So now it's 5 people and 2 bags home...

...but still many bags (and bikes!) abroad.

Yes, as much as I'd like to say that Jon and I had an easier time getting home, I can't really. Actually, we had an extra day tagged onto our already extended visit, although this last day was spent not in sunny Nice, but in the Park Inn hotel, just minutes from Terminal 1, London Heathrow.

Just how did we find ourselves "minding the gap" you ask? Well, our flight from Nice to London was delayed 90 minutes for no apparent reason, so we landed in London at the exact minute our flight to Philadelphia was scheduled to take off. So we found ourselves stuck with no way of getting over the Atlantic that evening, other than taking a bus to the Manchester airport, then flying to Chicago, then to Boston, perhaps take a pit-stop in Timbuktu, and finally to Philadelphia, sometime early in 2009. Ok, it wasn't quite that bad, but given our list of "options" we decided to let British Airways put us up for the night in an airport hotel, then take an early-afternoon flight to Chicago, and connect via United to Philly. Thankfully the Bernackis, ever flexible and helpful, were willing to change plans and pick us up Saturday at 9pm instead of Friday at 7pm. (Thank goodness for good friends!)

So, let's look at the silver-linings: I found out that I do in fact enjoy Indian food (good thing, because the hotel restaurant had an Indian buffet as the only choice we could use for our voucher that evening); we got to watch silly British comedy on TV; we had a bean-free English breakfast (YES! It's possible!); and...drum-roll please..."Due to the trouble you went through the night before, we're bumping you up to business class." Woo hoo, big chairs! It certainly made the 8 hour flight to Chicago much more enjoyable! And the flight to Philly was fine. It was just good to be off a plane!

Now for the not-so-silver-lining part: we made it to Philadelphia eventually, but not so for our luggage...including, most importantly, Jon's team bike. :-( We're really hoping to get everything back intact and as soon as possible. (I hope the same for the other bags and bikes, too!)

But that's life when you travel abroad--you take a risk, and you hope it's outweighed by the experiences you have on the trip. And we had a fantastic time...the cycling, scenery, food, weather, people, places--absolutely wonderful!


But still...having the luggage might be nice, too!

--Jessica