Wednesday, May 12, 2010

The Eagle Has Landed

I won't bore you with every single detail of my trip, but will provide you with the highlights of my return to London.

Dayton's airport has free wireless. This is a very important fact that I had forgotten. Dallas does not have free wireless.

I sat in the 2nd to last row on the plane (which was a small one- only 3 seats in the middle, not 5, and did not have personal TVs), meaning I was between the toilets and behind the engines. Great sleeping sounds. There were 2 Australian guys behind me. We all had fun narrating the scene in the plane as everyone boarded. "Looks like the Crocodile Dundee's eyeing the seat beside you (me)!"

Thus was my introduction to my trans-atlantic flight neighbor, Tom aka "Standing Bear." No, he is not a Native American, but he is a NA spiritual practitioner. His teacher's name is "Rainbow Hawk." It took a lot to keep me from bursting into laughter when I heard that. Luckily (don't quite know if that's the proper word) the guy just goes by "Hawk." Tom/Bear and I spent about 3 hours (until dinner was served) talking. It didn't take long for him to realize that I am an "Old Soul." He said there are very few of them in the world. I completely see where he's coming from and agree. I'm sure everyone who's reading this also agrees. Tom/Bear is in England to visit "Whitewolf," his "soulmate," who lives in Cornwall.

I woke up just in time (and because of) to take part in the clamor of looking out the window as we flew DIRECTLY OVER the Icelandic volcano. It was neat to see the ash cloud from the sky. Alas, my camera was still asleep at the time.

Landed at Heathrow, in line at customs, realized I left my duty free purchases under the seat on the plane. Ran all the way back, had a trolly guy take me to the plane, found said purchases, ran back to customs, was the only person in line. The jerk who gave me a hard time the first time I ever came to the UK was one of my 3 choices of agents. Although it'd have been interesting to see if he'd changed his evil ways, I decided to try a new person. "Only 3 days? (since I'm going to Ireland Saturday- maybe)" "Yup." *stamp*

Boarded the tube. Picadilly Line closed halfway here. Transferred 3 times, dragged the suitcase up and down a billion flights of stairs. Finally made it to Exmouth at 3 PM sharp! Happy flatmate reunion. Shower, then immediately off to the Barbican! I sat backstage for the last 20 or so minutes of rehearsal, then went into the hall as the orchestra was getting off stage. Apparently mostly everyone didn't think I'd be here for another 2 weeks, so it was fun seeing everyone's faces- especially those who didn't know I was coming, at all!

Lovely dinner with Ginette, Jorg, and eventually Carmine. Concert, return home, visit with flatmates, BED!

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