Heathrow to Home

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Tonight, Alex and I are home.

The 9.5 hour flight from Heathrow to Dallas was very long but surprisingly smooth. The plane was huge, and every seat was filled. Movies, music, and continuous service from the flight attendants occupied our time and attention enough to keep the trip from being a total grind. We did a great job of staying awake to try to get on US time, with each of us catnapping only a little. A young English woman from Oxford sat next to me. She was incredibly anxious the whole trip (first time flying alone), but she was very sweet. Having her on one side and Alex on the other helped make the trip pleasant. We got a kick out of her when she actually exclaimed "Blimey!" at one point. Such a stereotypical English word, but it was the first time we ever heard someone use it in real life!

Once in Dallas, we went through the passport control and security screening grind for the third time since starting our journey. I will say that TSA is much more pleasant than their European counterparts. It took about an hour to get through everything, but we did so without incident. TSA almost took a souvenir letter opener, but ultimately they let me keep it, thank goodness.

Alex and I had a leisurely dinner, then headed to our gate. By that point, we had been in an airport or on a plane for 24 hours with maybe 2 total hours of napping, so we were really ready to get home. I felt pretty mad when the flight was delayed 30 minutes to load beverages to serve during our 40 minute flight. Really??? We couldn't go 40 minutes without water or soda? Finally, the plane left and quickly arrived in Tulsa. It was great to see Whitney (the boys are in Norman), take a shower in our own bathroom, and turn down the incredibly great air conditioning.

One more entry tomorrow to wrap up. Right now all I want to do is sleep.

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