I'M HOME, dammit !!!

[trinacriabob]

I came home a week early. I made it...what an adventure. I had to overnight in London because I came into one major airport (Heathrow) and out of another (Gatwick). At least, I got to see London for an afternoon which normally would have not been part of my plans. It was a likable place, though cleary the most 'EFFIN expensive city I have EVER visited.

In short, I had had enough of the heat and humidity, the congestion, the overpriced dinky rental cars and ridiculous gas prices, the fact that I probably spent $ 100 Euros ($ 138 USD) on bottled water in 5 weeks because they don't give you free water in restaurants as you may think, the sensory overload of adjacent cultures and adjacent languages, and the fact that rude customer service goes unchecked.

Let's face it, we go to Europe for the cultural and architectonic richness, the fact that 5 countries have vast amounts of beautiful coastline, and, to a point, to get sucked into the cultural differences until we say "that's enough" and want to go home. For some of us, wanting to see relatives compels us to "cross the pond" as well.

At any rate, had a miserable flight and New York to Houston and MISCONNECTED due to weather at Newark. I thus spent the night (from 2 am to 8 am) in the Houston Intercontinental airport, joining padded chairs to sleep, as many others had done.

Pictures to come.

[NINETY EIGHT REGENCY]

I came home a week early. I made it...what an adventure. I had to overnight in London because I came into one major airport (Heathrow) and out of another (Gatwick). At least, I got to see London for an afternoon which normally would have not been part of my plans. It was a likable place, though cleary the most 'EFFIN expensive city I have EVER visited.

In short, I had had enough of the heat and humidity, the congestion, the overpriced dinky rental cars and ridiculous gas prices, the fact that I probably spent $ 100 Euros ($ 138 USD) on bottled water in 5 weeks because they don't give you free water in restaurants as you may think, the sensory overload of adjacent cultures and adjacent languages, and the fact that rude customer service goes unchecked.

Let's face it, we go to Europe for the cultural and architectonic richness, the fact that 5 countries have vast amounts of beautiful coastline, and, to a point, to get sucked into the cultural differences until we say "that's enough" and want to go home. For some of us, wanting to see relatives compels us to "cross the pond" as well.

At any rate, had a miserable flight and New York to Houston and MISCONNECTED due to weather at Newark. I thus spent the night (from 2 am to 8 am) in the Houston Intercontinental airport, joining padded chairs to sleep, as many others had done.

Pictures to come.

Glad you made it home safely. I have never traveled abroad.. It sounds interesting. So.. you came through Houston. You only saw the airport. You appreciate the size of our cars when you travel abroad huh....

[CARBIZ]

Get some sleep. It sounds like you need it. I feel your pain. I know how glamorous international travel sounds, but my first month in Brazil was fun for about 2 weeks. If you can imagine, I was in Rio, laying in bed, looking up at some statue (no, not Corcovado) on top of the mountain beside our hotel, just wishing to go HOME. One of the most beautiful cities in the world, but three weeks and five cities later, I had had enough.

And I missed decent coffee!!!!

Rest up!

[Robert Hall]

Welcome back..try and rest for a few days... I always find the jet lag to be brutal when coming back from Europe (I always end up flying London to Denver or London to Phoenix and getting in on a Sunday evening, and back to work the next day...next time, I'm going to take a couple days off before going back to work to recover).

[Z-06]

Welcome back to the land of W.

Looking forward for the pictures of the old civilization. Get off the jet lag first!

[ocnblu]

Your Regal will feel like a battleship after peddling around in a Corsa. Edited August 1, 2007 by ocnblu

[Robert Hall]

Your Regal will feel like a battleship after peddling around in a Corsa.

I'm sure...when I was in Italy, I drove a Merc A-class diesel one trip, a Vectra diesel another trip...my Grand Cherokee felt huge when I came home...(the Grand Cherokees I saw in Rome looked huge, compared to the tiny Fiats, etc).

[Oracle of Delphi]

Jeez, just think of all that money you spent while you were in Europe. What a nice down payment that would have made on a new W body!

[ocnblu]

Mr. Custom-S, please come to the front of the class and define the word "new". Edited August 1, 2007 by ocnblu

[Oracle of Delphi]

Newer than the old Regal he putzes around in.

[loki]

Newer than the old Regal he putzes around in.

putzes.

[Dsuupr]

I've done my fair share of over seas travels. EVERY time I land back in the States I find myself not only excited to be home, but proud to be an American.

[trinacriabob]

Jeez, just think of all that money you spent while you were in Europe. What a nice down payment that would have made on a new W body!

