression of the place was greatly underestimated. That place is beserk!!! You can buy just about anything you want there, eat almost whatever you want, it's amazing. We had about 3 hours to burn so we walked around and pretended to buy things. Weird quirk of Terminal 5- they don't post your gate until like an hour before you leave. Guess they don't like that whole "loitering at the gate" sort of thing. We had to take a quick tram to our gate once it was finally posted. This woman walks on and posts up next to me. I did a double take, and had to actually move to get a better look and then finally ask her- it was my freaking advisor at Saddleback Nursing School! I haven't actually talked to her in about a year because I'm getting A's so she didn't exactly recognize me, but we talked for a while and she was so cool. The Tall One and I almost got upgraded to the posh Club World, but then the flight had to go and be almost full so that didn't happen. We left about an hour late because some people "decided" they weren't going to fly after all, but had already checked luggage- and thanks to little things like SECURITY MEASURES we had to wait while they found these people's luggage and remove it. Travel timer: 24 hrs.
On our way to LAX, we did NOT score in the seat department. We had the middle two seats of the 4-pack in the middle of the plane. Thankfully, the two aisle guys were nice and the inflight entertainment worked. Unthankfully, my sleeping pill only succeeded in giving me 1 flipping hour of drug induced sleep, the usual bad aftertaste and a lovely case of nausea and a headache. I watched a lot of movies. Highlight of the trip- Son Of Rambow. Brilliant, hilarious- man, the Brits make a good flick when they want to. Please watch this, but don't take your children because there is lots of swearing and taking the Lord's name in vain. I also watched half of the first Lord of the Rings, Over Her Dead Body (which is inexplicable because I think Eva Longoria is dumber than a doorknob) and The Other Boleyn Girl. I don't ever want to watch that many movies in one sitting ever, ever again. Time tally: 35 hrs.
Land in LA, in the nether reaches of the airport. We're so far gone, we had to take shuttles back to the international terminal. Since I was feeling so awesome, it was no problem standing around waiting for luggage and then standing in a customs declaration line. And then waiting for the Super Shuttle. But at least we're almost home. Time check: 37 hours.
The Super Shuttle almost maxes out its capacity and we're stopping in HB, Newport, Lake Forest and the Promised Land of San Clemente. I'm feeling so rotten at this point, it's all I can do to stay alive. I've slept about 5 hours in the last 36 or so hours, I have BAD sleeping pill hangover and I'm still coughing. After we drop off in Newport, the logical step was to continue down Jamboree to the 405 South and continue to Lake Forest. Our driver adamantly maintained that his course of continuing down PCH at 4:30 in the afternoon in the middle of summer was the best course to take. We FINALLY made it to SC, where I apologized about 8 times to the Lake Forest couple for having to endure the detour. They were so nice, they knew it wasn't our fault. While getting out of the van, it finally hit me. I poked my head back in the van and asked the woman if she teaches physiology. It was a Saddleback science professor. I pretty much blew her socks off my recognizing her. We piled into the Tall One's truck and drove back home. Final time: 40hrs.
I walked in and headed straight for my garden. I don't know what Christy fed my plants while I was gone, but she should patent it and make her million because I walked into a jungle. Mostly of tomato vines. There are green tomatoes everywhere and I'm not quite sure what has happened to my serrano peppers, a curry plant and one of my bell peppers because they have been swallowed up by the tomato jungle. Time for a trim.
Well, I'm tired, I feel lousy and I'm going to sleep. Peace out.
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