There and Back Again

     Jet lag really isn't a pleasant thing. Right now I'm trying to type up this final blog post, but keep falling off into quasi-sleep. As one wise scholar once said, “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest – and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.” Bummer, guess that means I gonna be pretty poor by the end of today, cause I'm sure having a hard time staying awake. Although I could have ended the blog with last night's post, I thought today's events had enough in them to merit another final post. Staying up till 2 AM wasn't too hard. Some pool, YouTube, singing, and packing helped the time zip by until the bus arrived. At that point, my roommates and I bid farewell to our beloved room and left the Meininger Hotel. After loading all the luggage and taking a final roll call, the bus departed for the two hour drive back to Munich. The bus got really quiet really fast, for obvious reasons. For the light sleepers or especially energetic, however, we got to retrace our steps through the Austrian and German countryside. Even though we had only traveled that way once or twice before, at least for me, the drive was almost a nostalgic experience, knowing that we were leaving for good.

     We reached to airport a little after 4 AM and proceeded to pass through all the usual airport business. For better or for worse, I got a little bit of extra spice in my airport experience thanks to my cello. I knew going in that I would probably have to pay a 100 Euro fee to check my cello because it's an extra bag and bulky. Upon reaching the check-in point for extra luggage, however, I was informed by another attendant that the previous numbers were incorrect and that the charge was actually 300 Euros. *cue audible gulp* After speaking with her superiors, she confirmed that the charge was indeed triple what I was expecting, but, because I had already been told that the charge was only 100, she kept the price at the lower level. This was especially beneficial, seeing as I only had 150 Euros on me and didn't exactly plan on leaving my cello in Europe. After dealing with the instrument, pretty much everything else went smoothly. A few of us hung out at a fish restaurant, listening to stories of stolen golf carts and why one should not overeat at Guppy House. Thoroughly exhausted, the already short one-hour flight sped by all the quicker with the help of some much desired sleep.

     We jumped off at Frankfurt and walked to what seemed like the other end of the airport to catch our second flight to LAX. The 747 we were taking back home was not only a good plane, but actually an improvement over the previous flight to Austria. The TV's were more advanced, the seats were better designed, and the head cushion didn't feel like it was going to snap off. The flight flashed by, whether that was due to a few movies to pass the time or some sleep I have no idea, but before I knew it, we had landed in sunny California. The final, bittersweet ending that comes with all such trips had finally arrived. We made our way through the terminal, through customs, and through the baggage claim before saying our last goodbyes and walking to the curb where our adventure began.

     Returning home after a trip is a weird feeling. I'm happy to be home and back with my family, but walking around and expecting to see people you know you won't see, not hearing stupid things from Cameron each night when he was exhausted, not eating the same thing for breakfast each day, and not playing Rat Slap with vicious opponents (Ethan, I'm looking at you) kind of pulls the saturation out of normal life for a little bit. Thank God for Facebook. For those of you reading, this is really the last post of the trip. Thanks again for sticking with me, may you find adventures in the little (and the big) things of life.

-Philip

P.S. I'll be re-uploading all the photos from this trip to Facebook, hopefully those links will work better. I'll also be adding annotations to each one explaining what was happening since my constant picture taking was probably more comprehensive than my faltering memory when blogging. I'll add a link to this post when they are uploaded.

Pictures from Day 1: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.101645123304334.839.100003765390828&type=3&l=f622b97603


Pictures from Day 2: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.101689966633183.863.100003765390828&type=3&l=9e48b3e3ca