The final leg home.

Before our final day sinks into the recesses of my brain I'll do a quick rundown of our trip home on Sunday, Aug. 29th. After waking up by the rooster named Julia (up much earlier than usual) we packed up our things and did the final check to make sure no Barbie shoe was left behind. We had intended on taking the metro to the airport (1 euro each and about 45 minutes) but in the end we just weren't up to the 3 switches and all the stairs. So, we were wild and crazy and took a taxi! I know, we get nuts sometimes. It was about 30 euros and 20 minutes and we didn't need to think or stand and hold onto a bar the whole time!

We were quite hungry so after checking in we went to a little café in the airport. It was kind of interesting because it was a sandwich bar with about 40 different kinds of sandwiches that you bought by the half for a euro each. Some were really strange and gross sounding so I did my best to find some that I thought we'd eat. I bought a tuna and corn, and a tuna with cream cheese and walnuts. Umm, yuck. We all did our best to get them down but in the end it just wasn't worth it and we went against all of our beliefs and slipped next door to McDonalds. I'm still shaking my head at eating there but I must admit it hit the spot. The Happy Meals were fun - nuggets and fries like at home but it also came with a mini water, apple slices and a toy. Usually you need to choose between the apples and fries but apparently not in Spain! The kids thought it was fun and Jeff and I stole most of the fries. (Which taste identical to here, do they import the potatoes?)

We had a whole pocketful of euro coins so I let the kids go nuts in the vending machines. Gummy bears, chocolates, drinks... they thought it was great (and I was happy that my wallet was 2 pounds lighter!). Although we had booked with British Airways our connector flight back to London was on Iberian Airlines. I wouldn't recommend this airline to anyone unless it happens to be very, very cheap. You actually had to pay for water and soft drinks - for 2.50 euros! I've never encountered that before, and especially not at a price like that. I can understand a small fee (if they're trying to keep people from over ordering), and I can also understand charging for alcohol, but almost $4 for a Sprite? Weird. Then when I was waiting for the bathroom I had to kind of half stand in the back galley area where the two stewardess' were. A teenage boy came and stood behind me and so we were both kind of in there and I could see the flight attendants were both sitting eating a proper warm meal off of a tray. (No food had been offered and as far as I could tell there wasn't a first class on the plane). One of the flight attendants stood up, rudely waved the boy and myself out of the back area and dropped the curtain mumbling something about interrupting their lunch. It was a 2 hour flight!!! Could they not have eaten before or afterwards? I have never encountered something like that, it was so strange. It's not a wonder that they have some issues with their economy when they have a sit down lunch break during a 2 hour flight! That reminds me of the car rental agency in San Sebastian - they were open between 10 - 1, then 4 - 7. Too bad if you needed a car or some assistance outside of those hours!

We landed uneventfully in London and went through the rigamarole of changing terminals, more security, passport checks, etc. We had a 2.5 hour stopover but by the time we'd actually finished with all of the transfers and lines we had about 45 minutes free. We grabbed some really great food from a café serving fresh soups and salads and also bought a delightful mixture of 'sweets' from the magazine shop. We had to board a bus that drove us out to the plane which was quite far away from the terminal. Odd, especially considering the size of the plane.

We settled in and got ready for the 9.5 hour flight. After pulling away from the gate we sat on the runway for about 45 minutes - long enough to make you antsy! I don't understand why they can't start the movies in that situation, I think they do it on purpose to make you look through that fancy skymall magazine with all the crazy gadgets that you don't need but really, really want. Electric slippers, fancy popcorn machines and inversion tables seem like a great idea when you're bored and sucking back recycled air!

Take off! Hurray on-board entertainment! I have one very important piece of advice regarding movie watching on airplanes... do not watch sappy, sad love stories. I sat there trying to not cry like a baby while I dabbed my eyes with a tiny square drink napkin. Ugh. I usually watch light hearted chick flicks, or movies that I'd be unwilling to pay for in a real movie theatre but there weren't many of those available on that flight. I will not make that mistake again.

Then, to add insult to injury I broke a nail and lost an earring! But, the food was delicious and between the 4 of us we had 6 seats so the good definitely outweighed the bad. The kids slept for a few hours and we arrived back home about 30 minutes later than projected. As I mentioned in my previous post we were met at the airport by my mom who greeted us with bells on. (Literally. She had bells! Funny lady.) We tried to stay up as late as possible to re-set our clocks so we went to bed around midnight. Jeff and Julia were up at 4, I made it until a little after 5, and Chloë beat us all by sleeping until 6. No one napped the following day (Jeff actually was at work so sleeping wouldn't have been very professional...), I busied myself with unpacking and downloading pictures, and the girls set up an elaborate Barbie wedding. The kids played all day without once mentioning being tired and they weren't cranky either which was amazing. By the evening Jeff and I were complete zombies but the kids were still normal and we were hoping they'd go to bed at a normal, reasonable time. At 9 pm we realized what time it was and went up to tell the kids to get into bed - only to find that Julia had already brushed her teeth, put on her pjs and went to bed! She was already fast asleep without us having any idea she was doing that! Chloë was also in bed and said she was going to watch her iPod for a few minutes and then go to sleep - and they both slept until after 8 this morning. So, hopefully they are back on track because school starts in 2 days! Jeff and I slept okay last night, we both had about 6.5 hours of sleep so we're hoping tonight we'll be back to normal.

Now we've settled back into real life with laundry and cooking and trying to get our heads around a new school year which starts in 2 days. I need to get the pictures printed off and put in a book before too much time goes by and while the memories are fresh - that will be my project for next week.

I still plan on doing a run down of the different cities we went to, and that post will come soon. Right now I need to throw some laundry in and write the kids' names in their new school shoes. Adios!