The Return

Well, it was a long bit of traveling, and an even longer day, since I got up very early to share a cab with another from our group.  I wanted to get to the airport early -- since last year I had a problem at Tegel Airport in Berlin -- and he was getting there a half hour before that.  All in all, from the cab to Tegel to the cab at LAX dropping me off, it was almost 21 hours.  (To be fair, I had a lot of waiting time in Berlin, and then a long wait in Frankfort.  And other waiting mixed in, on the ground in Los Angeles, and the cab rides and...  The actual flying about was 12 hours.  But 21 hours of traveling still counts...)  So, you'll excuse me if I'm a little beat at the moment.  I'll write something about the trip back soon, perhaps tomorrow.  It had it's ups and downs.  But the important point is that I landed safely.

By the way, the self-service Customs machine that airports now have when you arrive from an international flight takes really, really, really horrific photos.  I know the subject doesn't help, but these machines (it's my second time using them...) go out of their way to be as pathetic as possible.  It's not a great, "Welcome back to the U.S.A.", though it does provide a major, "Yipes!", adrenalin jolt that helps you deal with jet lag.