Buenos Aires (Photo credit: SebKe)
I’m in the middle of our fourth day back from a month in Buenos Aires. About the trip back, the less said the better. Travel these days is not a pleasant experience. I don’t need to say anything about airline food except that these days the only time you get it is on international flights where, I guess they fear riots if they didn’t provide something to eat on a 12 hour flight. Believe me; nothing has improved since the old days when you used to get a meal on a long flight. It’s pretty bad. The flight itself is tolerable (at least I find it so). I can find a place for my feet and with a facemask, neck supporting pillow and a sleeping pill I can get a few hours’ sleep.
The killer is all the lines getting on the flight- and getting off. The anticipation of the trip causes me to forget the ordeal on the trip out. It’s the trip back that’s the killer. You wait in line to check in. Then you wait in line for security. Finish that and you wait for immigration. Your mind goes numb and by the time you get on the plane, you are bad tempered and ready to pick a fight about anything. We barely made it to the flight after all that. It’s not fun at all and when you are coming home you don’t have much to look forward to.
After about 26 hours in transit we finally got home. It felt good for about 30 minutes and then my wife started cleaning. I went to bed. It is the only safe place.
By now, I’ve
taken care of the important stuff. Sorted the mail; paid the bills; put away the stuff in our suitcases; stocked the pantry; called roadside assistance to start our cars. Now it is just making the final adjustments to being back home and settling back into the old routine. It was a great trip and I have a lot to share about but right now the big task is mental. I still can’t believe that the vacation is over and it is time to get back to work. It is hard to focus. I’ll just close this post down and hope that my mind will start getting focused tomorrow. Maybe it’s like getting the first olive out of the jar and it will be easier next time.
