Home Sweet Home

I'd like to take a moment to apologize for the expletives, virtual and otherwise, uttered a few days ago. In the span of time between my last post and this very moment, I have added yet another city to my list of travels, but most importantly have been duly humbled. "Humbled" might be too passive a term - try "getting put very much in my place". Whether it's tripping me on my way up the stairs in the London Underground, to bring me off my high, I-am-way-too-cool-for-you horse and the strut that accompanies it, or sending me on a wild goose chase across the Atlantic (and beyond) in order to just beat another ash cloud, the Universe has a way of showing me who's boss.

After receiving the email below, I quickly hopped onto the phone to American and was not-so-quickly assisted (four minute estimated wait time, yeah right). I was literally one click away from a ticket for an 8:30 flight for the next day (that is, 16 May the first day of another set of UK airport closures due to volcanic ash) before an impulse decision led to me furious last-minute packing in order to catch a 1pm flight to O'Hare. Yes, it was Chicago, but it was not England; we were on the right track and details could come later. I bolted downstairs like a hot mess, expressed enough frantic psychosis that they waived my lost key fee and even called me a cab to Heathrow - who I am pretty sure charged me significantly less than what that fare should be - and made it through security with time to spare. Long story short, I found myself landed in New York City by 9:30pm EST on May 15th. At LaGuardia (I don't think American realizes that just because they are in the same city, JFK and LGA are actually not identical, interchangeable destinations - see my January 12th fiasco to LHR), but this was the first time I've feasted my eyes upon the skyline view that comes from a LaGuardia landing. It was so much more beautiful than I could ever have imagined it could be, so SO much more beautiful than I remembered. I am home.