Original date of post: December 16, 2013
I’m home!
As I post this, I’m sitting on my own bed, where I first started writing this blog three months ago. It’s been a crazy past few thirty hours or so, filled with all manners of travel, but I’ve finally made it back to my homeland, where I will need to rest in the wake of this amazing adventure.
This finale began when I woke up early in the morning, ate a hasty breakfast, put the final touches on my packing, and said my goodbyes. I said goodbye to my host mother, to Eastcote, to the airport bathroom condom machines (yep, they’re still there), and to London itself as I rode into Heathrow Airport, breezed past security, and boarded my return flight to the U.S. of A.
The first leg of my journey home was a grueling 10-hour flight from London to L.A. And how did I pass the time on this long-@$$ flight? Sleeping (which I desperately need)? Gaming? Reading? None of the above--I hunkered down and watched the entire Dark Knight trilogy! What better way to say, “Welcome back to America!” than 7.5 hours of Batman?
After that not-so-little flight, I breezed past customs and immigration and prepared for my next flight, enjoying some fattening American food while waiting (it’s good to be back!). My second flight was short, and it felt even shorter, as I don’t remember most of it. This may have mostly to do with the fact that I nodded off for about three hours.
Whatever the case, I soon found myself back in the Aloha State, where temperatures are warm and long pants are unnecessary. Greeted by my warm and loving parents with hugs and a lei, I let out a long exhalation of relief. The work, the traveling, the unfamiliarity, everything remotely stressful--for now, they’re gone. Now is the time for relaxation.
Like Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins, I have finally arrived in my hometown after an extended period away, having absorbed amazing life experiences and trained with the League of Shadows (OK, that last part may not be true…may not). What sorts of experiences have I truly taken away from all this? I’ll be glad to share!…in a while. First, I need to do something I haven’t done in a long time: sleep to my heart’s content, with absolutely no alarms to disturb my rest. I’ll spend the next two weeks or so sorting everything out, putting it down, and organizing it into one final blog post.
Stay tuned for the kind of-sort of-not really dramatic conclusion of Fisch and Chips!
Modern reflections:
There are few feelings as amazing as coming home after three months away. No matter how fun the adventure, the sheer feeling of relaxation that washes over you when you're back in your own bed is truly one in a million. Bonus points if your home is in a warm place and you've just left a cold place in winter.
Aside from watching the Dark Knight Trilogy (three of my all-time favourite moves) back to back, the flight was memorable for the food options. I requested the vegetarian option (as my pescatarianism was still in development) and it turned out to be a selection of curried vegetables. I'm usually adverse to curry and spicy things in general, but I found it somewhat palatable (albeit with a lot of added salt). I picked up three things from this experience: (1) my palate is constantly changing, (2) there are few things salt can't make better, and (3) when I'm hungry, I become much more agreeable to diverse foods. All these lessons have stayed with me throughout my travels and cooking experiments.
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