7/19 - I have learned what I can from this world, now I must return to my own.

What I did:

Rode on a plane for 9 ½ hours. It really wasn’t that bad though. I left pretty early and the plane ride back was all in the daylight, so I got to look out over lots of cool puffy clouds and even see some islands with snow topped mountains (tip of Greenland maybe?). I had some stress getting my connecting flight because of the ridiculousness of US customs. It was so much easier in Britain – I just talked to one lady, grabbed my bag, and walked into the country. But no, US made me stand in line, talk to one person, frantically look for my bag that did not come for another 20 or so minutes, then stand in another really long line (while trying to hide some chocolate from the sniffing dog) only to answer the same type of questions from another guy. I wound up with plenty of time to make my connection, but I was sweating it for a little while. And looking back on it all, I realize that it really was not a terrible process, just a terribly pointless one.

My flight into Dallas was nice and I finally got to sit by someone who was willing to talk. I arrived to be greeted by a “warm” welcome in Dallas. I immediately felt that it was nice to be home, although I would be more than content to still be in England. I also realized that I tend to be over-critical of ‘home’ – America – and that I over-romanticize foreign countries, when really it is all (in my limited experience of well-off, advanced countries) pretty much the same.

I got to eat some tasty Mexican food (I stayed well away from anything that said the same overseas) and got home. I was a long day and I had a lot of time to just be with myself, but now I am just tired and really ready to sleep.

Sincerely, thank you to everyone for reading this. I have enjoyed sharing my trip with you, and hope to be able to tell you even more about what I got to do, see, smell, experience overall during this trip. It really does mean a lot that you would take time out of your day just to read what I have to write. I also thank you for your support, encouragement, prayers, direction, help, or anything else you did to make this trip what it was.

I will not be publishing on this particular site anymore (although I do plan to leave it up). If you want to continue to follow me and my thoughts I would suggest checking out: http://pat-on-the-back.blogspot.com/. It will have less to do about me (i.e. what I do everyday) and more to do about what I experience around me (i.e. God, other people, funny stuff, meaningful stuff, etc), which I think is much more interesting and important to write about anyway.

God bless and I hope that you learn just as much from all of your journeying as I have learned from this one of mine.

What I learned:

All who have been reading this blog you can give yourself a pat on the back (haha – typically my internet username) because you have just read the equivalent of 90 single spaced, typed pages.

US customs is ridiculous and trusts without really trusting. If you have ever been through it recently, just think back (sorry to evoke such nightmares) and I think you will know what I mean. So many checks involving questioning, but it is all based on the honor system and what you can’t hide from a dog or random bag searches. They trust you to be truthful without really trusting you to not bring in anything you aren’t supposed to.

The weirdest place I have ever been in my life is now a walkway in the Detroit airport connecting terminal A to terminals B and C. It is straight out of Willy Wonka/Charlie and the Chocolate Factory complete with lights and music– and I think you know what part I mean.

US terrorist risk is “high” right now which is a bold red-orange colored pencil color. I guess I shouldn’t jest at this, but really how do you measure that? It seems so arbitrary.

Call me crazy, but I actually kind of like airplane food – the real meals you get on international flights, not just the nuts.