Well, that was entertaining!

I'm home again after a quick trip to Lebanon to take the cousins back. It was a good time, thought stressful. We left Tuesday afternoon after a morning that went smoothly according to plan. My parents arrived to load us up and get the timers set on the lights. Cousin E helped Dad do that and I got a call from the website where I bought my tickets for the return flight. Turns out Royal Jordanian had canceled my flight due to not having my passport number, nationality, and DOB. I gave it to the lady who reissued the tickets for me. Good thing we were running a bit late to the airport. But we made it in good time since it wasn't busy. That's the nice thing about doing your check-in at a regional airport. Shorter lines.

We arrived in Chicago and got to our next flight in plenty of time. We sat and sat and sat on the plan thought and finally got word from the flight attendant that we were waiting for delayed flights to take off. There was bad weather not too far away that was delaying other flights and we had to wait our turn. We started to taxi and turned around and came back to the gate. There was a technical problem that needed fixing so we were sent back inside where we were given chips and drinks and A/C. After maybe half an hour we boarded again and got to take off.

While at the gate I asked about our connecting flight to Beirut. We were leaving 3 hours late and only had 2 hours between flights anyway. She said as soon as we took off the airline would know our arrival time and they would take care of it for us. Sure enough, by the time we got there we were booked on the next flight to Beirut. The flights were relaxing and uneventful. Unfortunately when we got to Beirut only one of the 4 suitcases had made it there with us. I guess the other 3 wanted to see the Eiffel Tower? We retrieved them Friday night and I slept over at my SIL's to pack (I'd kept our clothes there to keep the mildew out) and spend time with her.

Aunt is not doing well. She's so thin and has to go in to the hospital every couple of weeks for more blood. It was so sad to know that I was saying "good-bye" for the last time. I don't know what I ever would have done without her the first year we lived there.

Yesterday's trip home went very smoothly. Another passenger complained about the airline and their reputation. He normally tries to avoid it. I have no complaints though. We only had 45 minutes between arrival in Amman and departure for Chicago. They divided up the passengers according to connecting flights and escorted us to the proper gate and got us through security quickly. We got on the plane and took off on time. With less time to transfer the bags than they had in Paris, they managed to get both of mine to Chicago with me.

There were two men near me who were very nice and good company. The man across the aisle to my right works for a private security company in Iraq. He was headed home for vacation. I was in a row of 4 seats and only one other person was seated there with me. A very nice Jordanian man on his way home to Texas. While people who are traveling are allowed not to fast, he had decided he would anyway. He would be going 22 hours. I hope he made it with no ill effects. I felt bad for him being surrounded by food but he slept most of the time and wasn't bothered by it.

There was also the woman who decided that she would really enjoy the free alcohol. And enjoy it she did. Unfortunately the other passengers didn't particularly enjoy her enjoyment. Twice she tried to sit next to my Jordanian friend. The second time he looked at me like, "What the hell?!" I don't know what he said but he managed to get her to move without offending her. She did manage to get into a shouting match with some passengers and her language wasn't particularly lovely. My security friend slept through it (I wish I could have). I told him about it later and he said if she headed toward the cockpit to wake him up and he'd tackle her. I told him I doubted she could have found the cockpit.

That leg of the journey was over 13 hours and I nodded off sometime during the last hour or so. I was just wide awake so I read a book (the whole book) and watched a couple of movies.

After the typical long wait at customs I got my luggage and headed to my last flight. It was nice to have such a short flight. Mom and Dad picked me up and I went home to watch a movie with the kids and head to bed. I'm tired now, but since it's a holiday tomorrow we can sleep in. Today was church and it was nice to be home. We're being lazy and playing. Tomorrow will be work. And less laundry than there was this summer. Yeah!