the long way home

we left around 6:30am to fly out of uganda and into london. it was a long bus ride followed by sad goodbyes to the beautiful country we had just inhabited for the past two weeks. our 8 hour flight wasn't too bad. i don't sleep on planes so i watched three movies and talked with some of my friends that were in other seats throughout the plane. nikkie and i made friends with the flight attendants and got lots of snacks. it was an overall not so bad flight, especially given the bitter-sweet circumstances. when we arrived to london at about 4pm local time, most of us went out to hit the town. we bought passes to get around on the tube for the day and found an italian restaurant to have dinner at. after dinner, the canadians had a play to see so the other 6 of us walked around to do some sight seeing. it was really cold and none of us had proper london clothes on so we stuck out more there than we did in africa. the sandals were a huge give away. we saw a lot of cool things and quite frankly, i was only half interested because i was cold and not in vacation mode at all. i was sad that i wasn't in uganda or at home because i hate being at the inbetween places on trips. by the end of the night, we were exhausted and ready to go back to our yotel. yes yotel. not a typo. it's this little hotel type thing in terminal 4 at the heathrow airport where you can sleep and shower. it's a tiny room but felt great to be in after a long day and a long trip. unfortunately, we had some issues with the tube timing and bis situation so we didn't get back until about 1:30am local time. we quickly went to sleep and woke up bright and early to be checked out of our rooms by 7am. since we all had to be out of our rooms and our flight wasn't until 12pm, we decided to have breakfast and spend as much time together before we all had to go our separate ways for our separate flights back home. it was a nice morning of talking and kind of in our own way, debriefing and saying goodbye so that when we actually had to leave, we just did quick hugs and goodbyes. i can't wait to see all of these wonderful friends again and it's sad that everyone is all over the place. now for the 11 hour flight. uhh worst flight ever. first, i had a rude french lady in my seat that wouldn't move. then i switched seats again for another older lady so i could sit by sarah and nikkie. poor laura was stuck in the middle of another row with a kicking kid behind her. i was excited to be next to sarah who also doesn't sleep on planes and we watched two movies together. the food was awful as usual though and all of us felt kind of sick coming home and by the time we landed, none of us were doing that great. from there, it took like 2 hours to get through customs, get our bags, and leave just in time to hit traffic on the way home. our flight landed about 3:45pm and i got home around 7pm just wanted to chunda and sleep. it was great being home and seeing the love of my life, fil, and my family but i didn't feel well enough to do much so i laid there and dozed off from time to time until it was late enough to go to bed for reals. this week has been rough. i got home wednesday, had work thursday-saturday, and student ministries and father's day sunday. i've been trying to get laundry done and my life organized ever since i got back and it really hasn't made much progress. monday is my only day off i think for the next few weeks at least so i'm gonna sleep in and get everything in order so i can regain my bearings. phew. what a week.