European Adventure - Day 15

Day Fifteen, the last and final day of European Adventure. It's finally arrived. Where had all those adventures gone? Our possibilities were very limited as we had a very tight schedule to keep. Tension was heightened due to our drastic looming deadline. We had it so well planned out.

The Wake Up call came at 3:30am. Jeff 'the human alarm clock' Thompson was already up primping himself. He ordered The Call so early cause he thought that WE would need the extra time to wake up. Ryan was desperate for sleep, calling for more time to snooze, I slept in my clothes with my pack on, just because Jeff was saying that we will have trouble getting up in the morning, I did it just to spite him. I had a point to prove by being 1st person out the door.

There were a bunch of people up at the train station to catch the bus to the obscure airport outside of Rome (they were all weirdo's and hippies). It was a 30-40 minute ride bus ride. I was mad at myself for being awake the whole time. Ryan 'the womanizer' Plewe ran into some of his old girlfriends from earlier on the trip in line at the airport. We spent our last few Euro's on snacks at the local kiosk there. We flew on 'RyanAir', the cheap airlines of Europe. On the plane they sold everything: food, drink, lotto tickets, gifts, toys, magazines, and plenty of alcohol (probably even the life vests or oxygen masks too, in case you need them). I even think hey wanted us to Rent blankets and pillows. The lady on the plane next to me won some trip. After we landed she gave me some sweets. There were ad's all over the inside of the plane too, much like a bus (thats probably why the ticket was so cheap). Our plane had problems taking off as well. I remember being ready to take off, then having to go back to the dock, then landing. That's about it. I was asleep the entire ride. Upon landing I noticed that my ears were completely clogged. I could barley hear anything for the next few hours. Thats what being
sick on a plane does to you I guess.

We had a few hours in London to kill after busing into the city for an hour. It was crazy cause everyone was driving on the wrong side of the road! I tried to correct the driver, but he would hear none of it. We made it a point to stop by the Kings Cross train station and visit Platform 'Nine and Three quarters'. It was actually the only thing we did in London (besides Ryan trying communicate with the locals. King's Cross Station was fun cause they had a trolley permanently stuck half in the wall. Dobby the House-Elf must have cursed the wall to close on some poor student.

We stopped by a grocery store for lunch. I was to sick even to eat.

To Heathrow: Ryan was street contacting mostly with people who were super-weird or who didn't speak English. That kid really loves talking to people I tell you. It was like he had to reach a quota every day of 'attempts to talk to people'. When at the airport we had to check our bags due to their weight. I guess I bought more than I thought. It was kind of nice not to have to carry my bag, but I was worried the whole time about what the people on the airlines would take from it.

I tried to get some warm food and hot chocolate while at the airport. I was waiting in line for a while when I heard an announcement "Final boarding call for Los Angeles". My heart may have skipped a beat. I didn't know what time it was so I got real nervous. There was no other choice than to leave my food behind, and Sprint to my GAte, Gate 18. My eyes got real calm as I realized that this is what I had been training for all those months of running late into the night, and climbing all those stairs. I started to sprint toward my gate, as if my life depended on it.
I took a wrong turn due to bad signage. During my split second U-turn, I splashed Hot-Cocoa all over my hand and scalded my angry hand. So hot to drink yet, I had to cut the rest of my losses and ditch it cause it might have slowed me down. Seconds later I was whizzing by a trash can, and was so angry/nervous at that point I just threw my scalding full cup toward the trash can opening and closed my eyes, and didn't care if it made it or not, I had a plane to catch. I was pissed about waisting food and money though, but that thought was dwarfed by another immediate goal of mine (airplane). After sprinting back the 2 gates, then the original 18
gates, I finally come up to a short line of people checking in. I ask the gay guy checking tickets if I had time to go back and fetch my food, but he just laughed and exclaimed "NO". I think I would have had time if I had waited, but it wasn't worth the risk. I'll just be angry at 'Indian run Italian Cafe's in London' for a while. The flight home was one of the most uncomfortable things ever. I couldn't sleep as well as I had hoped. But I did watch Oceans 13 four times. The food on the plane was actually pretty good too.

After we landed and got off the plane, the only thing holding me back from dropping and kissing the beautiful American soil was painfully tired feet and a blister, and fear of security watching my every movement. After we passed through customs Ryan started singing 'America the beautiful'. It was funny for about 3 seconds, but then he wouldn't stop, I did my best to limp faster than him to get away from his voice, but due to my tired, cramped, blistered feet it didn't work as well as I would have hoped. It was almost just as painful to listen to his singing as it was to walk. The guy at customs wanted to have a big long conversation with me, and I really had
to go Pee bad. For a second I thought he was going to ask for my phone number! Courtney picked us up and drove us around for our victory lap as the crowds of people welcomed us home triumphantly. What a glorious trip.

*Thanks for listening. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Oh, and sorry Ryan and Jeff, but this was my version of our trip (they are bound to have a few concerns with the way I described a few of the stories I told). In all honesty we all had a splendid time and got along great. I couldn't imagine going with two funner people than Ryan and Jeff, and I'm glad they gave me the chance to go with them.* Happy Travels.