I need to wring your neck. You are telepathic. Believe me, that was going through my head OVER and OVER.

[trinacriabob]

So.. you came through Houston. You only saw the airport.

Yes, and a result of sleeping in your airport between 2 AM and 7 AM, I HATE your airport.

Remember, I HAVE been to Houston. My friend lived by Dairy Ashford and Westheimer. It's just been about 10 or 15 years. And, yes, I thought...$h!...if it were earlier, I should have been having coffee with 98 somewhere out by the Galleria on Westheimer.

[regfootball]

suggestion, want to wind down? spend a few weeks in remote western ND. you'll unwind and destress, for sure.

[CSpec]

I've only felt like that if I stayed in a hotel overseas and played tourist for a while, which gets very tiring. Also the stress of acclimating yourself to a new environment takes a little bit to get over, and then you have to leave. When I actually lived in a house in France for a month this summer, I had an amazing time and didn't want to go back!

[Oracle of Delphi]

Yes, and a result of sleeping in your airport between 2 AM and 7 AM, I HATE your airport.

Remember, I HAVE been to Houston. My friend lived by Dairy Ashford and Westheimer. It's just been about 10 or 15 years. And, yes, I thought...$h!...if it were earlier, I should have been having coffee with 98 somewhere out by the Galleria on Westheimer.

Hey that's where I lived when I lived in Houston! 77077 zip code rocks!

[CARBIZ]

Yes, and a result of sleeping in your airport between 2 AM and 7 AM, I HATE your airport.

Remember, I HAVE been to Houston. My friend lived by Dairy Ashford and Westheimer. It's just been about 10 or 15 years. And, yes, I thought...$h!...if it were earlier, I should have been having coffee with 98 somewhere out by the Galleria on Westheimer.

I know a thing or two about airports. The key word: patience. The key thing to do: bring a good book and a bottle of water (or vodka!)

When travelling in Brazil, we bought a 4 city pass for the phenomenal price of $550 Canadian; however, it involved a lot of visits to smaller airports. We had one 6 hour wait in Recife, which I thought might be fun so we could do a little sight-seeing, but then after we rushed back to the airport at 7 pm, the flight to Salvadore was 90 minutes delayed. we pretty much lost the day, and got to our friends' place in Salvadore at 1 a.m. on the Sunday morning. His poor maid had to stay up and wait for us. It ruined our plans for a night on the town.

Air travel sounds so glamorous, but a lot of time it is boring or stressful.

[trinacriabob]

I've only felt like that if I stayed in a hotel overseas and played tourist for a while, which gets very tiring. Also the stress of acclimating yourself to a new environment takes a little bit to get over, and then you have to leave.

Great that you bring this up. I have (had) a friend in Portland who had the 3-night rule for travel. He said that you need to spend at least 3 nights in the same place while doing a multi-stop trip. He is right. One or two night stops are horrible and leave you disoriented. Three is good. I've actually found 4 nights to be a better baseline.

[pow]

I've only felt like that if I stayed in a hotel overseas and played tourist for a while, which gets very tiring. Also the stress of acclimating yourself to a new environment takes a little bit to get over, and then you have to leave. When I actually lived in a house in France for a month this summer, I had an amazing time and didn't want to go back!

Yeah, the whole touring-an-entire-continent-in-a-few-weeks thing gets stressful. In Florence, we had our own apartment and that made a huge difference. I particularly enjoyed walking to the Mercado Centrale and buying some buffalo mozzarella, rustic bread, tuscan EVOO, cherry tomatoes, and Chianti to assemble bruschetta in the comfort of our own kitchen. It made me feel less like a tourist, and I got to appreciate the, uh, smaller things in life...

But yeah, often times it's less about a country and more about personal fatigue or homesickness that affects our experience.

Edited August 3, 2007 by empowah

[Robert Hall]

Great that you bring this up. I have (had) a friend in Portland who had the 3-night rule for travel. He said that you need to spend at least 3 nights in the same place while doing a multi-stop trip. He is right. One or two night stops are horrible and leave you disoriented. Three is good. I've actually found 4 nights to be a better baseline.

Good approach.. I've done 1 night stops when it was unavoidable because of flight connections (like 1 night in London when connecting between Italy and the US), but when I'm a specific country, I try and stay 3-5 nights in one place... one trip I did 5 nights in Rome, 3 in Florence, 2 in Pisa, IIRC. I want to go back sometime and rent an apartment or house in Umbria or Tuscany for 2-3 weeks and experience local living..