Home Sweet Home

Be it ever so humble.....  Felt incredibly good to lay our heads down in our own bed last night.   The journey home wasn't as torturous as it could have been.  Our plane from Budapest was delayed an hour.  And, as I mentioned before, if you had to be stuck, it was just fine.  At around 2:30 we went to get our last dish of Hungarian goulash soup.  Boy you just can't get a rotten meal in this town, no matter where you are.  It was fabulous.  Boarded the plane and we were told that the flights leaving Zurich were also delayed due to fog, so we wouldn't have a problem with the connection. We originally had an hour to kill at Zurich airport - so this would be cutting it close.

However, when we landed the schedule board said that our flight was boarding. Had to make a mad dash - but no - first there was immigration to get through, then finding the gate, which was a bus, tram, and several escalators, walkways, etc.  Why do they do this??!!!  Then another security check, and of course, I had water in my bottle (which I didn't want to ditch) so we had to sit there slugging it down.  The guy at the security said to calm down that they were holding the plane for us.  So since we had all this time, the gal at security decided to frisk me!!!  We were the only ones going through, and I guess she was bored.  I had absolutely nothing on me, but Geoff waltzed through with his shoes and all sorts of change jangling around in his pockets.  Felt sorry for all the folks sitting on the plane waiting for us to get on board.  Finally made it to the plane, and thanked everyone so much for waiting.  We aren't used to such treatment in the U.S.

Didn't have the exit row, but we were very comfortable in a 2 across seat.  Fortunately for me, the woman in front of me never but her seat back and I had plenty of room.  So far Swiss Air is right up there in our book.  Made it back to Boston in good time, just 10 minutes later than schedule.  Danny came to pick us up in our car.  Took him back to Cambridge and went in to chat with him and Deidre for a bit.  It was about 9pm and the kids were asleep.  Got back to Fairhaven in the fog (literally).  Opened all the windows and rushed out on the deck to see the ocean - AAAHHHHHH!!!!  Erika did a great job with the plants and even the garden tomatoes and basil made a come back from the hurricane.  All is good.

We are weary and our internal clocks have to be reset, but in retrospect,  it was one hell of an adventure.  I'm not quite sure of the total biking mileage.  It must be up around 400 miles.  I can't even begin to know how many miles we clocked walking, and no major injuries We biked, hiked, ate, and ate some more, and at times we even bitched,  but most of all we laughed, and felt grateful to be able to seize the moment to see and experience another part of this world.

A bit thanks to friends and family who tuned into the blog.  It is always nice to hear from the folks you love when you are so far off.   And  a great big thank you to all our traveling companions.  We had a fine mix of people on both biking excursions and we appreciated all the conversation, camaraderie, and, of course, the laughter.

Till next time .... Tanzania, Africa, February, 2012