There & Back Again

So I've been back from England for a week and I literally had to "hit the ground running." My original flight was set for Thurs (Aug 9) but when I got to the airport the electronic check-in kiosk said there was a prob with my reservation and I needed to go to the check-in help counter (British Airways is now very high tech -- you check yourself in either online or at a kiosk, then you wait in the world's longest line so they can check your baggage; if you have probs, then you're allowed to see an employee behind a counter who will check in you and your luggage). So after waiting in line for about 40 minutes I get to the counter and the lady tells me there's a problem -- my flight has been canceled! The plane got stuck in Barbados, of all places! So I HAD to stay in England for two extra days. Boo hoo.

After I finally got everything sorted (had to wait another hour in customer service line and then decide if i wanted to travel the next day and bother w/ changing flights and airlines and moving luggage OR wait two days and catch the same non-stop flight I originally had -- that was a no brainer!) we dropped my luggage off at Jez's brother's house and explored Croyden - a community just south of London. Actually, Jez and Justyna mostly shopped and I decided to sit outside and finish reading The Goose Girl -- such an amazing book, btw!!! It was nice to relax and be on my own for a bit.

We ate lunch in a Spanish restaurant and I tried tapas for the first time. They were yummy! And their Sangria was very nice -- there were bits of fresh fruit in the glass, as you can see.









I spent my last day just hanging around Bedford; mostly in Jez and Justyna's house. I had already bid farewell to people and had my mind set to be alone on a plane for 10 hours, so I wasn't that bothered to go out or anything. I'm just sad I didn't get to see my friend Sarah again. She didn't get my messages until Saturday, when we were already heading back to London. But she called me Monday morning, as I was at work waiting for a meeting to start. It was nice talking to her, even though it made me wish I was back in England and not at work; something that's not hard to do, anyway. Being back at work -- that's a whole other post. *sigh*

So I'm going to forget that school starts tomorrow and that it's Sunday morning and I still need to go up the school and finish my classroom and leave you with a few cool photos of our time in Brighton. I definitely need to go back there. Although I could do without the rocky beach. Yes, ROCKY beach.